Recipes
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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
Last weekend, when we received Normita’s young friends for lunch, I prepared a foolproof meal that I can assemble quickly as work has been so busy in the last few months that I did not have time to prepare anything to involved. All of the recipes can easily be done with a an hour or two of prep time total depending on how quick you are with a knife. We started with a very easy first course, a seafood salad that I put together for the first time more than 25 years ago. I used to do it regularly as a last minute first course when I did not have time to prepare anything else. It can be done with a variety of seafood, but my old standby is to make it with small cooked shrimps and with nice chunks of cooked crab meat. Luckily when we went to the Jamaica market early Saturday morning our fish merchant was unpacking some nice fresh shrimps and some nice crab meat that he had just picked up. The quality was stunning and it made a great first course.
For the main course I had some frozen turkey breast and I prepared it as Sweet and Sour Turkey Cheng Tu style, as recipe I already posted some time ago for chicken https://www.igourmand.com/index.php/archives/recipes/40 . The dessert, at Normita’s request, was the bread pudding which I posted the recipe recently https://www.igourmand.com/index.php/archives/recipes/102 .
The seafood salad is best prepared just prior to serving, but it can be done a few hours ahead and refrigerated until time to serve. I have always like it and I plan to do it more often as seafood is great and cheap around here, and I had not done it in ages and I really do not know why as I like it a lot. To see some pictures of the celebrations from last Saturday, have a look at our new blog.
Ingredients
1 pound small cooked shrimps
1/2 pound cooked crab meat
1/2 cup golden raisins soaked at least an hour in 4 tbs brandy
2 medium stalks celery chopped in fine cubes
1 apple cored and cut into small cubes
3-4 tbs mayonnaise
Juice of 2 small limes
6 large leaves of Boston lettuce
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
1. Place the seafood, apple cubes, raisins with brandy, and celery cubes in a large bowl and toss together
2. Season with salt and pepper and the lime juice
3. Add the mayonnaise and mix with a large spoon until the ingredients are well blended
4. Serve portions on the lettuce leaves
Lucito
I had promised a few weeks back to publish this recipe, but work took the better of me, and I never got around to it. Last night I was still in the office late in the evening cleaning up odds and ends that needed to be attended to, and I finally decided to do something about it. I was planning to post the recipe last night, but the pictures were on Normita’s computer instead of on a network drive and I was too lazy to start her machine to move the files.
‘Pouding au Pain’ is a typical French Canadian dessert from my natal Québec. It was originally a recipe made by the poorer classes of society as it is based on stale bread and was usually made with leftover bread to make a cheap dessert that did not use to much fresh products beside some milk and sugar. The version I created here is more upscale and make for a great end to a nice meal. I replace the traditional brown sugar or molasses with maple syrup. Luckily, when I made it the other week when we had invited Normita’s friends over for lunch, I still had a can of nice maple syrup from Québec in the cupboard, as it can be difficult to find here in Mexico City. The last time I saw some was a few years back at Costco, and I have not checked recently if they still have it in stock. I am sure that the gourmet section of the major department stores like Liverpool or Palacio de Hierro might have some, but probably at a price I would not want to pay for it.
Pouding au Pain is better made with stale bread, and I used a variety of leftover sweet Mexican breads, plus whatever was left in the cupboard that was not fresh. You can freeze your leftover bread like I did, once it is somewhat stale, and use it at a later date. You can use anything from sliced white bread, to leftover hotdog or hamburger buns, to whatever stale bread you have. The sweet Mexican breads I used are typically eaten here in the evening as a light supper accompanied by ‘atole’, a flavored drink made and thickened with cornstarch.
Our friends like this bread pudding so much that we ended up sending them home with most of the leftovers, so I guess that I will have to make more in the coming weeks as I still have some maple syrup left from the last batch.
Ingredients
6 cups stale bread cut in cubes
1 1/2 milk
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup chopped mixed nuts
1/2 cup raising soaked in 3 tbs dark rum
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup brandy
5 eggs
2 tbs melted butter
2 tbs cinnamon
1 tbs nutmeg
1 tbs pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
Maple syrup and vanilla ice cream
Preparation
1. Place the stale bread cubes in a large buttered ovenproof baking dish
2. Mix the milk and heavy cream and pour over the bread and make sure that all the bread is well soaked
3. Let the bread absorb the milk mixture for 10 minutes
4. Dust the surface of the bread with the cinnamon and nutmeg
5. Spread the chopped nuts and the soaked raising evenly on the surface and push some of them in the soaked bread
6. In a bowl place the eggs and whisk them well
7. Add salt, vanilla, maple syrup, melted butter, and brandy, then whisk until well incorporated
8. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the bread making sure that there is some everywhere
9. Let soak for 10 minutes and then bake in a preheated 375F oven for around 30 minutes until the pudding is set
10. Serve warm with some maple syrup on it and a scoop of vanilla ice cream
Lucito
Yesterday we were entertaining some friends and people were in the mood for tequila. The traditional way of serving it is with some sangrita, a spicy tomato-based drink that is served on the side. Normally you serve a shotglass of tequila, called a caballito, with a second caballito of sangrita. A small plate of limes cut in half and seeded is also normal. I have never seen the locals go through the ritual of putting lime in the fold of their thumbs with a bit of salt and sucking this before drinking the tequila. The only people you normally see doing that are tourists. Most people either drink their tequila straight, or squeeze half a lime in it, and maybe add just a little bit of salt. I also see some people biting into the half lime and sucking the juice, then drinking the tequila, but it rarer than just squeezing lime juice in it.
I used to prefer my tequila, normally a decent ‘reposado’, meaning rested, a tequila that is aged. or rested, in wooden tanks for at least 2 months up to about a year. Those tequilas lose their white color and take a nice golden hue, and they are normally much smoother to drink than white tequila. If they are aged longer than a year, they can then be called ‘añejo’, the smoothest of the tequilas that I normally prefer as an after dinner drink. I recently tried a few times my tequila on the rocks in a scotch glass with the juice of a lime in it and find it both very refreshing and very smooth going down. I like it a lot like that when I am in the mood for it.
Usually the sangrita, literally little blood, is served with tequila before a meal. In restaurants they can be pretty uneven depending if they make their own, or buy the commercial stuff. I tend to never buy any as I find the commercial sangrita very expensive, about the same price of a similar sized bottle of vodka locally, and normally the taste is too sweet and not spicy enough. Since we were having people over I decided to experiment a bit and I created a very simple recipe that turned out both better than the commercial ones, and most importantly about 4-5 times less expensive. It takes only a minute to mix the ingredients to taste, and you then serve your guests a caballito of tequila with a caballito of sangrita, a small plate with cut limes, and maybe a salt shaker if they are in the mood for that. You can put some lime in and/or salt in your tequila if you wish, and simply alternatively sip a bit of tequila followed by a sip of sangrita. A great way to spend a lazy afternoon with friends…
Ingredients
2 cups tomato juice
1 cup orange juice
4 limes, juiced
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
Spicy chile sauce to taste, I normally used a smooth one like the Bufalo Clasica
Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
1. In a large measuring jar, put all the ingredients and mix with a spoon
Lucito
I have been asked a lot in the past about what to do with leftovers. I always try to use all the food that we buy as I do not like throwing things away and wasting them. Yesterday was our usual shopping-for-the-week day and we bought some stunning fresh chucked oysters in their juice, and some nice small cooked shrimps that were unbelievably tender and sweet. That fish merchant that we discovered at the Jamaica market last month really has some stunning fresh fish and seafood, and at a very low rice as the shrimps and oysters came up to a total of around $6.
For supper last night Normita prepared her world famous shrimp and oyster cocktail and I have to confess that we did throw out the nice oyster juice, as it does not really keep and we were not planning to cook anything else within the day, as today we are going out for lunch with the in-laws for an early father’s day and mother in law’s birthday celebration, as they will be out of town on a trip during both occasions. The family will meet at a restaurant that specializes in roasted goat, I think, and I will be sure to let you know how it turns out.
Going back to my story, I was in the mood for a nice fresh baguette to go with the shrimp cocktails, and we were doing our rounds of shopping and I realized that we did not pick up any bread when we passed by the supermarket. Since we both were dead tired, and did not feel like making another stop on our way back home, I looked for some baguettes in the store we were at the moment, and the only thing they had was packages of 3 freshly baked baguettes. It was a tad more than even I can eat in one sitting, but I was dead set in having my baguette. I assured Normita that I would find something to do with the leftover bread and we took it back home with us.
Last night we were discussing that Normita would invite some of her friends for supper next Saturday night, and I was starting to plan the meal ahead. The last few months have been totally crazy and I have not had the chance to spend as much time in the kitchen as I normally do, and I am looking forward to plan a decent meal. Time will be tight, as we will both be busy at work all week, and Friday night the cleaning people are coming to clean up the place, and they normally leave around 9pm, thus not leaving me with much room to prepare things ahead of time, and I do not want to spend all of my day in the kitchen on Saturday, especially since we will have to go pickup some fresh ingredients at the market early Saturday morning.
As a first course I will do my Vichyssoise, as I still have not had time to do it since I posted the recipe the other week, and I still have a nice craving for it. I can easily prepare that after the cleaners leave of Friday night. I settled for preparing my shrimps with chile guajillo as the main dish, as the fish merchant always has some stunning juicy ones, and it is a very quick and easy plate to prepare, as the only time consuming part is removing the heads and shelling the shrimps. I have still to settle the side dish for that main course but I have all week to think about it. I also though of a quick an easy way to accompany the meal, and at the same time take care of the leftover baguette. I decided to prepare some nice garlic bread this morning and to freeze it, and then I will only have to broil it before serving next week, as is or with some nice grated cheese on top.
We had also picked up some nice sweat Mexican bread for breakfast today, and we shared one piece, and we were both stuffed. I still have two pieces leftover, and they are too heavy for my regular weekday breakfast. I decided to salvage them again by preparing a typical dessert from my native Québec, some ‘pouding au pain au sirop d’érable’, a bread pudding made with stale bread and maple syrup. I will post the recipe later in the week once I actually prepare it. For now I will let the bread go stale for a few days, and then freeze it until I decide to prepare the pudding, probably Saturday afternoon. Enjoy these simple leftover recipes, and I will make sure to post more whenever I prepare some.
Ingredients
3 French baguettes
1/2 pound room temperature butter or margarine
4 large cloves garlic
1 tbs finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tbs finely chopped fresh basil
1/2 pound grated cheese (optional)
Pinch of salt
Preparation
1. Chop the garlic finely and but in a bowl.
2. Add the softened butter or margarine, the parsley, the basil, and the salt and mix thoroughly with a fork.
3. Cut the baguettes in half lengthwise, and then again in half in the thickness.
4. Cut the split baguettes in 3" pieces and spread a generous amount of the butter mixture in them.
5. If you plan to eat them right away, place on cookie sheet and sprinkle with some grated cheese if you want it.
6. Place in a hot over under the broiler until the bread is golden, or until the cheese is melted if you prefer the bread with cheese.
7. If you plan to freeze it, place the separated pieces of bread back together without any cheese, buttered side against butter side, and place them in zip-closure bags. Put in the freezer and they will keep for about a month if well sealed. Thaw and broil as above with or without the cheese.
Lucito
Normally I prefer to make a nice pâté during the cold season, but the weather has been cool and rainy all day and I suddenly had a craving for some nice pâté and I thought about a recipe I invented years ago for our usual family Christmas party. It is fairly simple to make and improves in flavor for the first few days and keeps up to a week well wrapped in the refrigerator. For a party I normally like to present it on the buffet table molded in some interestingly shaped mold. You can also prepare it in small glass or ceramic dishes and serve it in individual portions as an interesting first course or appetizer with some nice fresh bread or crackers. It is very versatile and I normally prepare large quantities of it as everybody wants to bring some back home with them after the event. You can easily plan ahead by molding some nice smaller portions for your guests to bring back home, or dividing the leftovers for them at the end of the evening, but be careful not to start too many fights between your guests trying to score the biggest portion.
Ingredients
2 French shallots or 4 green onions finely chopped
1 large garlic clove finely chopped
1 1/2 Tbs butter
1 1/2 pounds of fresh chicken livers with all the fat removed and rinsed with water and lime juice
15-20 slices of dried mushroom or 4-5 chopped fresh mushrooms
1/4 Tsp salt
1/4 Tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 Tsp freshly ground white pepper
A grating of nutmeg
A pinch of ground dry ginger
A pinch of ground cinnamon
4 Oz of finely chopped pistachios
4 Oz of coarsely chopped pistachios
4 Tbs of heavy cream
3 Tbs of Brandy
3 Tbs of dark Rum
2 Tbs of Port wine
Preparation
1. Prepare a mold for the pâté by putting a layer of aluminum foil in it and greasing it with spray oil, margarine, or butter.
2. In a large sauté pan melt the butter over medium-high fire.
3. Add the shallots and garlic an sauté for 1 minute.
4. Add the liver and mushrooms and sauté for 1 minute.
5. Add the spices and the salt.
6. Sauté the livers until they loose their pink color in the center.
7. Add the finely chopped pistachios.
8. Pour the brandy and rum in a glass and poor the glass in the pan.
9. When the liquid boil light it to flambé the livers.
10. When the flames have died off add the Porto and reduce the liquid by half.
11. Remove from the heat and let cool.
12. Put the contents of the pan in a blender or food processor and mix until it is of a creamy consistency.
13. Add the cream and mix until you have a thick liquid without any lumps.
14. Pour the liquid in a bowl and add the coarsely chopped pistachios and mix with a spoon until you have a homogenous mixture.
15. Pour in your prepared mold and cover with some plastic wrap.
16. Refrigerate at least 24 hours for the pâté to set and the flavors to mix well.
17. Unmold and put on a presentation dish.
Lucito
I have not been able to really cook over the last few weeks as we had company and also work has been crazier than usual. Normita has been making nice large pots of vegetable soup for daily lunches and I have taken into eating a bowl of it, cold and in front of the computer, as part of my daily lunch. Normita is not a fan of cold soups and she cannot understand my love of them.
Most of this love it comes from my experiments with Vichyssoise when I started cooking. During the summer school holidays, I had gone to a nice French restaurant with my Grandmother in Ste-Agathe, a neighboring village to where I was born, and I experienced Vichyssoise for the first time. My Grandmother loved going to good restaurants and of course this place was top notch. I really enjoyed the soup’s creamy texture and its cold élégance.
When I started to be interested in cooking I experimented with various recipes of Vichyssoise, and I was never satisfied as on the first day I had tasted it in that restaurant with my Grandmother. One day at our cottage in the woods, when I was in a rush to prepare a meal as some friends were supposed to drop by for an unexpected visit at the end of the day, I looked at the ingredients I had in the refrigerator and found that I had some fresh leeks and parsley and some nice yellow potatoes. Since we would be out most of the day I wanted to prepare something hearty for a starter, and then grill something for the main course. I do not remember what I cooked for the main course on that faithful day, but I remember the hurriedly put together Vichyssoise I made as it was both easy to prepare and it reminded me of my first love of that soup.
I just threw it together in the morning in less than half an hour before leaving for our day’s activities, and finished it in 5 minutes before the meal. You cannot ask for an easier to prepare soup that will make you look like you slaved for hours in the kitchen, and if you are like Normita you can always heat it up before serving, but in my book this is sacrilège. I definitely will make a pot for the next week for my lunch…
Ingredients
2 medium to large leeks
4-5 medium potatoes (about the same quantity as the pared down leeks)
6 cups hearty chicken stock
1 1/2 cup of heavy cream
2 tbs butter
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
1. Peel potatoes and cut into cubes to speed up cooking.
2. Cut the tip of the leek and remove the dark green part leaving the white and the tender green ones.
3. Make a cut from almost the tip to the other end completely through, and then turn 90 degrees and repeat.
4. Wash the leeks thoroughly to remove any trace of dirt, and then pat dry and chop in thick slices.
5. In a heavy lidded sauté pan melt the butter in the olive oil and then sauté the leeks with the lid on until they turn translucent and soft.
6. In a large soup pot put the potatoes, the broth, the parsley, and salt and pepper to taste and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.
7. In a blender or food processor put the soup and the leeks together and blend until a creamy consistency is achieved. Do not overblend it, or the potatoes might turn rubbery.
8. You can refrigerate at this point for 3-4 hours up to a few days.
9. For serving place the cold soup in the blender and add the heavy creamy and blend. Adjust the salt and pepper and serve cold with a sprig of parsley and a splash of cream on top for decoration.
Lucito
This afternoon Normita invented a fantastic dessert. We were shopping for things for supper, as my parents are visiting with us from Canada for some days, prior to us driving them down to Acapulco later in the week. We had already picked up some arrachera for the main course, with some large potatoes for baking, some nice string beans, and some mushrooms. We were looking for something simple to have for dessert when she remembered that we had some nice Manila mangos that were perfectly ripe at home, and some nice thick farmer’s cream that has a nice sweet aftertaste. The medium sized Manila mangos are of a stunning bright yellow and they are the ones that we find the tastiest and the sweetest. They are currently in season and Normita loves them with a passion, so much that I get jealous at time…
She decided to scoop the flesh of the remaining mangos and add the heavy cream, and simply puree them for a dessert that was a stunning mango mousse. She had put it in the freezer to cool it down, and we had it while it was still like a thick liquid. The texture and taste was incredible, and we will leave it to freeze overnight and see what it will look in the morning. Hopefully it will have turned into a rich mango ice cream. My mother liked it so much that she already had 2 bowls, and we are all worried that when we get up in the morning nothing will be left of what we put in the freezer.
Ingredients
2 pounds ripe Manila mangos
1/2 pound heavy clotted cream
Preparation
1. Scoop the flesh of all of the ripe mangos and place in a deep bowl or into a large water pitcher.
2. With a stick mixer puree the mango until you have a thick creamy liquid.
3. Add the cream and mix with the mango until well incorporated.
4. Place the liquid in a container and put into the freezer until it thickens.
Lucito
One late summer day, many years ago, I had found some nice fresh crab meat at the market and also some beautiful sweet corn. My original idea was to make some nice corn pancakes, and when I found the crab, I decided to combine the two and invent a crab pancake recipe. It was a great success, and for some reason I was thinking about them earlier today, and now I have to find some nice crab meat to make some over the weekend, as I suddenly have a craving for them…
This recipe can also be done with good quality canned or frozen crab meat, and I have made it successfully in the past with frozen corn kernels, and I am sure that canned kernels can be substituted without any problems. I like them by themselves, and they can be eaten with a nice tartar sauce, or even with salsa verde if you want to spice up things.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sweet corn kernels
3/4 to 1 cup milk
1 pound crab meat
2 eggs
2 tbs sour cream
2 tbs melted butter
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 grating nutmeg
Butter for cooking
Preparation
1. In a bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, white pepper and nutmeg, and mix until uniform with a fork.
2. Add the eggs, the melted butter, and enough milk to make a fairly thick batter, and whisk together.
3. Fold in the corn and the crab meat until well incorporated.
4. In a non-stick pan melt a bit of butter over medium-low heat.
5. Place large spoonfuls off the batter in the pan to make several thick patties and cook until the edges are dry, then turn over and cook until set.
6. Keep the cooked pancakes warm and repeat with the rest of the batter.
Lucito
Today we did some extensive food shopping at the Mercado de Jamaica as over the last 8 months the price of food in and around the area we have moved to, has increased dramatically. Now that we are finally motorized again we can easily go back shopping to that fantastic covered market that specializes in flowers, but also has a huge amount of fruits and vegetables, as well as some decent chicken merchants. We also know a good butcher in the area, so we can buy there about 80% of what we need, and Normita is doing the accounting and we saved about 50-60% compared to shopping in our neighborhood. It is well worth going there, and we will start going regularly every Saturday morning.
We bought a huge pair of chicken breasts and had them prepared into what is locally called ‘bistecs’. Each individual breast is cut in half and spread open then pounded between two sheets of plastic to make a nice large thin piece of meat. Today’s ‘bistecs’ were huge considering that that both came from only a single breast. Normally we like to prepare them simply by seasoning with salt, pepper, and herbs, then squeezing some lime juice on them. You can then cook the ‘bistecs’ on a hot grill pan and have a tasty light meal.
Normita was in the mood for ‘milanesa’, which is the local name for taking one of those ‘bistecs’ and breading them. It is then cooked by pan frying. Those ‘bistecs’ can also be made with beef, veal, pork, and other meats. I decided to surprise her and prepare a gourmet version of the common ‘milanesa’. I quickly invented a nice tasty breading and we came out of the table just a while ago satisfied by a very tasty meal that turned out fantastic. The ‘milanesas’ were juicy with an incredibly crisp breading. I served the ‘milanesas’ with simple side dishes, some nice mushrooms sautéed in butter, and creamy mashed potatoes.
To reinforce the philosophy of this blog, I want to remind our readers that all the recipes that we post are originals, family recipes, classic recipes that we have been doing for ages, or recipes contributed by friends that we have tested. A lot of effort goes into doing it like this, but I would not do it otherwise, as it is the only way for us to assure you that a recipe will yield good results. If we do not like cooking and eating it, we will not post it. I can safely say that we enjoyed this recipe that I just put together a few hours ago, and with a full belly tonight I bid you goodnight.
Ingredients
4 ‘bistecs’ of chicken breast
4 heaping tbs flour
1 heaping tsp onion powder
1 heaping tsp dried herbes de Provence, finely ground
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1/2 tsp mixture of pink, green, white peppers, freshly ground
3 eggs
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs heavy cream
1 1/2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1 heaping tbs parmesan cheese, grated
2 heaping tsp Spanish smoked paprika
1 heaping tsp dried parsley
Enough extra virgin olive oil to pan fry the ‘bistecs’
Preparation
1. Prepare 3 bowls wide enough to be able to dip the ‘bistecs’ in them.
2. In the first bowl place flour, onion powder, herbes de Provence, garlic powder, salt and peppers, and mix with spoon until well combined.
3. In the second bowl break the 3 eggs, the tbs of olive oil, and the tbs 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 panko, the parmesan, the paprika, and the parsley and mix with a spoon until well combined.
6. Take a ‘bistec’ and place in the flour bowl until well coated on both sides.
7. Pass the ‘bistec’ through the egg mixture until well coated on both sides, then let drip the excess.
8. Place the egg-coated ‘bistec’ in the panko mixture until both sides are coated well.
9. Dip it in the egg mixture again and then in the panko a second time to create a thick coating.
10. Place on a wire rack to dry.
11. Rinse your fingers and repeat with the other ‘bistecs’.
12. Place the wire rack in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes for the breading to dry.
13. In a large frying pan, place about 1/4" of extra virgin olive oil and heat up on a medium fire.
14. Place the breaded ‘bistecs’ in the oil and cook about 3-4 minutes per side, until well browned.
15. Put on a plate lined with paper towels to drain, and then keep warm in a low oven until all the ‘bistecs’ are cooked.
Lucito