June 19, 2016
Author: Lisa Needel
Ingredients:
Brisket (1st or 2nd cut)
1 cup soyvay
1 cup ketchup
4 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 small can of crushed tomatoes
4 cups beef broth
Enough water to cover brisket
Preparation:
Mix all liquid ingredients together
Put brisket in roasting pant
Pour liquid mixture over to cover briske
Bake covered at 325 degrees for 3-4 hours depending on pounds
Let cool and slice
Put back in liquid and let cook for 1 hour
June 19, 2016
Author: Ellie Austin
My food story is as rich and mixed as my family heritage. My paternal grandmother came from Nanjing China. She liked to cook all things Chinese: eggrolls, noodles, noodle soup, and meat stew. My paternal grandfather was an Italian- American. He liked Italian cuisine like pasta, calzones, meatballs, and red wine. My mom’s family is of Scottish, English, and Native-American descent. They came to NYC from New England. My mom is a good cook. She makes some of the tastiest meals from beef, lamb, and venison. On major holidays or table is full of food from all different parts of the world.
Ingredients:
Flour
Water
Milk
Eggs
Salt
Butter
Pepper cheese
Preparation:
Mix flour, water, milk, eggs, and add salt
Knead, roll, and pull the dough as long as you can. (Long noodles symbolize long life.)
Cook in boiling water for 20 minutes.
Add salt, pepper, cheese, and butter to taste.
June 19, 2016
Author: Andrew Marcus
Ingredients:
Eggplants, peeled and chopped into cubes
Fresh tomatoes
Onions
Garlic
Tomato sauce
Preparation:
Cut up everything, put in big pot.
Cook on low for 1-5 hours.
Add water if thinner consistency is desired.
June 24th, 2016
Author: Louise Luger
Ingredients:
Mild Fish- Flounder or Sole
Onions
Butter
Sour Cream
Paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Baker fish at 375 in oven till firm (20-40 min)
Fry onions in butter
When fish is almost done, top with onions, sour cream, and paprika
Bake at 400, (10 min)
Serve
October 31, 2011
Author: Aimee Bender
My mother’s adaptation of classic matzah brei for those with high cholesterol who steer clear of butter and egg yolks. I find that it’s still surprisingly good.
Ingredients:
8 eggs: six whites, two yolks
1/4 cup(s) Milk any kind of milk is fine
6-7 Pieces Matzoh
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 pinch salt and pepper
Preparation:
Put the 8 egg whites and 2 egg yolks in a bowl, whisk a bit, add a couple tablespoons of milk (any kind), whisk some more until frothy.
Soften matzoh in colander under water until a little less crisp/not quite soggy. Break it into bits. Mix bits with eggs until coated.
Cover bottom of frying pan with water, just barely covered, and add a drizzle of olive oil.
On very low heat, pour in the matzoh/egg mix. Stir slowly. Add a little salt and pepper if you like.
Keep it on low heat, stirring, as the water burns away. It sort of steams the eggs. Turn up heat as you’re finishing to get things a little crisper. Serve with whatever you like– applesauce, etc.
November 30, 2011
Author: Lisa Grissom
Jan, my best friend from high school, is an amazing cook. Her mother, Sandy is also an amazing cook. And guess what, her Bubbie, now passed away, was an amazing cook. So it’s in Jan’s DNA. Whenever I visit her home in Boston, she always has something delicious cooking on the stove or in the oven...and I always want the recipe. On one visit, she was preparing for a brunch. She was in the midst of making this amazing egg-apple thingie that didn’t have a name. Sort of a souffle, but not exactly. In the blintz family, but not quite. Something between a main course and a dessert. So I named it Jan’s Yummy because it’s from Jan and it’s yummy. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
6 Large Eggs
1 1/2 Cup(s)s Milk
1/4 cup(s) Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
3/4 Stick of butter
2 Large Apples
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place all ingredients in a blender excluding apples and butter Place butter in 13 x 9 baking dish and place into pre-heated oven. Let butter melt. Add peeled, sliced apples and mix around in the butter, allow apples to cook 5 minutes. Pour blender batter over apples and bake until pancake is golden brown about 20-30 minutes. Dust with confectioners sugar.
June 20, 2012
Author: Dina Mann
My Bubbie has a Chanukah party every year. She has five daughters, 12 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, so this is one of the few times when all of us get together and re-connect, as we usually see the whole gang only at family simchas, happy occasions. Every year Bubbie tries new things like Persian rices or Greek pies, but the lasagna is a staple that’s chocked full of veggies and sweet like my Bubbaloo!
Ingredients:
1 box of lasagna
1 container frozen spinach
1 zucchini
2 Carrots
1 large ricotta container
2 packs of shredded mozzarella
2 eggs
1 cup(s) sugar
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
2 bottles of tomato sauce
Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350˚.
2. Chop veggies and sauté in large pan and season with salt, pepper and garlic. ( Feel free to swap out these veggies for other such as summer squash, broccoli, peppers, onion…)
3. Bring water to a boil and cook lasagna noodles until mildly cooked. I prefer a little al’ dente as the noodles continue to cook in the oven.
4. In a large bowl, mix ricotta, eggs, sugar and 1 and 1/3 bags of mozzarella. Reserve the remainder of the mozzarella.
5. When veggies are cooked add to cheese mixture.
6. Pour sauce on bottom pan, layer with noodles, add cheese/veggie layer, layer with noodles, add sauce, layer with noodles, add cheese/veggie layer and top off with reserved mozzarella.
7. Bake at 350˚ for an hour and half.
8. Enjoy!
August 21, 2012
Author:Larry Gast
My mother’s parents used to have the family over for dinner quite a bit. My grandmother, Yetta, would cook. She didn’t seem to love cooking. When referring to food, she said ‘diet, ‘fattening’ and ‘bad for you’ a lot. Yetta made us food because we had to eat. I don’t remember a lot of the dishes she served. I remember salad – generally big pieces of wet iceberg lettuce, big chunks of tomato and probably some kind of oil.
I remember rolls, likely purchased from Dierberg’s, the local grocery store with an in-house bakery. I also remember turkey burgers. I ate a lot of them. They were fine. They were just seasoned enough. They were browned in a pan. I remember chunks of onion in them fondly. When I learned about the Beyond Bubbie project, I thought about what I’d make. And looking back at Yetta’s cooking, this is what I remember. So I called her and got her recipe. The instructions below are pretty true to her approach (she said eggs were optional; she didn’t use carrot.) I liked making these. They are simple, filling, and can be riffed on endlessly. I served it with some beet horseradish from The Gefilteria. When it was cold, I mixed in some sambal. Enjoy.
2 Cup(s)s Ground Turkey (I used Dipaola’s from the green market in New York)
1 Carrot grated
1/2 Onion grated or diced
1.5 Teaspoons Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
4 Tablespoons Bread crumbs
2 Tablespoons Olive oil Add more to taste
Directions
Mix all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.
Heat a cast iron skillet or a pan with canola oil to a decent level of heat. Meanwhile, make patties, trying to make each one the same size. Make patties somewhat flat to encourage even cooking.
Grill burgers til slightly to decently brown. Serve with greens, horseradish, sriracha, olive oil, and/or anything else.
November 30, 2012
Author: Ahuva Traube
My grandmother ob’m was a chalutzah, a pioneer in the land of Israel – a role she was exceedingly proud of. She left her home in Poland before WWII and went to Israel – or Palestine as it was then known. (Going to Israel saved her life, as the rest of her family – save for one brother – was killed during the war).During the years she was there she taught at Cypress, and she worked on a kibbutz. One of her jobs she had on the kibbutz was kitchen duty. She was taught a very basic lesson – one which she passed on to my mom, and my mom taught me. Here goes: Any time you brown meat with onions and garlic, it’s going to taste good. That’s it. Brown the meat first with onions and garlic. Everything else afterwards is just – pardon the expression – gravy.
Ingredients:
1 can be done with beef stew, pot roast, etc.
2 Medium Onions
Preparation:
Chop the onions – to taste! Smash or mince the garlic. Heat up the pan, and add a little oil. When the oil is hot, toss in the onions and garlic and allow to sweat a little. Season the meat with salt and pepper, and then add to the pot. Brown well on both sides, and then continue as you like. Turn it into a stew, a pot roast – whatever you like. Just brown the meat, garlic, and onions first – can’t go wrong!
December 27, 2012
Author: Racela Rosett
Ingredients:
4-5 lb. brisket
1 can cranberry sauce
1 can ginger ale
onion soup mix
1/4 c. craisins
Preparation:
Cook uncovered forever!
Serve with Horseradish mashed potatoes (Best with cream and horseradish but good with nondairy creamer.)
December 28, 2012
Author: Evelyn Poplawski
Ingredients:
12 cheese blintzes (frozen)
5 eggs
Less than 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup OJ
1/4 lb melted butter
1 1/2 cups Sour Cream
1 tsp Vanilla
Preparation:
Put all of the ingredients (except the blintzes) into a blender. Mix until well blended.
Put blender, filled with liquid into the refrigerator, overnight. In the morning, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Whip the liquid in the blender until it is mixed well. Grease the bottom of a 9″ X 13″ pan. Place the blintzes in the pan, side by side, (some on the end). Pour the liquid from the blender, over the blintzes, in the pan. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon. Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees.
December 28, 2012
Author: Pamela Schachter
Ingredients:
16 oz of plain yogurt
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp Lemon
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
Curry powder ( at least 2 Tbsp) to taste
Garlic powder (as desired)
Hot pepper sauce (if desired)
Sprinkle black sauce
Preparation:
Mix up ingredients to make a sauce. Marinate chicken in refrigerator overnight or for at least two hours (covered). Bake at 375 for 45 minutes to an hour. Baste occasionally while baking
February 6, 2013
Author: Mo Rocca
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
Garlic
1 package of ground meat
Italian seasoning
Onion
Fresh or frozen spinach
Salt
Pepper
1 dozen eggs
Flour
Preparation:
Prepare the filling and let cool.
Directions as follows:
Place about a Tbsp. of olive oil in a large pan. Add a few pressed or a few tsp. of garlic in and sautee until brown. Add a package of ground hamburger, Italian seasoning, onions, fresh or frozen spinach, and salt and pepper. Cook until the meat is browned.
Prepare the pasta dough.
Directions as follows:
Place a dozen eggs in a large mixing bowl and beat for about 3-5 minutes. Add flour gradually until the dough is able to be turned out onto a floured surface and kneaded. Knead for a few minutes adding flour if needed until the dough is not sticky any more. Don’t over knead or dough becomes tough. Actually, if it’s still a little sticky, it’s ok because the pasta machine kneads it while it presses it. Cut the dough into pieces small enough to be put into the machine and set it on the widest setting. Put the dough through and gradually set the machine on smaller settings until it reaches the density you want. I usually put it on 3, I think. Place the dough onto a floured surface and start filling from one end folding the edge over the filling crop the ravioli and crimp it with a fork. Boil the immediately or let them dry and then boil or freeze.
March 12, 2013
Author: JDCEntwine
Recipe courtesy of Larisa Simonova from Tallinn, Estonia. Read more about the JDC and Estonia.
Ingredients:
1 large turkey
For the stuffing:
• 10 pieces of matzah, crumbled • 1 1⁄2 cups white wine
• Vegetable oil
• 2 medium-sized onions, cubed • 2 tablespoons soup mix
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 10 rosemary twigs
• 3⁄4 to 1 cup walnuts, chopped
For the basting oil:
• 1⁄2 cup olive oil
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons mustard
• 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper • 1⁄2 teaspoon paprika
Preparation:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Clean turkey thoroughly.
To prepare the matzah stuffing: soak matzah in a dish with the white wine until soft. Fry the onion in vegetable oil until the onion turns golden. Mix the onion together with the matzah, then add the celery, rosemary, and walnuts.
Mix olive oil, mustard, black pepper, and paprika in separate dish and then smear on turkey using your
hands. Stuff turkey with the matzah stuffing, placing any additional stuffing under the turkey. Cover with foil and roast for at least 3 hours, turning it from time to time, until bird is tender and golden.
March 12, 2013
Author: Manischewitz
Recipe Courtesy of Quick & Kosher: Meals in Minutes by Jamie Geller (Feldheim 2010).
Ingredients:
1 four- pound 1st cut beef brisket
1/2 teaspoon Manischewitz® kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons Mishpacha® olive oil, divided
3 medium onions, peeled and cut into 1/8ths
6 cloves garlic, smashed
2 cups pomegranate juice
2 cups Manischewitz® Kosher For Passover chicken broth
3 tablespoons Manischewitz® honey
3 bay leaves
1 small bunch fresh thyme
Preparation:
Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 4 hour
Ready Time: 245 min
1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Season brisket with salt and pepper.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large roasting pan or dutch oven over medium high heat.
4. Sear brisket about 4 minutes per side or until browned. Remove and set aside.
5. Add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and sauté onions and garlic for 5 minutes over medium low heat until softened.
6. Return brisket to pan and add pomegranate juice, broth, honey, bay leaves, and thyme.
7. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover.
8. Transfer to preheated oven and roast for 2 hours.
9. Flip brisket over and continue roasting for 1 to 1 ½ more hours or until tender.
10. Let brisket rest for 10 minutes before thinly slicing against the grain.
11. Strain liquid and serve on the side as au jus.
This post was submitted by Manischewitz.
Posted in Main Courses | Tags: bay leaf, bay leaves, beef brisket, black pepper, Brisket, cloves garlic, fresh black pepper, fresh thyme, garlic, garlic cloves, honey, Joy of Kosher, Manishewitz, olive oil, onion, onions, Passover,Pomegranate brisket, pomegranate juice, thyme
March 30, 2013
Author: yudicle
My mother gave me this recipe. I don’t know where she got it from, but my husband and kids love it. It’s not necessarily old world and not fancy. But it is delicious. Mom was first generation American, born in 1915 in Passaic, NJ. Bubbe came from Lithuania. Usual story – steerage with two little ones in tow to meet her husband who had come first to America. Bubbe had long gray hair by the time I knew her. Always in a long braid curled on her head. I saw her once with it down – I think it embarrassed her.
Mom told me that one of the reasons Bubbe came here was that she disagreed with the tradition of cutting a woman’s hair and wearing a wig. Otherwise, she was strictly Orthodox in her observances. We’d visit on Saturdays at the apartment my mother grew up in, and we couldn’t turn the lights on until the sun had set. If we visited on Sunday, she’d slide a dime across the kitchen table to us, and she’d tell my mother in Yiddish that we should take it to the convenience store down the street to buy a treat. Usually some Hostess snack – it was the ’50′s. I barely ever spoke to her directly as she spoke no English. A quiet, sweet non-conformist who wouldn’t cut her hair just to please her folks. Who knew when I was growing up? I miss both of them.
Ingredients
2 onions
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 cup ketchup
2 tbl brown sugar
2 tbl lemon joice
brisket (whatever size is needed though generally a min. of 2 lbs)
Preparation
Saute 2 onions until golden.
In sauce pan, add onions to tomato soup, ketchup, brown sugar and lemon juice and stir.
Heat and set aside for the sauce.
Brown brisket on all sides in frying pan or Dutch oven large enough for meat to lay flat. Add 1/2 cup water, cover and simmer 2-2 1/2 hours.
Take out brisket, slice. In a baking dish – anything from 8×8 thru 9×12 – whatever fits.- spread some sauce in the bottom of the dish. Place sliced brisket in the dish and smother with remaining sauce.
It can be baked immediately. HOWEVER – it is best if prepared as above a day ahead and put in the refrigerator overnight. Bake (the next day) at 350 degrees, 45 minutes.
April 9, 2013
Author: Kitchen Tested
Food memories are a huge part of my life, especially since I spend so much time thinking about food. When I think of my childhood, I think of comfort foods like tuna casserole, meatballs and rice, Wacky Mac, nachos, and homemade overnight potato kugel (thanks Mom). But those are just the memories from my own house. Sometimes I think about the Greek food I ate at my best friend Denah’s house and other times it’s the mouth-watering Thanksgiving stuffing in my Aunty Ellen’s dining room in Seattle. And one of my favorite memories is eating salmon skin sushi in Campbell River, Canada with my dad before our 10 day fishing trip! Well, this recipe post is devoted to another one of my favorite food memories.
When I think of my Saba and Savtah’s (grandfather and grandmother in Hebrew) dining room table, I think of Israeli couscous (I used to pick out the mushrooms and celery), sweet zucchini ring, cabbage borscht, homemade candy cane ice cream, pistachio’s in a bowl that my mom always told me not to eat, and beef tongue. As you can see, my Savtah was an incredible cook and I can keep going with my list of food memories from her house. She used to keep tins of sweets (meringue’s, mandelbrot cookies and hazen bluzen with powdered sugar) in a closet and I used to snack on them all the time. Okay, I need to focus! I can write about her cooking all day long, but right now, it’s about the beef tongue.
If you’ve never tried tongue before, this is the recipe you should start with! As I eat the sweet and tender meat, I wonder how anyone can dislike it and I realize it is all mental. If you can look beyond the fact that it is the tongue of a cow and that it actually looks like a tongue when it is sliced, you can join the club of people who are enjoying one of the most delectable meats out there. Go ahead…give it a shot! You won’t regret it.
Originally published in Kitchen Tested.
Ingredients:
1 beef tongue
1 onion
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp pickling spice
pressure cooker
Topping Ingredients
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 diced onions
2 Tbsp lemon juice
15 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
white raisins
dried apricots
dried prunes
Preparation:
A raw beef tongue may not be pretty to look at, but it’s delicious! The first thing I did was set up my pressure cooker since I just got it in the mail. What a special moment for me to finally own my own pressure cooker. I remember my mom’s on the stove top, usually cooking chicken soup for Shabbos. Anyways, I placed the tongue on the rack in the pressure cooker with an onion, bay leaf and pickling spices. I filled the cooker halfway with water. I then spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out how to close the top. I know it is so simple but I was trying to follow the directions and they were very confusing. When I finally figured out how to close the darn thing, I placed the temperature on medium-high and waiting until the jiggler (rotating) valve began to shake and hiss loudly, around 20 minutes. I then lowered the temperature to low so the pressure cooker wouldn’t explode. Yes, that can happen! At that point, the valve let out a light hiss. I set a timer for 40 minutes and let the meat do it’s thing.
40 minutes later, I turned off the heat and kept the cooker closed until the pressure subsided. If you don’t have the patience to wait, you can push the valve and the pressure will leave the pot faster. Just be careful of the steam. When I opened the top, a beautiful piece of cooked tongue was revealed!
I let the tongue cool until I could handle it with my hands, then I took it out of the pressure cooker and peeled it. I know that sounds a little gross, but it didn’t take long at all. I refrigerated the tongue over night, but you only need it to cool for a few hours. I also saved the onion to use in the sauce. I suggest you do the same.
The following evening, I took the tongue out of the fridge and sliced it (not too thin). I then layered the tongue in a pan and made the sauce.
I boiled the brown sugar, 1 onion from the pressure cooker and 1 raw diced onion, lemon juice, tomato sauce and water and poured it over the tongue. Tip: You can also use this sauce for meatballs. That’s what my Savtah used to do.
I added the white raisins, apricots and prunes over the sauce. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Use as much or as little as you like.
I covered the pan and placed it in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour. I then uncovered it and the tongue continued to cook for another 30 minutes. This gave the sauce and dried fruit a chance to caramelize before I served it. And that’s it! Nothing to it, right?!? For a side dish, I just roasted some green beans and mushrooms with olive oil, salt and pepper and chowed down! Just like my Savta used to make it.
This post was submitted by Kitchen Tested.
Tags: apricots, bay leaf, Beef, Beef Tongue, brown sugar, dried apricots, dried prunes, Kitchen Tested, lemon juice, onion, onions, pickling spice, pressure cooker, prunes, raisins, tomato sauce, tongue, water,white raisins
The Holmquist family came to Utah at about 1910, as Mormon immigrants to Utah as Mormon pioneers they got homestead land from the church and had a dry farm. They went from being boat builders, building motors and engines for boats, to farming and a few had cattle. They eventually moved to Salt Lake City. But the family came here because of their religious beliefs and then ended up going back to Sweden for a while as missionaries and then returned to Utah. But a big group of Utahans are Swedish and all the Utah Holmquists are related and one family.
Ingredients:
Swedish Meatball Mixture:
2 lbs ground pork
1 lb ground veal
1/2 yellow onion
10 springs parsley
2 oz. Utah honey
Kosher salt/ pepper to taste
2 whole eggs
1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
Lingonberry Sauce:
8 oz. of lingonberry jam
3 cups veal demi-glaze (can be found in specialty food stores)
3/4 cup heavy cream
*Combine all ingredients, simmer and reduce until sauce has a nappe consistency.
Preparation:
Small dice the yellow onion, pick parsley leaves from stems and finely chop.
Combine all ingredients together, mix thoroughly and place in refrigerator to rest overnight.
Roll mixture into 1 inch uniform meatballs. Place meatballs, evenly spaced, on a non-stick sheet pan.
Cook at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and place in lingonberry sauce.
Serve & Enjoy!
May 9, 2013
Author: KosherScoop
Quiches are such an easy dish to serve any time of day for any meal. This quiche is light and fluffy with a rich taste. The walnuts add an unusual and delightful twist to this wonderful dish. Originally published in Kosher Scoop.
Ingredients:
Crust:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
½ cup butter
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
½ cup finely chopped walnuts
Filling:
3 eggs
1 cup grated mozzarella or Swiss cheese
¾ cup sour cream
½ cup finely chopped onions
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ tsp salt
2.5 oz. (213 g) can of salmon, drained and flaked
Preparation:
1. For crust: Combine flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Stir in Cheddar cheese and nuts. Set aside half the mixture for the topping and press the remaining mixture into the bottom of a well-greased 9-inch round Pyrex dish. Refrigerate until chilled.
2. For filling: Beat eggs in a bowl. Then blend in grated cheese, sour cream, onions, mayonnaise and salt. Fold in salmon. Pour salmon mixture into prepared pie shell and sprinkle reserved flour mixture on top.
3. Bake at 375° F for 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm.
VARIATION: I sometimes substitute the onions in the filling for finely chopped chives. It adds a beautiful color.
Tags: all-purpose flour, butter, cheddar cheese, eggs, flour, grated mozzarella, grated mozzarella cheese, Kosher Scoop, mayo, mayonnaise, mozzarella, mozzarella cheese, onions, Salmon, salt, Shavuot,shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, swiss cheese, walnuts
May 20, 2013
Author: GambasandGrits
My husband is about as American as you can get. Until recently, Sergio had spent nearly all his life in the Lone Star State, having grown up outside of Houston, Texas, attended University of Texas as an undergrad and relocated to Houston as an adult. He loves all things sports (particularly the ’Horns), can grill like a pro, and drives a Ford F150.
But what makes him even more American is the fact that he came from somewhere else. Sergio was born to a Spanish mother and Cuban father in Spain. His father had always dreamed of coming to the United States and, so dedicated was he to fulfilling this chosen destiny, that my father-in-law gave up 2 years of his life in a Cuban work camp before he was permitted to leave his country. Shortly after Sergio was born, his father’s papers came in, and off they moved to relocate in a foreign land (and, I imagine, the even more foreign town of Sugar Land).
Sergio became a naturalized citizen in 1991, an experience that plays out every day in the United States. So even though he is 100% American, he is also (as he jokingly adds) “50% Cuban and 50% Spanish”. As such, he has access to the authentic recipes of his abuela‘s kitchen, passed down orally through his mother.
Among the favorites is her recipe for paella. Paella is one of those dishes that, after you have made it yourself, you will wonder why you pay an arm and a leg for it in the restaurants. While a bit labor-intensive (you constantly have to monitor the paella to make sure the rice is cooking evenly), a good paella is relatively simple and cheap to make. Also, because of the novelty and communalism of it (truly a “family style” dish), it is great for dinner parties.
Ingredients:
1 regular white or yellow onion, diced
6 whole cloves of garlic, unpeeled
1/2 large red bell pepper, 1/2 of which is cut into thin strips, the other 1/2 diced
1 1/2 cups paella rice (or short-grained rice in a pinch)
1/4 pound chorizo (or your favorite sausage or ham), diced in 1/2 inch cubes
1 pound of seafood comprising:mussels and/or clams (in shell) and calamari
1 pound of shrimps (in shell with the heads, the larger the better)
a few threads of saffron
olive oil
salt, pepper and sugar, to taste
Preparation:
1. Place 3/4 pound of shrimp in 5 1/2 cups of water and, after reaching a rolling boil for 3 minutes, reduce to low-medium heat and allow to cook for 30 minutes (shrimp broth).
2. Cover bottom of paella pan in thin layer of olive oil, at medium-high heat.
3. Cook 1/4 pound chorizo just enough to render fat.
4. Once pan is hot, place 6 garlic cloves (still in their peels) in olive oil and remove when thoroughly browned.
5. Place 1 diced onion and and 1/4 red bell pepper, diced, and stir. Once onion is translucent, add calamari and continue to stir.
7. Add 1 1/2 cups paella rice, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of pepper and a generous pinch of sugar and continue to stir.
8. Remove shrimp from pot, remove the heads from the shrimp, deshell, devein and cut the shrimp into small morsels and mix with rice.
9. Add 1 cup of shrimp broth and 3-5 threads of saffron, and continue to stir until boiling.
10. As liquid boils off, continue to add 2 more cups of shrimp broth.
11. Boil for 5 minutes, covered (heavy or tripled-folded aluminum foil works well), and then lower heat to medium-low.
12. Leave for 10 minutes, covered.
13. Add remaining 2 cups shrimp broth slowly as it absorbed by the rice.
14. Arrange mussels/clams, shrimp (with heads) and 1/4 red bell pepper, sliced, on top.
15. Allow to cook for 5 more minutes, covered.
16. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes, covered.
Notes
Paella does require a large, flat-bottomed pan for cooking the rice evenly- the key to a good paella. This does not necessarily mean you must go out and buy a paella pan (although if you cook it frequently enough, it is well worth it, as a paella pan can be used for plenty of other dishes), you can always ad lib and/or make smaller quantities.
Because paella rice must be cooked evenly, most stoves are not ideal to evenly distribute heat across your big-bottomed pan. A grill (charcoal or gas) is a great solution. Just be sure to pay close attention to your rice- it cooks quickly on the grill! Otherwise, turn on all burners to cover as much surface area as possible and rotate the pan to distribute heat evenly.
Fresh seafood (vs. frozen) really makes a big difference.
If you can’t find shrimp with their heads on, substitute chicken broth for shrimp broth and substitute more seafood or chicken for the shrimp.
