Thursday, April 11, 2013
2:32 PM
TORTILLA DE PAPAS-Potato Omelet
This type of tortilla has nothing in common with corn or flour tortillas, it is a Spanish omelet, similar to an Italian frittata. My mother made tortilla often, and after my parents came to live with us, she always made extra to share with us. She knew her grandchildren loved it, even if they referred to it as "Potato Pie", to Mamina's chagrin!
After my son Skyler returned from serving as a missionary in Madrid, he thought our tortillas were "not quite right". I had to remind him that ours is a Cuban tortilla de papas, very similar to our ancestors' Tortilla Española, (also called Tortilla de Patatas), but somewhat changed by the magic of the Caribbean!
TORTILLA DE PAPAS
3 medium potatoes
1 teaspoon salt
Enough olive oil to cover the potatoes when frying
½ cup chopped onion
4 eggs
dash of salt
Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut them up in small irregular pieces about 3/4-1 inch in length. I was cubing them, but my mother said they would cook better if they were irregular. They can also be cut in thin slices. Toss with teaspoon of salt.
Heat oil on medium high. Add potato pieces, careful not to add any water as it will make the oil splash and burn you. Cook gently for 5-7 minutes, turning often, until crispy outside and soft inside. You can test by taking out a piece of potato and smashing it with a spoon. Should be easy to smash. You can cook the onion separately, in just a little oil, or add to the potatos half way through cooking them.
When the potato pieces were soft, my mother would fish them out of the oil with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels. I don't bother to drain them, but rather put them directly into my ceramic non stick pan. That way there's already enough oil in the pan to be ready to add and cook the eggs.
Beat 4 eggs, add a dash of salt.
If you drained the potatoes, then coat the bottom of a non-stick pan with a little oil. Put in potatoes and onions. Pour in the beaten eggs, trying to spread them evenly all over. Cook on medium till the eggs set.
Carefully put a plate on your pan like a lid, flip omelet into it, put it back in the pan 2-3 minutes longer to cook the other side.
My children and husband like to put catsup or salsa on their tortilla. More heresy, as far as my mother was concerned! However, she had no problem adding garlic, spinach, or other vegetables to her tortillas.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
11:40 AM
I'm trying to get into this blogging thing, but I'm not very good at it yet, it's been almost 3 months since I posted anything! I have been doing all kinds of other things, and if I had the blogging mindset, I could have written about my adventures.
In December we helped our oldest son and his family move from Arizona to Atlanta area. After driving for 4 days, we celebrated the arrival to their new home at a local, delicious, Cuban restaurant--but I forgot to take pictures of it.
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| Walking on Hollywood beach with MaConcha |
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| With Tia China & cousins, including beautiful new baby! |
Later we enjoyed a wonderful visit with my family in Miami, and they prepared a Cuban feast for us. My dear Tia China made her delicious roasted pork, cousin Gladys added all the Cuban trimmings like black beans, yuca, platanos maduros, etc. My cousin MaConcha made her signature key lime pie (recipe below). The food was great, but the best part was being with my family, and meeting my newest little cousin! I wish we could be together more often!
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| Formal night on cruise |
Also, my husband and I went on a Caribbean cruise! During our first cruise, 28 years ago, I got very sea sick and was given medication which we then discovered I was allergic to... not much fun. I was not very eager to experience that again, however my husband has always wanted to go on another cruise and has waited patiently for me to decide to give it another try. He has a significant birthday this year, so I decided to be brave and give it another chance. I wore sea bands the whole time and did just great! I also brought along some ginger, but didn't need it. We ate lots of great Caribbean food, but again I was so enjoying the moment that I didn't even think to take food pictures.
One thing is for sure, I have been enjoying life! My parents taught me a lot about enjoying life. My father was always busy, he liked to do many things. When he was not working, he was always creating, planting gardens, fixing things, building, inventing, but he always made time to visit with family and friends, that was his greates joy!
My mother's first priority was her family, beginning with her brothers and sisters for whom she learned to cook, then her husband, children and grandchildren. She loved feeding us, sewing for us. However, near the end of her life, she confessed to me that she had a great regret. She had always wanted to perform, act, recite poetry, sing (she had a beautiful voice), but had been too afraid to do so, except in very private settings with family or very close friends.
My goal is to live life with no regrets, so I make time for the things I love: family, friends, good food, books, acting, Zumba, etc. And I try not to let fear keep me from doing what I want to do. Though sometimes it takes me a long time!
MACONCHA’S KEY LIME PIE
Key lime pie is a Floridian dessert, popular with Cubans because we use limes a great deal in our cuisine.
MaConcha is what our family calls my cousin Maria Conchita. She is an amazing and dedicated cook. There is a lime tree in her backyard, and when it's producing limes she picks them all, squeezes the juice out and freezes it in measured quantities, so she can make her wonderful key lime pie year round. Here is her recipe:
1 can sweetened condensed milk (use 2 cans for a deep dish crust)
2 eggs (wash before cracking them open, since they wont be cooked)
½ cup lime juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 8 oz container of whipped topping
1 graham cracker crust*
Mix the sweetened condensed milk, eggs, lime juice and vanilla till smooth
Then fold in the whipped topping.
Pour into graham cracker crust. Put in freezer till set, at least 2 hours. Take it out and let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes before serving. Five to ten minutes, depending on how warm it is where you are serving it. You want it soft but not runny. Enjoy!
* The crust in this picture looks funny, because instead of a graham cracker crust, I made a raw gluten free nut crust so I could eat it. I'll post the recipe on my other blog, in case you want it. RAW GLUTEN FREE NUT PIE CRUST
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
8:57 AM
I've been tending grandchildren while their parents are out of town, it's a lot of work but oh so very rewarding. Got me thinking about the wonderful and almost magical bond between grandchildren and their grandparents. My children were blessed to grow up with grandparents that were very available to them.
When my parents got close to retirement, my husband suggested we invite them to come live with us. Not having housing expenses they would be able to stretch their retirement income and do a little traveling. We felt it was a way of thanking them for the sacrifices they had made for us, and their courage in leaving Cuba and starting over in the US to provide a chance for us children to live free.
For a long time they hesitated to accept our invitation. They feared that moving in with us would be too great an imposition. My father used his colorful language as an excuse not to take us up on our offer. He was concerned about the grandchildren picking up his Cuban swearing! But finally, they accepted and came to live in an apartment we created for them in our basement.
For more than twenty years, during Spring, Summer and Fall, our family had the blessing and challenge of having three generations living together under one roof. Winters they would drive to Miami and visit family. Our children grew up enveloped in their grandparents love, this more than compensated for the loss in privacy.
Of course, another great benefit was being able to enjoy Mamina's cooking! Here is one of the stand-by dishes she cooked quite often, because it's simple to make and we all loved it.
I liked Carne Con Papas best when Mamina made it with carrots and potatoes (sometimes even broccoli) from Papillo's garden.
It might seem similar to a stew, but it is not as soupy.
CARNE CON PAPAS- Meat & Potatoes
Sofrito:
Olive oil to coat the frying pan
1 onion
½ to 1 green bell pepper
3-5 garlic cloves
1- 8 oz can of tomato sauce
2 lbs. cubed Stew Meat
4 to 6 Potatoes, cubed
3 to 4 Carrots chopped
1 tsp Salt
¼ cup Cooking Wine (optional-it’s still great without it)
2 cups of broccoli florets- if you happen to have some around
Make sofrito: chop onion, garlic and pepper finely. Sautee in olive oil on medium high, for 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the meat and brown it for about 5 minutes.
Cube potatoes, cut carrots in large round pieces.
Add the tomato sauce, potatoes, carrots, salt, and cooking wine to the meat, (broccoli too, if you are including it). Turn temperature down to medium-low, cover, and cook for 45 minutes.
Serve with rice and a salad.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
10:18 AM
ACORN SQUASH,
BUTTERNUT SQUASH,
CALABAZA,
CARIBBEAN COOKING,
GARLIC,
GLUTEN FREE,
HALLOWEEN,
ONIONS,
PRESSURE COOKER,
PUMPKIN,
SIDE DISHES,
SQUASH,
WINTER SQUASH
I've been thinking about my first Halloween. Our family arrived in the US at the end of July in the late 60's. My father's family helped us find a place to live, work, schools, etc. They taught us about this wondrous country and new culture. A couple of months later, we started hearing about Halloween. Our cousins explained that children dressed up in costumes, then went door to door and people gave them candy!
Wow, I loved dressing up in costumes. During our last few years in Cuba, Mamina had let us use her pretty loungerie to play princesses. She knew we would be leaving everything behind when permission to leave the country finally came, so why not let the children have some fun with her pretty things. We did have fun and destroyed her gowns, climbing, running and having sword fights.
So here we were in this new country I was still unsure about, and I find out there is a holiday for dressing up and pretending! Plus the candy. In Cuba we couldn't even buy candy, because there wasn't any to buy, and my cousins tell me that in the US the neighbors are going to give us candy just for dressing up and asking for it!!!!
And so at 13 years old I got to go trick or treating for the first and last time....unless you count taking the children trick or treating.
Halloween has me thinking about pumpkins. Pumpkin in Spanish is Calabaza, but the calabaza I knew in Cuba is nothing like a pumpkin. Well, it is shaped like a pumpkin, but it is a green spotted squash with yellow-orange flesh. I searched all over for a picture of the kind of calabazas we ate in Cuba but couldn't find a good one. This is the closest I found on the web: Calabaza Squash. It's also called West Indian Pumpkin. You can buy it in Latin markets, usually already cut in pieces, because it's hard to cut. Papillo was always searching for the right variety of seeds to grow a proper calabaza in Utah, but was not successful.
My mother often cooked calabaza, because my father loved it. She cut the calabaza in large pieces and cooked it in her pressure cooker, with a little water. It was soft in 5 minutes. While it cooked she sauted onions and garlic in olive oil. Sometimes just garlic. Then she'd take the calabaza out of the pressure cooker, pour garlic and oil over it, sprinkle with salt and scoop right off the peel to eat.
I can't find any real calabaza where I live, but I prepared some butternut squash in a similar way to how my mother cooked calabaza and it was delicious! Acorn squash (or any other hard winter squash) also works.
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| Butternut Squash |
CALABAZA COCIDA - Winter Squash
½ of a calabaza squash, or butternut squash
3 garlic cloves
1 onion
3-4 Tablespoons olive oil or butter
Salt to taste
Wash squash. Cut into a few pieces, remove seeds. You can peel it at this point, but it is easier after it's cooked. Put the squash pieces in a pan with about 1 inch of water, cover and steam for 10-15 minutes, until tender. Just five minutes in a pressure cooker, let the pressure disipate completely before opening it. Peel the squash and cut it into smaller pieces
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| Pieces of butternut squash |
Or leave it in large pieces
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| Acorn squash pieces |
While the squash is cooking, slice onions and sauté them in butter or olive oil, on medium heat, until translucent
Mince or smash the garlic
Add to the sautéing onions and cook 1-2 minutes longer, the smell will be wonderful and permeate your whole house.
Spread this on top of the squash and sprinkle with salt generously.
This is good for you and yummy. Enjoy!
"Calabaza, calabaza, cada uno pa' su casa"- a saying which basically means it's time to go home. Thanks for the reminder, Rosa!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
9:55 AM
CA Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act,
CUCUMBERS,
FLAVORFUL,
GLUTEN FREE,
GMO,
HEALTHY EATING,
OLIVE OIL,
PEPINOS,
SALAD,
SIDE DISHES,
TOMATOES,
VINEGAR
My sisters and I owe our parents not only for our lives, but also for our freedom. It wasn’t until I reached the age my parents were when we left Cuba, (mid 40's) that I began to appreciate the magnitude of their sacrifice. They left their home, possessions, friends, family, and the country of their birth, to start over as exiles in a place where they didn’t even speak the language.
For something much more valuable, FREEDOM…for their children…for me.
Once in this great country my parents worked hard at factory jobs and prospered far beyond anything they could have accomplished in Castro’s communist Cuba. They taught my sisters and me the value of hard work, education, family and most of all freedom. We, like countless others, have lived the American Dream.
I guess that is why I cringe as I notice the erosion of liberty going on in our society. Many well meaning entities wanting to tell us even something so basic as what we should eat and drink. Let us learn, even educate one another and then make our own choices!
But getting the information we need is not always easy, for example some of us might not want to eat genetically modified food. Fifty other countries label it as such, but not yet the US. California is trying to remedy that with Proposition 37, the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act
which will require that genetically engineered food be labeled, so that we have the freedom to choose wether we want to buy it or not. I think the companies fighting this are afraid of what the consumers will choose. If it passes in California, it will benefit the rest of the country. You can learn more about it HERE
This recipe will have you making some choices, since it is not very exact...but it is delicious! I will give you the recipe for a normal size cucumber (I used a giant one this last time), but it's all very much to taste. This is the way my mother always cooked, and I do take after her in that respect.
PEPINOS Y TOMATES-Cucumbers & Tomatoes
1 cucumber
3-4 tomatoes
3-4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Salt
Pepper to taste
Wash, peel and cube the cucumber, wash and cut up the tomatoes. Mix them together until it looks like you have about the same amount of each and it looks pretty.
Pour the apple cider vinegar over the cucumbers and tomatoes, these measurements are estimates because and I never measure it, I just pour some good quality vinegar over it till it looks like enough, and then I taste it.
Then I pour a little less olive oil then the amount of vinegar over the vegetables. Again, the quality of oil will make a difference, use the best you can afford.
Sprinkle with sea salt or Real Salt and grind some fresh pepper over it. Stir and taste. Add more of what ever as needed. You want it to be kind of vinegary and salty.
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| Two types of tomatoes and a very large cucumber my niece Michelle gave me |
Thursday, September 20, 2012
7:55 AM
I am loving this extended summer we are having in Utah! It's in the 70-80's and my garden is still producing wonderful tomatoes, zucchini, swiss chard, etc.
When my parents came to live with us in Utah, summer became my father's favorite time of the year and not just because he hated cold weather. He loved to grow food and I loved gardening with him. Papillo did the hard work and I helped. It has not been the same gardening on my own, and I'm not as dedicated to daily watering, etc, so I don't get quite the same results, but I feel him close anytime I'm out in the garden.
There was sometimes a battle between my parents because Mamina wanted to grow roses and Papillo wanted to grow vegetables. When they came to live with us I gave Mamina an area of the yard for her roses, on the South side with plenty of sun. Papillo bought her a new rose bush each year for Mother's day, and they planted it together.
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| Mamina among her beloved roses |
Her rose garden turned out to be the best spot in the yard, and after a while Papillo and I began to covet her prime garden spot, and tried to convince her to let us have it for growing vegetables. She was immune to our persuasive efforts, so I made do in a shady spot and he planted other gardens in our neighbors' yards. One year Papillo planted garlic among Mamina's roses. She was not happy but the roses loved it, and the garlic continued to come up for several years.
I have now planted raspberries that I got from Nina right among the roses and installed a small grow box right in the middle of the roses. It's crowded, random and a bit crazy, but quite effective.
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| My garden now |
Here is a recipe I still look forward to making and eating each year. The only thing Cuban about it is that my father made it often, with herbs from our garden. He learned to make it from a Chilean friend of Italian ancestry. He usually left out the nuts, since he “didn’t think they agreed with him” and it was still delicious.
PESTO
1 lb fresh basil leaves
1 lb fresh parsley leaves (not stalks)
5-6 cloves garlic
2 cups nuts (pine nuts, walnuts or almonds)-OPTIONAL
2-3 teaspoons sea salt (to taste)
3 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 cup olive oil
Wash and drain basil and parsley. Put in food processor; add pealed garlic cloves, nuts, salt, and parmesan cheese. Add oil a bit at a time as you process everything to a creamy consistency.
This is great on pasta or even crackers. Pine nuts are traditionally used, but I actually like it better with walnuts or even almonds.
Store in a glass jar, and pour a thin layer of olive oil on the top, to keep from drying or oxidizing. It will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks or frozen for several months.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
3:28 PM
My sister Isis and I attended Catholic school in Cuba for a short time, because Fidel expelled all the nuns and most of the priest early in his tyranny. Mamina then taught us at home, to avoid exposing us to the intense Communist indoctrination that was carried out in the schools.
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| Ready for School |
As the regime became more repressive, we were forced to attend public school. Isis was 7 and I was 8. For the next five years we were taught well, especially about the evils of Capitalism and the advantages of Communism.
By the time our little sister Nina was old enough for school, we had been trying to leave Cuba for about 6 years, and there was no way of knowing when or if we would finally be allowed to leave. Somehow my mother arranged for her to begin with first grade rather than kindergarten, “this way she will learn to read before we leave Cuba”, she hopefully told my father.
It was early in the school year, the teachers had begun teaching the little children about the “fallacies of religion”, the “Opium of the masses”, and how ridiculous it was to believe in God. The children were taught that the only thing that one could depend on to take care of us in life, was "el govierno", the State.
The little kids didn't understand a whole lot of what was being said to them. But the teachers/government representatives had a very effective way to teach this lesson. First they asked the children, “Do you like ice cream?” Of course they did. They were told, “Why don't you bow your heads and pray to God to give you some ice cream”. All the little children did as they were bidden. They bowed their heads and prayed for ice cream. When they raised their heads the teachers pointed out that there was no ice cream anywhere to be had.
Next they were told, “Why don't you try it again. This time when you bow your heads, pray that Fidel will send you ice cream”.
The children obediently bowed their heads once again, and prayed to the "Maximum Leader of the Grand Communist State" for ice cream. When they raised their heads there was a small cardboard container of ice cream on each of their desks.
I still don’t like ice cream in small cardboard containers, and I am so grateful that we were able to escape Communism and that we get to live in a country where freedom and religion are still valued.
Here is a simple recipe that reminds me of the sweetness of life.
HELADO DE CARAMELO- Caramel ice cream
Makes about 1 ½ quarts
1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon of water
5 cups warm milk, half and half, or cream. Depending on how
creamy you want it.
Dash of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Put the sugar and water in a pan and melt it very slowly, (on low) so as not to burn it.
As soon as the sugar is liquid and golden colored, add the milk and salt, mix well. Warm milk will mix better with the melted sugar caramel. If you use cold milk, the caramel will harden, and you will have to heat the hardened sugar and milk on the stove on medium, and stir and stir until it dissolves.
Once it is mixed well, add vanilla. Pour the mixture into a 2 quart ice cream maker and process according to your ice cream maker's directions.
If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can do what Mamina did, pour the mixture into ice cube trays . It made delicious, rectangular pieces of crunchy ice cream. Kind of hard, but so refreshing!
Thursday, August 30, 2012
8:12 PM
When I last posted in June I thought I would take a couple of weeks off to do the wedding and reception of my son Skyler and his beautiful French bride, Laetitia, but here we are 2 months later!
With much help from family and friends, especially my wonderful daughter in law Susan, everything turned out beautiful.
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| Table decorations created by Laetitia & Susan |
Even after the wedding was over, there was too much life to be lived and blogging was forgotten. We had family with us most of the summer, which meant grandchildren to play with. I'm just barely recuperating from all the fun!
My parents would have loved it. I find myself looking around for them when the house is full of family, because I know how much they loved being with their children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.
A friend said the newlyweds look like my parents when they were young. I don't see it but they are certainly two very good looking couples. What do you think?
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| My parents on their wedding day |
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| Laetitia & Skyler |
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| Leaving the Church |
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| At their garden reception |
Here is a nice summer dish you could serve at a garden wedding reception. We probably would have, if Mamina were still with us.... I had the food mostly catered.
ENSALADA DE POLLO-Chicken Salad
This is a marriage of chicken and potato salad. It always says “party” to me, because that is when my mother made it.
4 cups Chicken, cooked and diced
4-6 Potatoes boiled, cubed
1 Apple (peeled, cored, diced in small pieces)
1 cup frozen peas
½ cup onion finely chopped
4 hard boiled eggs
1 small jar diced pimentos
1 cup diced celery (optional)
1 ½ -2 cups mayonnaise
½ Tablespoon salt
Shred or cut the cooked chicken in small pieces. Peel and boil the potatoes, cut up into small cubes. Mix with chicken. Add the peeled, cored and diced apple. Chop the onion up in a food processor, so you don’t have to cry too much. Add that in. Peel and dice the hard boiled eggs, drain the pimentos, mix it all together with the salt and mayonnaise.
I add celery, my mother thought that was a heresy, but I like the taste. She liked to add dill pickles, but I leave them out. My cousin MaConcha adds asparagus to her version.
It is best if you refrigerate it for a couple of hours before serving, so the flavors blend.
