Friday, February 18, 2011

Recipe: Longing for some Latin food?




My husband loves Latin food and I am the first to admit I am guilty of rarely preparing him this style of food. I have thought in the past (when living just outside of Miami), “Why make the food when I can buy it so easily?” That changed after moving to Charlotte. In my quest for Latin food that pleases my picky palette and my husband’s desire to eat tasty Latin food that he so misses, I decided to prepare a meal a friend of mine once so lovingly made for us. Much to my surprise, I learned this recipe was very easy to prepare. However, you must have a blender or food processor to save you a lot of work!

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cans Goya pink beans in sauce (you can get them in a Latin grocery store like Compare Foods. I have only seen them in the Goya brand).
  • ½ cube chicken stock
  • 2 medium tomatoes
  • ¾ small can tomato paste
  • 1 bunch of cilantro
  • 4 stalks scallions
  • ½ green pepper
  • ½ red pepper
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 3 slices bacon

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Pour beans into a saucepan.
2. Add about 1/2 can of water and a half a cube or so of chicken stock.
3. Add a couple tablespoons of ketchup if you're going to make a big batch and freeze. Alternatively, add fresh tomatoes and a little tomato paste into the blender with the following items; fresh cilantro, scallions, green pepper, red pepper, a bit of water (just enough to make the puree smooth), and some fresh garlic. Puree until smooth.
4. Fry up some bacon. Chop it up.
5. Pour the puree and bacon into the beans. Simmer for an hour.

Rice

  • 1 cup white rice
  • 1 tbl vegetable oil
  • 2 stalks scallions
  • 1.5 cup water
  • ½ cup chicken or vegetable stock


1. Boil water and stock.
2. Add rice and chopped scallions and simmer for about 20 minutes.
3. Keep checking on rice to ensure it stays moist. If rice starts drying before done, add additional chix stock or water to moisten. You will know rice is done when it fluffs with a fork.


Plantains

  • 3 plantains (when buying make sure they are wrinkly, soft and turning black)
  • Vegetable oil
  • 1. Peel plantains and cut up in 1 inch pieces.
  • 2. Heat oil on med-high; just enough to coat the pan.
  • 3. Lower the heat to med and fry until brown.


Put some fresh cilantro in the bottoms of the bowls to serve. Place the beans on top. Serve rice on the side with some plantains. Buen provecho!

~Stephanie

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