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Posts from the ‘Main Course’ Category

May 20

4 Comments

Fideos Secos

It was about a year ago today that I started a major kitchen re-haul (really a few hours) before throwing a surprise party in my apartment.  I say started because, while everything was put back into some kind of order, I don’t think it was really finished until this week.  Faced with the potential embarrassment of friends seeing my apartment in shambles, I made miracles happen and then took some time off (about 12 months to be exact).  Most of the elements were in place but crowded, and I hadn’t gotten around to tying it all together. Read more

Mar 23

19 Comments

Harina con Cangrejo

Despite a lifetime of research, I’m always discovering something new in Cuban food.  While it reminds me not to take anything for granted, less pleasant is knowing that my nearest and dearest have been holding out on me.  That’s how I felt when I discovered that harina – cornmeal simmered to a creamy state and topped with peppery sofritos and poached or fried eggs, ham or chorizo, shimp or crab – was a Cuban comfort food staple that everyone was having but no one was talking about.  I’d enjoyed Italian polenta prepared this way, but I  hadn’t realized there was a take on it that was much closer to home – just not my home. Read more

Nov 8

2 Comments

Quinotto de Champiñones

I usually dread fall-back but I’ve been looking forward to daylight savings for weeks. Normally a morning person, getting up in the pitch black, confusing the still bright streetlamps with my alarm clock, and starting every day with the say-it-aint-sos was really getting to me. For once, I was willing to trade darker afternoons for brighter mornings. Of course, playing mind games with the sun has its price. As someone with penchant for photographing their food, I’m sure I’ll be cursing the change when I’m trying to get a decent picture at 3-o’-clock in the afternoon. Read more

Sep 29

7 Comments

Fainá a Caballo

My oven and I have been locked in a battle of wills – and I’m losing. It will work just fine for a couple of days, do whatever I ask of it, then for no particular reason refuse to heat up at all. Its left me with unroasted tomatoes, ungratined cheese, unbaked cakes and generally frustrated. Getting anything fixed in my apartment is an ordeal and I’ve had no fewer than three visits from the building’s supers where they stand in the kitchen, look over the oven, agree that “yes, it’s not working”, then leave. While I appreciate their sympathy, the nodding isn’t getting me any closer to 350 degrees. Read more

Apr 8

1 Comment

Chiles Rellenos con Camarones al Chipotle

The weeks between Mardi Gras and Easter are defined by what you can’t do (or can’t do just yet) – light jackets but schizophrenic weather, longer days but dark morning commutes – a period of austerity before it’s all bunnies, baskets and tulips. While I’m far from orthodox, I do try to follow the no-meat on Friday rule during lent (though full confession I only seem to remember halfway through a turkey sandwich or mid-Korean barbecue).  With friends coming over, the timing was right for seafood. Read more

Jan 13

3 Comments

New Routine

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks under water.  Not that I’ve been unusually busy, I’ve just returned to my aqua girl routines in hopes of washing away the holiday excess – drinking water like it’s my job, swimming laps like I’m being chased by a shark, and looking to add more fish to my weekly diet.  Cooking fish has always made me nervous.  At best, I worry that I’ll let it go too long and over cook it, at worst, that I’ll poison everyone I love in one fell swoop.  I usually stick to the sushi grade varieties in the belief that if I’d just as soon eat it raw, there isn’t anything I can do to make it deadly.  Still, no one likes a rut and the guys at the fish store automatically move towards the salmon before I’ve even placed my order.  Sometimes I’ll change it to tuna or trout just to keep them guessing but I’m pretty sure it’s daring only to me.  After a few weeks of seeing pargo (snapper) on every Cuban restaurant menu in Miami, I thought it was time switch things up again. Read more

Oct 29

2 Comments

Gnocchi à l’Alsacienne

I was looking for my monthly (well I try) ñoquis del 29 recipe and found Thomas Keller’s gnocchi à l’Alsacienne from Bouchon.  I’m always drawn to Keller recipes when I’m getting ready for a long run.  For last winter’s NYC half marathon it was ad hoc at home’s farro and black rice with roasted autumn squash and this time it was his gnocchi with butternut squash and mushrooms before next week’s full marathon, though both involve a lot of rotating pans and squash cubing just when I’m supposed to be resting up and tapering down. Read more

Sep 12

2 Comments

Chiles en Nogada

I saw a reference describing end of summer/start of fall cooking as “valedictory meals”.  I prefer to think of this time as a cross-fade.  As one season quiets down, another one starts to roar, but for at least a moment they make the same sound.  To take advantage of the markets in transition, I made an Argentinian Carbonada Criolla, a heavy beef stew lightened with peaches, pears and corn served in a pumpkin last September.  This year I decided to try Mexico’s chiles en nogada.  Pork or beef picadillo stuffed into poblano chiles, it’s covered in a chilled, creamy walnut sauce and garnished with pomegranate seeds.  Read more

Sep 9

4 Comments

Soufflé de Quinoa

Nothing takes the fear out of making a soufflé like making three in a row.  I found a recipe for one combined with amaranth that I couldn’t wait to try.  My training for this year’s New York City marathon is nearing the 20-mile mark so I’ve been cooking up batches of  amaranth to have on hand for cereal topped with honey and fruit.  While adding eggs and cheese may not be the best way to enjoy my vitamin high grain, it sounded wonderful and I’d been so good. Read more

Aug 25

11 Comments

Pizza à Portuguesa

I’ve gotten into the terrible habit of buying and not using pizza dough.  Every time, I tell myself it’ll be different but end up tossing away a once perfectly good round of dough a few weeks later.  Instead of making my own, I head over to South Brooklyn Pizza where they know more about what you want than you do, Grimaldi’s when family is in town and there’s time for the line, Layla Jones for a fast slice, or Sam’s Restaurant for the mildly terrifying son of Sam jokes the waiter drops with your pizza.  With so many great options just a few minutes in any direction, the fun of spinning and topping my own gets left for another day.  The pizza stone that lives in my oven is looking angrier and spottier than usual. Read more

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