Stuffed Peppers with Cream cheese, Garlic, Lemon Zest and Cilantro

This is another recipe that can be served as an appetizer or entrée.

Ingredients:

1 Banana or Anaheim Pepper per person

Tempura flour ,Panko bread crumbs or regular bread crumbs.

Buttermilk for the batter

Olive Oil

To make the filling:

1 Box of Cream Cheese

2 Tablespoons of Garlic(pre-cut)

The Zest of 1 Lemon

1 Bunch of Cilantro (For Spaniards if you don't like its flavor, don't add it or find a substitute like parsley)

Mix everything very well. 

This mix makes about 5 peppers. 

From left to right, Tempura, Panko Crumbs, and Bread crumbs batter

I used Banana or Anaheim Peppers, for this recipe. Put the peppers in a pre-heated oven at 375˚ until you see the skin bubble, then when they are done wrap them in a plastic wrap, put them aside to cool off. In the meantime make the mix for the filling and put some cherry tomatoes in the broiler with a little olive oil.
Take the tomatoes out when they start getting brown, drizzle with olive oil and a pinch of sea salt.


When the peppers are at a temperature that you are able to work with, take the skin and the seeds out, leaving if possible the stem and start filling the peppers with the mix one at a time. When you have all of them filled. Put 2 plates out, one with the buttermilk in it and the other with tempura flour. Dip the peppers in the buttermilk then in the tempura, and put them in the refrigerator, before dinner dip them again in buttermilk and then tempura. If you prefer Panko bread crumbs or regular bread crumbs, just substitude the tempura, and dip first in buttermilk and then the crumbs, the second time deep them in egg, instead of buttermilk, and then the crumbs.


Tempura is a soft wheat flour introduced to Japan by the Portuguese. It is mixed with cold water. As you can see, I didn't follow the traditional tempura of mixing the liquid with the solid.


The cilantro is a plant from Southern Europe and Northern Africa and it was introduce to the Americas by the Spaniards; However, They are not fan of this flavor, so, substitute by parsley or don't put any at all.

The Generous Pot (El Tiesto Generoso)

This recipe is great for your kids. Get a pot and green sponge (you can find it in any arts and crafts store or a flower store,)  cut the sponge to fit the pot and cover it with Spanish moss. You will also need skewers.


Buy your kid's favorite fruit, at night ask the kids to help you put some seeds on the pot and some water. While the kids are sleeping. Get a cookie cutter and start cutting the water melon, melon, cantaloupe, in the shape of flowers, and put them in the skewers, if you have grapes put three in the skewer, apples, and oranges have a half moon shape already, put them in the skewers. When the kids get up they will have a pot full of fruits, like this one.

With apples you will have to rub them with lemon so they don't become black. I bought my "canapé" cutters many years ago at TJ Maxx, to make mini sandwiches for my kids.

Brie Cheese with Figs (Queso Brie con Higos)

This works really well as an appetizer, "aperitivo" or "hors d'oeuvre" It will look sophisticated; however, it is very easy to make.

Just decorate your dish with some herbs or flowers from your garden.

I bought my brie cheese in the form of a log and my figs at

http://Justlocalfood.blogspot.com

Spanish Omelet (Tortilla de Patatas)

We could say that this is the national dish of Spain. It's the best known with the paella and sangria. This is a staple that you will find in all "Tapas Bars." It's very versatile and essay to make.

Ingredients for basic Tortilla:

6 Eggs

5 potatoes

Olive oil

Salt

I add to mine:

1/2 Onion

1/2 Leek

1/2 Green Pepper

The National dish of Spain

Peel and cut in small pieces the potatoes, onions, leek and peppers. Put in a pan with enough olive oil to cover the potatoes. First, we add the onions, leeks and peppers when the onion starts changing color, add the potatoes, and cook medium to low heat until the potatoes are done.

Wisk the eggs and add the potatoes, not the oil, and salt, you can be generous with the salt because potatoes absorb it. In a non- stick pan add about a table spoon of olive oil, and add to the mix. We let it cook from one side, then take a plate put it on top of the pan and turn it 360˚. Now we can cook the other side. When done serve it with roasted red peppers, on a slide of "pan amb tomaquet", with a green salad, etc.

Add "Pan amb Tomaquet" and arugula salad, yum!

The great Spanish chef, Ferran Adriá, created a recipe in case you are in a hurry. he substituted the cooking of the potatoes, for kettle chips.

Roast Beef with Blue Cheese Sauce

I bought this roast because it was a good price. This cut is actually called a "Spoon Roast."

Blue cheese sauce goes really well with roast beef

Sear the meat in a pan before you put it in the oven; preheat the oven to 350-375˚ F, then put the meat in for 20-25 min.  Take it out and  let it sit for another 15 min, to be medium rare.

For mashed potatoes: Peel and cut the potatoes (Yellow Yukon Gold) and boil them with a head of garlic until tender,when done, strain any excess liquid. Then mash the potatoes and garlic with a masher and add cream until they are smooth and velvety. Put the mashed potatoes in a pan with slices of butter and place under the broiler until the top gets to be a golden color.

For mushrooms: Chop onion and garlic very thin, then add a little pinch of cayenne pepper, if you want, then sauté the mushrooms until tender.


Blue cheese sauce, in a pan put cream and blue cheese simmer and let it melt.

*** My Argentinean friends, Eduardo and Mony, always told me not to add salt until the end. Salt will take all the natural juices from the meat and, therefore, make it too dry.

Cuban Rice (Arroz a la cubana)

Cuban Rice (Arroz a la cubana)

Again, that's what my family and others call this dish. I don't know if it's name comes from a dish that the "indianos," (the spaniards who immigrated to Cuba and returned to Spain very wealthy,) brought it from Cuba and adapted it to the ingredients they found in Spain.

Sometimes we find ourselves with a pot of leftover white rice, and here comes the dilemma. Should we make a fried rice, should we add something, or should we make a super simple dish with a couple more things? Let's do that simple dish with ingredients that we always have in the pantry.

Ingredients:

Leftover rice (I cook my white rice always with  4-5 garlic cloves)

1 or 2 eggs per person

Tomato sauce (homemade or from a can)

Green Bananas or Plantains.

You should put more tomato sauce on top of the rice

We heat the rice and then we put it in a mold, this could be an espresso cup, or a ring. We crack an egg, put it in a pan, and we cover it with a lid. We check once in a while for the doneness we want. We add the egg to the rice and we add tomato sauce and the fried banana chips or plantains. (Cut the plantains with a peeler lengthwise, and then deep fry.)

Mexican Sauce with Chips (from previous Post)

Make it in advance and you always have something for a snack. The problem is when do you stop because....it's so gooood!!!!!

A good snack for vegetarians.

Recipe for the sauce in previos post: Three sauces.

Spanish Sauce with Shrimp (from previous post)

Add shrimp to the Spanish Sauce that we make previously. A good alternative for vegetarians and if you get fresh fish this sauce is excellent with monkfish (also known as poor's people lobster.)


(See previous post: Three Sauces)

add onion dusted in flour and fried

Get bread an deep in the sauce. Delicious!!!!

Macaroni with Tomato Sauce (Macarrones)

Let's use the tomato sauce that we made in the previous entry.  If you didn't make the sauce, just use a can of tomato sauce. Who doesn't like pasta? This is a dish that all kids and grown ups love.

Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of the pasta

1 Box of Penne Pasta
1/4 Pound Meat. If vegetarian substitute with a veggie or tofu.
1/2 Small Onion finely chopped
12 Ounces Homemade sauce or 1 12 ounce can 
3 Tablespoons white wine
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper


Put a pot of water to boil with salt and one tablespoon oil. In the meantime, cut the meat in squares and chop the onion. In a pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil sauté the onion and when it becomes translucent add the meat previously cut, the tomato and the wine, let it cook. When it's done put the mix in a blender and grind it. (if you use tofu or a veggie, Do not grind it)


When the water is boiling add the penne pasta.  When it is done, drain it in a strainer.  In an oven proof  pan combine the mix with the pasta, top it with pieces of butter and parmesan cheese and then place it under the broiler until the top is golden.


Remove from the oven and serve it topped with more parmesan cheese.

Three Sauces (Tres Salsas)

Jars waiting for their sauce filling

Basic Tomato Sauce (Salsa de Tomate Base)


This is a very simple tomato sauce. If you get tomatoes by the bushel at the farmers market, you can make a big pot and preserve or freeze it.


The Basque cooking is simple and very tasteful. As a matter of fact, many of the great cooks in Spain are from the Basque Country. We don't cook with spices, so if you think that the sauce lacks a punch of spice, go ahead and add your favorite spices: basil, bay leaves, oregano, thyme, Rosemary.


1 White Onion finely chopped
2 Garlic Cloves finely chopped
1 leek (if big)
1/2 green pepper
4 Ripe Tomatoes
3-4 tablespoons Chicken Stock
Salt
Pepper
Extra Olive Oil


Spices? Add your favorites, of course; hot? add your favorite hot pepper, as hot as you can bare.

Tomato Sauce

Chop very fine the onion, garlic, leek and green pepper. Add to a pan with two spoons of olive oil. When the onion is translucent add the tomatoes and salt and let it simmer until it gets the consistency you like. Then put it in a blender or a hand blender, and purée everything. 

*** Always taste your food, simmer your sauce so the ingredients come together, and leave it to rest.


Mexican Sauce (Salsa Mexicana)


This is a very different Mexican Salsa than the one we are used to eating and seeing. I do it this way to introduce one more ingredient, kernels of corn, and to give it a crunchy bite. It is fun to scoop out of a plate and taste  every ingredient with the citrus flavour of the lime.


3 Ripe Tomatoes
1/2 Red Onion
1/2 Green Pepper
1/2 Red Pepper
1 Jalapeño (if you like it really hot you can add more, many more!!!!)
1 Ear of Corn
3 Limes (juice)
2 table spoons of Olive Oil
Salt
A handful of cilantro

Mexican Salsa

Chop very fine the tomatoes, onion, peppers, and jalapeño and put them in a bowl. In the meantime put a pan of water to boil and add the ear of corn when is done remove the kernels and add to the rest of the ingredients. Add the olive oil, the lime juice, the salt, and top it off with cilantro.

Spanish Sauce (Salsa Española)

This is what my mom calls Spanish sauce. It goes really well with fish, like monkfish, or with shrimp. It is smooth and velvety. You can also use it with meats and poultry.


Ingredients:
1 Small Onion
1/2 Green Pepper
3-4 Cloves of Garlic
5-6 Large Carrots 
1 Small Can Tomato Sauce
2 Teaspoons Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
2 Teaspoons Sugar 
1/4 Cup White Wine
1 Cup Chicken Broth 
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Salsa Española, a carrot based salsa

Sautée onion and green pepper in olive oil. Add chopped garlic and sliced carrots, continue to cook. When the vegetables are soft, add salt, pepper, and sugar, stir well. Then add tomato sauce, white wine, and chicken broth. Cook for several minutes, taste for flavor, and then purée in a blender.

From left to right: Tomato Sauce, Mexican salsa, Spanish Salsa

Chorizo Puffs (Bollos preñaos)

Bollos preñaos or bollu prenáu, pan preñau o tort preñau is a traditional spring dish from Asturias and Cantabria, the translation is "pregnant rolls" usually is made with chorizo, bacon or salted pork belly wash with a glass of sidra, cider. It is a simple dish to make and a fun tapa to serve. You can make your own dough or buy it from the store. Let the dough rise and then just take little portions or use a cutter and fill it with chorizo making the form of a little ball and paint it with a beaten egg.


Put the balls on a baking sheet and into a 325˚ F preheated oven.

Panecillos de chorizo 

Mexican chorizo is easy to find in the States, Spanish Chorizo can be bought via the internet. The brand I like is "Chorizo Palacios" hot, but they also have mild. This recipe comes from my dear father in law, Don.

Egg-Filled Tomatoes (Tomates Rellenos de Huevo)

There are some products that are very versatile like tomatoes, potatoes, rice...and eggs. This is a fun and a different way to combine eggs with tomatoes. We can serve them for breakfast, lunch or supper.


Ingredients:


Ripe tomatoes
Eggs
Olive oil
Salt


Potatoes
Arugula or any type of greens.
Green Onion.

Who said that eggs can't be elegant and delicious?

Take ripe tomatoes, cut the tops off and then empty the seeds and pulp out with a grapefruit spoon and put them on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil on the insides. Crack the eggs and fill the tomatoes one at a time.


Preheat the oven at 300º F. Put the baking sheet in with the tomatoes on it for about 15 minutes. In the meantime cut thin potato slices, cut them in thin strips to make straw potatoes. Deep fry them, when brown put them on paper to take all the extra oil off and set aside.


When the egg-filled tomatoes are done put them on individual plates, add the straw potatoes, and add an arugula salad with a vinaigrette and a green onion. (For any vegetable to be wrinkled, have it in ice water for 15 to 20 minutes, it will wrinkle more the longer you have it in the ice.)


*** If you just make the tomatoes you can fill them with your favorite scramble eggs or a cream cheese filling. (We will add these recipes soon!!!!)

Garlic Bread with Tomatoes and Mozzarella

A great dish for lunch, especially at this time of the year when tomatoes are plentiful and cheap at farmers' markets, and, if you live in Wisconsin, there is no shortage of any kind of cheese. If you are not happy with just garlic bread, try this dish.

Ingredients:

Slice(s) of bread

Garlic gloves

Salt

Extra olive oil

Slices of tomatoes

Mozzarella Cheese

Basil

Balsamic Glaze Vinegar. I buy my glaze from Target.(If you don't find balsamic glaze, make a reduction with a good balsamic. Recipe below.)

With and without balsamic glaze 

Toast the bread before hand, rub the garlic on the toast, sprinkle salt over the bread, add the sliced tomatoes, the mozzarella and then put it in the broiler until the cheese is melted, be careful not to burn the bread. When the cheese is melted take it from the broiler and drizzle balsamic glaze vinegar and sprinkle with basil.

To make a balsamic glaze reduction you are going to need:

4Tablespoons Balsamic Vinager

4 Tablespoons Sugar

2 Tablespoons Water

In a pan put the sugar on low until it becomes golden brown, add water until it starts boiling, then add the balsamic vinegar.

The balsamic vinegar compensates the acidity of the tomato

If you live in the Eau Claire area, you can make this dish year round. Just Local Food  Cooperative sells tomatoes from Spencer that are excellent for being a greenhouse tomato.

justlocalfood.blogspot.com/

This is a wonderful dish for vegetarians and non-vegetarians as well. It's a dish full of great and healthy ingredients. Garlic for your blood circulation, olive oil to increase your good cholesterol in the omega family, tomatoes for its antioxidant...and cheese for its content of calcium.

Garlic Bread (Pan con Ajo y Aceite de Oliva)

Another way of using that old bread. I really enjoy this toast with a cold cut for lunch. The Catalan peasants "payeses," used to eat a robust breakfast. One of the staples was bread rubbed with galic and olive oil, accompanied by sausages and cheese.

The reason for the peasants and farmers to have such a robust breakfast,is because they worked seven hours straight then they went back home for lunch and again seven hours until dawn. In Spanish seven is "siete" and from here comes the word "siesta." Today a word that has,in most cases,a negative connotation and is associated with lazziness.

Ingredients:

Slice(s) of rustic bread toasted.

Garlic Gloves

Extra Olive Oil

Dry salami or "Salchichón"

This was a typical breakfast during the summer

Pa amb Tomaquet (Bread with Rubbed Tomato)

Who hasn't bought a great bread and two days later it's soggy or it's hard as a rock? "Pan amb Tomaquet" is considered Catalonia's Natonal dish, and is one tasty solution to that old bread, as a matter of fact, that is always the solution to my problem and nothing goes to waste.

Ingredients:

Rustic Bread or old bread (toasted)

Ripe Tomatoes
Salt
Extra Virgin olive oil
Cold cuts of your choice. I highly recomend “fuet” or “Manchego Cheese” from

www.laespañolameats.com

Dry Salami will work as well.

Cut a ripe tomato sideways and rub it on the bread or rustic toast using its pulp. Add salt and drizzle extra virgin olive oil. They say the tradition started in order to moisten the dry bread from the day before. It is accompanied with cold cuts “jamón serrano,” “jamón ibérico” (looks like prociutto, just looks, different taste though), “fuet”, cheese, omelets and “longanizas."

Introduction

Please follow us to our COCINA VIVA!!!!!

Stairs going up to restaurant "Casa Vieja" 

COCINA VIVA is a tribute to all the cooks that taught us to enjoy cooking and to those who enjoy eating our food. We miss those smells that emanated from the kitchen and drowned the house in beautiful aromas. In an intent to recreate the aromas and flavors of those dishes and to promote the dishes of Spain, we have started this blog. 

"Casa Vieja" restaurant in Campeche,
Mexico

Gazpacho

Gazpacho is a very refreshing cold soup for those hot and lazy summer days. It is very popular all over Spain, even though it is an original dish from Andalucia, in Southern Spain.  It is a very simple and quick dish to make.


Ingredients:


1 or 2 cloves of garlic
2 spoons of vinegar (more or less)
2 spoons of olive oil
1 slice of bread soaked in water
1 cucumber
1/2 green pepper
5 to 7 peeled tomatoes and cut in quarters ***
salt (to your liking)


We put everything in a blender and voila....

I learned this recipe from my cousin Mari Carmen

*** First put water on the stove until it boils. While you're waiting, make an "x" with a knife on each tomato. When the water starts boiling, add the tomatoes for 30 seconds. Take them out of the water and peel them.

Tomatoes

You say tomatoes... I say tomatos.

The world's smallest tomatoes.

The tomato is a fruit of  South America  and it was spread to the Philippines and the Mediterranean by the Spaniards.  I wonder what the Italians ate before they brought the tomatoes to Europe, umm?

“Solanun Lycopersicum”

(botanical name)

The tomato is rich in lycopene, an antioxidant, and prevents certain cancers.