Arroz con Pollo

This cousin of the Asopao, the Arroz con Pollo is a classic Puerto Rican recipe that is prepared in every Puerto Rican home. This recipe takes 1 hour to prepare and serves 8. Prepare enough for seconds because you will want more than one serving.

3 tablespoons of sofrito

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons cilantro

1 teaspoon salt, add more to taste

1 teaspoon black pepper, add more to taste

1 3-5 pound chicken cut into pieces

3 tablespoons oil

¼ pound ham, diced (thick slice preferably with bone)

1 onion chopped

1 green bell pepper chopped

3 tomatoes chopped

2 tablespoons of capers

¼ cup green olives stuffed with peppers

3 cup long-grain rice

6 cups chicken stock

¼ cup roasted red peppers for garnish

1. Combine the garlic, cilantro, salt and pepper and season the chicken with it.

2. In a casserole, with a lid, place oil at medium high heat until hot. Add the chicken and brown it (15 min). Remove chicken and add ham, onion, bell peppers and tomatoes, until the onion softens. Place chicken back in, add stock and cook for 30 minutes over medium low heat.

3. Stir in rice, olives, capers and cover. Simmer over low heat until the rice is soft or approximately 15 minutes.

4. Reseason with salt and pepper to taste and garnish with roasted red peppers.

You will enjoy this is a Puerto Rican recipe with your family for a long time. This is a great recipe that you and your family will enjoy for a long time.

NYC Dining is Amazing

So I’m back from my trip and NYC dining is amazing. The food was awesome and the city is great. I went to some places I had visited and ventured to some new places that were amazing. After arriving and settling in at the hotel it was midnight. There went the evening right? Not in New York, we went to an old favorite for Sushi Typhoon Lounge in Manhattan on St Marks (8th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues). Typhoon is sushi at a good price in a great setting. If you go there try the Scallops wrapped in Bacon and the Hamachi Tuna you will love them. The next night we went out to Franks on 2nd Avenue between 5th and 6th streets had the best Mozzarella and Tomato Salad I have ever tasted and a Gnocchi that was to die for. When in NYC you must do Sunday brunch and I picked a new place in Brooklyn that recently opened called Cherry Tree located on 65 Fourth Ave., Brooklyn between St. Mark’s Ave. and Bergen St. It is a beautiful bar with a huge window overlooking a back patio with a Brick oven and a BBQ that is a lot of fun. They had a French Chef making omelettes in this great backyard free with the purchase of a pitcher or for $10. I was on vacation so I got my antioxidants via a pitcher of great Bloody Mary. The food was excellent, the staff was great and the place was beautiful. Definitely, worth the quick trip over the Manhattan bridge. Another great place we went was Angelo’s of Mulberry Street. This is a great Italian restaurant in Little Italy that has amazing Mozzarella di Carrosa, Mushroom Parpadelle and a Seafood that were amazing. I visited many other places and picked up great tips from some excellent chefs that make your visit to NYC dining amazing. I will be sharing some pizza making tips I picked up and great recipes very soon.

New York City Food

One of my favorite places in the world to visit is New York City. This is in large part because of the quality and diversity of restaurant available. I love to eat. I will be visiting NYC this coming weekend. I will try and visit as many restaurants as possible. When you start cooking at home you will gain a real appreciation for what professionals do at a restaurant and the creativity that chefs exhibit in their dishes. Look at visits to restaurants as fun research assignments that will give you new insights as to what makes cooking great. Compliment the chef on those dishes that blow you away and make sure to get some tidbits you can use. Don’t just say it was great ask them how they made the ribeye steak so juicy and tasty and you will pick up some valuable knowledge. In my next entry I’ll let you know what places I visited and what amazing tidbits I learned.

Easy Gourmet Recipes

People constantly ask me what’s the best source of easy gourmet recipes? Finding recipes should not be a tiresome task. Easy gourmet recipes are the lifeblood of making great cooking easy and fast. I always recommend having multiple sources of recipes to really get a good understanding of how to vary a dish. Here are my favorite sources of new easy gourmet recipes:

1. Websites – Two of my favorites are The Reluctant Gourmet and Easy Gourmet Recipes
2. Magazines – Food and Wine, Bon Appétit and Gourmet Magazines.
3. TV Shows – Rachel Ray’s 30 Minute Meals and Robin Miller’s Quick Fix Meals

Keep a constant watch for new recipes that you find interesting in multiple sources. This will be a great help in your development as a cook. This habit will help you pick up tips and ideas that will really help you in the kitchen. Finding just one easy gourmet recipe a week will really broaden your knowledge and accelerate your capability and enjoyment in the kitchen. Your family will be amazed at your new found confidence in the kitchen.

Cooking Spices and Herbs

Have you ever wondered how you can raise the volume on the taste of your recipes. Cooking with spices and herbs can really help you achieve great cooking results. The following are some tips to improve your use of herbs and spices.

Webster’s defines herbs and spices as:

"A herb is a plant grown for culinary or medicinal value. Typically, the green, leafy part of the plant is used. Herbs are distinguished from vegetables in that they are used in small quantities and provide flavor rather than substance to food. By contrast, spices are the seeds, berries, bark, or other parts of the plant. Spices are strongly flavoured or aromatic parts of plants used in small quantities in food as a preservative, or flavouring in cooking.

In general, whole spices can be stored longer than ground spices which last about the same as leafy herbs. To know if they are good crush them if no aroma is detected, the seasoning needs to be replaced. Many people prefer to buy whole seasonings and crush or grind what they will use for greater taste. You should be one of them. The mortar and pestle is my favorite tool for crushing herbs and spices.

It is a fact ground spices release their flavor faster than whole. So use strong spices in long cooking and mild herbs at the end of the cooking process. Always remember adding more is easier than trying to fix the recipe if you add too much. If you double a recipe increase spices and herbs only by one and a half, then add more to taste. Most of the time 1 and a half will be enough. Cooking spices and herbs will raise the volume on your recipes.

Easy Adobo Recipe

There is a great seasoning used in every Hispanic kitchen that can quickly add great taste to your meat recipes. There are numerous variations and they all add a huge amount of flavor to your recipes. The store bought adobo while convenient is not as tasty as what you can make at home with fresh ingredients.

My grandma’s recipe was the following:

2 garlic cloves
1 tblsp oregano (fresh)
1 small onion
Fresh ground pepper to taste (at least 1 tsp)
Salt to taste

Mince and combine all ingredients. You can use adobo as a rub on all your meats and as seasoning to egg dishes. Add olive oil and use it as a marinade. Use right after preparation or seal and store it in the fridge for a no more than two days.

Easy Great Tasting Quesadillas

I love quesadillas. They are a great dish. You can quickly prepare them and serve them as a snack, appetizer or main dish with some minor variations. It’s great tasting, convenient and versatile. However, many people ask me how can they get great tasting quesadillas?

A Mexican friend of mine showed me a quick tip you can do with tortillas that really packs them with flavor. Take out your tortillas and right before using them put them on the stove directly. No pan, no foil, on the stove directly. This is easier to do when you have a gas stove but it can still be done in an electric range. You only want to get them slightly marked with some grill-like marks. You have to keep your undivided attention on this process. You will be amazed at the added flavor this adds to your dishes.

After that add some oil to your pan, throw in the tortillas and put your favorite shredded cheeses until they melt. You can fold it or top it with another and then add salsa, guacamole and/or sour cream. You can also add chicken or beef and make it a main dish with some tomatoes and lettuce. Have fun with this easy great tasting quesadilla recipe

Simplicity and Tradition in Cooking

Cooking is a way of connecting with your family and having a shared experience with them. In order to maximize the amount of time those experience happen we strive to make cooking easy and fun. The simpler and more enjoyable the process, the more times you can connect with your family. Look at my article about Simplicity and Traditions in Cooking that highlights the interesting take chef Walter Potenza has about this subject. I believe you will agree with me that the simpler we make great cooking the more we will connect with our family.

Technology and Cooking

Today I bought a webcam for my computer. I am looking forward to explore how this technology tool can help me bring you more and better information to speed up the cooking process and make it more fun. At a minimum you will be able to see a picture of me in my blog pretty soon! This is another way we will make great cooking fast and easy for you!

A Quick Chicken Caesar Salad Recipe

I was always frustrated at how I would have to go off route from my 2-hour commute to go buy fast food. My wife is a very difficult eater to please. During the week, my mother in law cooked dinner. My wife never seemed to be satisfied with what she cooked. Every week at least 2 or 3 times she would call me on the way from work so I would by her a grilled chicken Caesar Salad from, of all places, a fast food place. One day I just broke down and tried the sucker. To my surprise, it was good but it definitely would not blow anyone away.

The next time she called, I went to the local supermarket picked up some frozen chicken breasts, Romaine lettuce, a wedge of parmesan cheese, croutons and Briannas Home Style Asiago Caesar dressing. I came home threw the chicken breast in boiling water with some salt and once it was thawed I seared it in a grill pan. I rinsed the lettuce and cut it to the same width as the fast food place. I then tossed the lettuce with the dressing, that’s made with shredded Asiago cheese being careful not to use too much just covering the lettuce. After adding a handful of croutons and shredding some parmesan cheese on top, I had a Chicken Caesar Salad. This all took no more than 20 minutes. After that, I always kept some shredded romaine in water in the fridge and in 15 minutes, I would have the salad done.

This Chicken Caesar Salad recipe also gives you a great starter salad, minus the grilled chicken, you can have done in 5 minutes. My wife is still amazed you can do Chicken Caesar Salad at home so fast. I have a great way to say thanks at home in less than 15 minutes. This simple dish started my search for quick dishes I could prepare after a day’s work.