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Oct 28

19 Comments

The Cuban Table is here!

IMG_3828I am beyond thrilled to announce that The Cuban Table: A Celebration of Food, Flavors, and History is hitting both real and virtual shelves today.  Since our wonderful editor BJ Berti let us know that the finished copies were in the warehouse and on their way a few weeks ago, I imagined receiving them – usually in over-saturated, Doris Day technicolor.  The books would run straight off an assembly line, into a box, and onto a truck that would drop them at my door.  I’d coolly but swiftly rip it open, hand out the books, and and it would be champagne all around.  So many wonderful things have come from this book in the past few weeks that I just needed the one thing that would make it real.  The anticipation was maddening and when the books didn’t come, I took to sad-eying the UPS man when he failed to deliver.  Finally, just a few hours shy of today’s release date, the books arrived and…I wasn’t there.  I came home from a (very un-Doris Day-like) cardio kickboxing class and found the box on my coffee table with a lime green NEW TITLES  sticker splashed across the top and my yorkies yapping furiously around it.  It was later than I’d expected but exactly on time.  Most importantly, it was very, very real. Read more

Oct 22

10 Comments

First Look Inside The Cuban Table

CubanTable_ArrozConPollo_Image_72The Cuban Table  will be here next week but I couldn’t wait until then to share a recipe from the book.  I’d been planning on this post for awhile but it was hard to choose just one.  Not only are they all attached to a memory or favorite moment during this long process, they’re also attached to some of my favorite people.  They were great company as I wrote and I’m so excited to introduce them to you.  Even now, I feel like when I open the cover they all start talking once – a familiar feeling if you’ve ever walked into a Cuban gathering.  It’s also at those parties where you’ll most often find … Arroz Con Pollo.  And that’s how I finally decided.  Read more

Oct 14

7 Comments

Crema de Quinoa

IMG_3779When I’m asked how I decided what to post, I always say that one recipe leads to another.  But that’s only half a truth.  More specifically, it comes down to what was left and what I can make of it.  This chowder, for one, started with a recipe for quinoa croquettes.  With the croquettes done and quinoa to spare, I started looking for more ways to use it and came across this recipe in Jose Garces’ Latin Road Home.  I was most drawn to the ingredient list featuring staples I always have but never seem to use completely – heavy cream, parsley, the odd potato.  This also meant picking up a few extras quarts of vegetable stock and pulling fresh corn from the dwindling piles at the market.  I followed the recipe as closely as possible the first time around including the fried potatoes, and crumbled bacon.  When it was finished, I realized I had a almost enough left to make a second batch.  I was going into a busy week and knew I’d be rewarming it over a few nights, so I made a vegetarian version.  Also, I was out of bacon.  Instead of using the achiote paste that’s been living in my refrigerator for years with no expiration in site, I used the last of my achiote seeds to make the oil.  The chives became scallions, and I added the cream at the end to finish off the pint.  The one thing I didn’t get to was the fresh  ají costeño pepper sauce Garces suggests, but that will have to wait for the next round.
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