We’re back from a very long period away from the blog that happened for a lot of personal reasons that kept me away from the kitchen on a regular basis. I will try to start posting regularly again as I have a backlog of new recipes to post as well as some articles from myself and others that have been sitting around here for way too long.

This morning the Padrino asked me about a recipe for Irish Stew, to better celebrate St-Patrick’s day, and I decided to post it here instead of sending it to him directly. Traditionally Irish cooking is very similar to French Canadian cooking from Quebec, one of the reason is that a lot of the French families there have some Irish blood since there was a lot of Irish immigrants coming into Quebec in the old days. The traditions mixed and many of the old style recipes are very similar. It is also true that some of the traditional stew recipes have common roots across Northern Europe and especially with peasant-style cooking from rural France.

Irish Stew was traditionally a root vegetable stew made with mutton, but these days mutton is rarely available at most butcher’s shops, so it is normally made with lamb. A nice deboned shoulder of lamb works well, especially if you keep the bones to make a nice lamb stock first. I like those kinds of stews to be rich and thick so I normally prefer prepare a strong stock the day before, and then cooking the stew after the stock has cooled overnight and the fat is removed. If the stew is still a little on the clear side after cooking, I might thicken it a  bit with a  bit of cornstarch or flour diluted in some Guinness, just to give it a little bit of texture of course…

Ingredients

Stock
2 tbs butter
3 pounds lamb bones
6 quarts water
1 branch celery
1 large carrot, peeled
1 large clove of garlic
1 medium onion cut in half
2 large branches of parsley

Stew
2 tbs butter
4 tbs flour
3 quarts lamb stock
3 pounds deboned lamb shoulder with the fat removed, cubed
1 bottle Guinness
1 glass of tannic red wine
1 pound carrots, sliced
2 pounds potatoes, diced
1 pound turnip, diced
1/2 pound small pearl onions
1 pound button mushrooms, sliced
1 large branch of parsley
2 tsp thyme, crushed
2 bay leaves
4 cloves
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp ground dry ginger
2 tsp corn starch dissolved in some Guinness
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Stock
1. In a large stock pot brown the bones in the melted butter for a few minutes over high heat.
2. Add the water and the other ingredients and bring to boil.
3. Reduce the fire and simmer from 4 to 6 hours until the water is reduced by half while skimming the foam regularly.
4. Cool down the stock and filter using a metal colander.
5. Refrigerate overnight and skim the fat off the surface the next day.

Stew
1. Coat the lamb cubes well with the flour.
2. In a large stock pot brown the meat well in melted butter over high heat.
3. Add the Guinness and the wine and bring to boil.
4. Add the lamb stock as well as the herbs and spices and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for an hour.
6. Add the root vegetables and simmer for thirty minutes.
7. Add the mushrooms and pearl onions and simmer for another thirty minutes.
8. If the stew is still a little bit clear thicken with the cornstarch dilute in Guinness and simmer for 10-15 minutes more.
9. Adjust the salt and pepper, and remove the cloves, bay leaves and parsley.
10. Serve in a wide soup bowl accompanied with some crusty country bread and lots of fresh farm butter and a few Guinnesses.

Lucito

Dinner is served…

Summer is drawing to an end in Europe but in our equivalent of Indian summer, we still enjoy barbecue a lot. Evenings may be a little chilly, but we have that big Weber monster of a gas grill on our balcony right in front of our living room/kitchen and it’s easy  and convenient in almost any weather. So for yesterday we decided to invite my mom for dinner and treat her with some nice barbie-food.

The mushrooms cooking

The tasty corn is ready…

We started with aperitif on the balcony and served an light, dry, Austrian white of SÅ mling 88 varietal, also called Scheurebe, with some olives and marinated mushrooms. Around Sundown we moved to the table and had appetizers – sweet melon with prosciutto and our own balcony-grown cherry tomatoes with little mozzarella spheres, basil (also from the terrace plantation) and an abundance of olive oil. Then we fired up the grill for the following recipe:

Ingredients

4 veal chops with the bone in, about 1" thick
1 lime
8 sprigs of thyme
4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
4 small porcini mushrooms
4 small regular mushrooms (as porcini are pretty expensive over here, instead you could double the porcini)
2 échalottes
1 tbs butter
Salt & pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Blot the meat dry with a paper towel and salt and pepper it to taste.
2. Prepare the marinade by removing 8 zests from the lime with a peeler.
3. Juice the lime and mix the olive oil with the lime juice.
4. Put a lime zest and a thyme sprig on each side of every chop.
5. Put them in a non-corrosive bowl and pour the marinade over them.
6. Let the chops marinate for at least 3 hours, occasionally pouring the marinade over them with a spoon.
7. For the corn, remove any leaves or ‘hair’, cover them with olive oil (or butter if you prefer)
8. If you want some more smoke flavor on the gas grill, fill the smoking compartment with soaked wood chips or prepare a ‘smoking pouch’ by wrapping them in double heavy duty aluminum foil, poke some small holes in the foil and place on the flavorizer bars.
9. When ready to grill, preheat the grill to high, brush and oil the grate. Put the chops on first, followed by the corn on the cob.
10. For medium doneness, turn the chops 90 degrees after 3 minutes.
11. Turn them over after another 3 minutes and 90 degrees again after 3 more minutes, for a total of 12 minutes. The 90 degree turns ensure that your cops will get handsome criss-cross marks on them.
12. You can turn the cobs as needed, depending on the heat.
13. When done put the chops on a plate, add some olive oil, thyme and salt to them as desired and cover with aluminum foil. Let them rest – we usually use the oven for that, preheated to 125F and double use it to warm the plates to be used. The meat should rest about 10 minutes for best results.
14. When the corn is finished – easy to see as the color is turning to bright gold – put it on a plate and likewise cover with aluminum foil.
15. For the sautéed porcini the mushrooms are cut in thin slices. The échalottes are to be cut in small cubes.
16. Heat the butter in a pan, add the échalottes and once they turn nicely glaassy, add the sliced mushrooms.
17. Sauté at medium heat for about 8-10 minutes. After 4-5 minutes you will notice the intense aroma of the porcini in the air, reduce the heat as required so the mushrooms don’t dry out.
18. Serve by putting a chop on each preheated plate, put the corn on the side and cover the chops with the sauteed porcini. If you like, you can decorate with further thyme sprigs.

Enjoy with a nice, full bodied white – we had an Austrian chardonnay from Weingut Leberl which is only partly oaked and comes at a good natured 12.5% Alcohol.

Kurtito

For all of those visitor that come daily to this recipe we have posted a lighter and quicker to prepare version of this traditional Jalisco dish HERE. This other recipe is one that we normally eat at home at least once or twice a month. Enjoy both recipes.

The served pozole de Jalisco before topping it with goodies

Last Mexican Independence Day we prepared some pozole for the entire family as part of the traditional celebration for the day. There are many styles of this dish and we prepare the version from Jalisco, which is a red pozole that is colored by the addition of dried chiles. Other regions like the Pozole Verde de Guerrero use green tomatillos, and there are also white versions without chiles. The red pozole from Jalisco is the traditional one in Normita’s family as her grandmother was from Guadalajara in the hearth of Jalisco.

The pozole corn soaking

The pork we used for the recipe

The chicken we used in the recipe

The pig’s ears used in the recipe

Pozole is essentially a rich corn soup made with a special variety of corn with very large kernels called ‘cacahuacintle’. The corn kernels are puffed by a special treatment with a light solution of lime, the stuff you make mortar with, not the fruit. It is a process that yields results a bit like when you make popcorn, but with juicy moist kernels of corn. I will not go through the process of preparing the corn, as we normally buy the corn at the market already prepared and we only have to soak it overnight and then cook it for 3 to 4 hours. If somebody wants the instruction to prepare the corn from scratch, please let me know and I will post them.

The meat dredged in flour

Browning the meat

The browned meat

To this nice rich soup normally some pork or chicken meat is added. We decided to prepare both types of meats as well as some pig’s ears. You can also add bits and pieces of pig’s head if you wish.

The cooking stock

The stock is ready

Adding the cooked corn to the stock

The meat is cooked in one large pot and the stock will become the base for the soup. The corn is cooked in its own separate pot, and is added to the stock prior to seasoning. Once cooked all of the meat is shredded using your fingers and the method of serving is to put the type of meat you prefer in an empty bowl, then ladle the corn soup over it.

The dried chiles

The soaking chiles

Traditionally the soup is topped at the table with finely shredded lettuce (we used romaine), finely chopped red onions, crushed dried oregano, finely chopped radish, and lime juice. It is served, at least in our family, with some nice ‘tostadas de crema’, essentially tostadas (flat fried corn tortillas) topped with a thick layer of thick clotted cream, salt, and grated ‘queso fresco’. Of course both the pozole and the tostadas can be spiced up with the addition of your favorite spicy sauce, and we had a variety on had for the occasion.

The shredded chicked waiting to be served

The basic pozole itself is not very spicy as the chiles used (anchos and guajillos) give a lot of flavor, but not much heat. This is a great dish to prepare for a group as it tastes much better if prepare in large quantities. It is ideal for the type of celebrations like we had, and is traditionally served on Mexican Independence Day’s eve (September 15).

The table is ready

Ingredients

Corn Base

3-4 pounds of prepared pozole or hominy type corn
1 medium peeled onion
1 large peeled clove of elephant garlic or 5 regular ones
7 quarts water

Meat Base

2 pounds of whole chicken breast with bone
2 pounds of pork meat with bones, a mixture of ribs and leg is great
1/2 pound pig’s ears
1 large peeled carrot
1 medium peeled onion
1 large branch of celery
1 large peeled clove of elephant garlic or 5 regular ones
Flour to dredge the meat
Coarse sea salt to taste
4 tbs of olive oil
5 chiles ancho, seeded and with ribs and stems removed
5 chiles guajillo, seeded and with ribs and stems removed
7 quarts strong chicken or pork stock

Garnish

4 Ounces finely chopped red onion
4 Ounces finely chopped radish
4 Ounces finely chopped romaine lettuce
12 limes halved
Dry oregano
Your favorite chile salsa

Preparation

1. Soak the corn for 24 hours and change the water at least 4 times.
2. In a large stock pot put the prepared corn in enough water to cover deeply.
3. Add the onion and garlic to the pot.
4. Simmer for 3 to 4 hours until the corn is tender and doubles in size opening like popcorn.
5. Reserve the cooked corn.
6. Once the corn starts cooking cut the meat in medium sized chunks.
7. Dredge the meat in flour.
8. In another large stock pot heat up the oil and brown the meat in batches to seal it.
9. Once the meat is all browned return it to the stock pot and add the stock.
10. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and salt to taste to the pot.
11. Simmer the meat for 2-3 hours until tender and skim the surface to remove foam and fat regularly.
12. While the corn and meat are cooking prepare the chiles and soak them in some warm chicken stock.
13. Remove the meat from the stock and let cool.
14. Once the meat is cooled shred it with your fingers.
15. Pass the stock where the meat cooked through a fine sieve and return it to the stock pot.
16. Add the cooked corn to the stock.
17. Puré the chiles with the stock they were soaked in and add to the stock pot.
18. Mix well and gently simmer for 15 minutes then add salt if needed.
19. Place meat or chicken at the bottom of a large soup bowl and ladle the pozole over it.
20. At the table each tops their pozole with lettuce, onions, radishes, oregano, lime juice, and their favorite salsa.

Lucito

Last weekend was a very lazy one. On Saturday morning Normita went out with some friends to celebrate the birthday of Viky over breakfast, and I stayed home to work. In the afternoon I was getting very lazy and I was not in the mood to prepare anything elaborate in the kitchen. Normita mentioned that she was in the mood of some pasta with maybe pesto, so I jumped in the car to go to the super and pick up some fresh basil, some pasta, and a bottle of white wine. I prepared a quick and dirty pesto, which takes about as much time as boiling the water for the pasta. I had bought some tagliatelle pasta, but you can substitute the pasta of your choice. It is a true lazy Saturday dish…

Ingredients

5 quarts water
1 1/2 tbs salt
1/2 pound dry tagliatelle pasta
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1 large clove elephant garlic or 4-5 cloves regular garlic
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan to taste for garnish

Preparation

1. In a large pot bring the water with salt to boil and cook the pasta until tender.
2. While waiting for the water to boil, in a sauté pan over medium high heat toast the 1/4 cup of pine nuts until golden brown. Make sure not to burn them. Set aside for garnishing.
3. Using a food processor or blender place the roughly chopped garlic and basil, the 1/2 cup of pine nuts, and the olive oil. Pulse until smooth.
4. Drain the pasta when cooked and return it to the pot. Pour the pesto sauce over it and toss over medium heat until the sauce and the remaining water is well absorbed into the pasta.
5. Server and season with salt and pepper to taste and top with freshly grated parmesan.

Lucito

Here is another new recipe from last Saturday when Johnny Boy dropped by. When we left for the market I asked Normita what she felt like eating, and she wanted some fish. Our fish merchant had some nice thick robalo filets, a common fish here from the snook family, fresh from Golf Coast. We selected a particularly thick one and had 6 nice fish sticks about 1" square and 5" long cut out of the filet. I still was not sure how I would prepare them, but I finely decided to do something simple and bread them in a crust of peanuts and pumpkin seeds.

The fish turned out meltingly juicy and tender, in a nice crispy crust. A great tasting combination, from a very simple and easy recipe.

Ingredients

1 1/4 pound robalo cut into 8 fish stick about 1" square by 5" long
4 heaping tbs flour
1 heaping tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper, freshly ground
2 eggs
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp heavy cream
3/4 cup ground peanuts
3/4 cup ground pumpkin seeds
2 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil

Preparation

1. Prepare 3 bowls wide enough to be able to dip the fish sticks in them.
2. In the first bowl place flour, onion powder and salt, and mix with spoon until well combined.
3. In the second bowl break the 2 eggs, add the tsp of olive oil, and the tsp of heavy cream.
4. With a fork whisk the eggs gently until you have a smooth homogeneous mixture.
5. In the third bowl place the ground peanuts and pumpkins and mix together well.
6. Take a fish stick and place in the flour bowl until well coated on both sides.
7. Pass the fish stick through the egg mixture until well coated on both sides, then let drip the excess.
8. Place the egg-coated fish stick in the nut mixture until all sides are coated well.
9. Place on a wire rack to dry.
10. Rinse your fingers and repeat with the other fish sticks.
11. Place the wire rack in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes for the breading to dry.
12. In a large frying pan on a medium fire melt the butter and add the olive oil.
13. Cook fish sticks in the butter 3-4 minutes per side, until well browned for a total of around 7-8 minutes.
14. Put on a plate lined with paper towels to drain, and serve.

Lucito

Some weeks ago, when we had Normita’s friends over, I made a nice seafood salad. There was some fresh cooked crab and shrimps leftover from that meal, and I had frozen them that afternoon. Since that day I had a craving for some nice crab and shrimps cakes. I never got around to making them and when I decided to take a day off from work last Saturday the craving came back. Since the idea had been hovering around the back of my mind for some weeks, and I was feeling like having something a tad more adventurous than my regular crab cakes I started looking around what I had in hand to prepare a nice meal. I did not feel like going out shopping so my primary goal was to spruce up the crab cakes with whatever I could find in the refrigerator.

What I came up with was some crab and shrimps latkes (potato pancakes). I assembled what I had leftover from the past week cooking and came up with a very tasty, if rich, treat. The potatoes had some texture to the crab cakes and the variety of spices bring out the flavor, contrasting the sweetness of the leftover sweetened coconut cream from the other week. It will definitely be a recipe that I will repeat, and if cooking for a crowd I would prepare them just before they arrive, and either refrigerate them, or keep them warm in a low oven, depending on how much time there is before we eat. A nice tangy salad would be an ideal side dish, to cut through the exotic taste of those rich crab and potato cakes.

Ingredients

1/2 pound cooked crab meat
1/2 pound cooked small cold water shrimps
1 large baking potato, shredded with a box grinder
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1/2 cup sweetened coconut cream
3 large eggs
12 fresh shiitake mushrooms cut into small pieces
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 limes, juiced
3 large green onions, finely chopped
1 inch of fresh ginger, pealed and finely chopped
3 tbs fresh parmesan, grated
2 tbs curry powder
1 tbs cumin
2 tsp chile piquin powder
1 tsp sweet and sour paprika
2 tbs butter
2 tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. In a large bowl place the flour, the panko, and a pinch of salt, and mix well
2. Add the cream, the sweetened coconut cream, and the eggs and mix until you get a very thick batter
3. Add the chile piquin, the curry powder, the cumin, and paprika and mix again
4. Add the shiitakes, the ginger, the grated parmesan, and mix again
5. Fold in the grated potatoes
6. Fold in the crab meat and the shrimps
7. Add the lime juice, salt and pepper to taste and mix into a heavy batter
8. In a large frying pan melt the butter and add the olive oil
9. Pour large soup spoons of the batter in the pan and cook until browned on one side, then carefully flip over with a wide spatula and brown the other side
10. Place the cooked latkes on a cookie sheet and keep warm in a low oven until they are all cooked

Lucito

A few week’s back I was trying to find something to cook with what I had at hand, and I decided to prepare a shrimp curry based on an old recipe I had in my archives for ages. The curry had a coconut milk base, and I thought I had picked up a can recently. I remembered that it was impossible to find locally and thought that it was now available until I found out, after opening the can, that it was sweetened coconut water used to make drinks like piña colada. When I noticed that, I decided to change the recipe a bit to accommodate the extremely sweet goop that was in the can.

The recipe called for curry powder and I substituted for an entire box of Japanese hot curry in cake form. The box has one large chocolate-bar-shaped cake of curry paste, divided into 5 parts, and I started with 3 of them, and finally decided to use the entire box to cut through the sweetness with a bit of heat. It turned out surprisingly tasty, even though the leftover frozen uncooked shrimps were not very good. You could easily substitute some nice cubed chicken breast instead to make an easy and cheap meal out of it.

Ingredients

1 pound raw shrimps, shelled, deveined, and cut in 1/2" pieces
1 package hot Japanese curry
1 cup chicken stock
3/4 cup sweetened coconut milk
1 cucumber peeled, seeded, and diced
1 small red onion finely diced
1 tbs butter
2 limes, juiced
1" piece of fresh ginger peeled and finely diced
Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Sauté the onion in the butter until the onions starts to take color
2. Add the ginger and salt and stir in for a minute
3. Add the chicken stock and the curry cakes and dissolve while stirring, simmer for 10 minutes
4. Add the sweetened coconut milk and the lime juice and bring to boil
5. Add the shrimps and the cucumber and simmer until the shrimps are cooked, around 3-5 minutes
6. Serve over a bed of steamed rice

Lucito