Vaca Frita de Esther

On Sunday we set out to learn how to make “the best Vaca Frita in the world”, according to two very reliable sources – the “chef's” teen-aged grandsons. Who knows more about food than teen-aged boys? The teacher was Esther, our friend’s mother, who took over her daughter’s kitchen to teach us how to make this delicious Cuban staple.



We’re dividing the recipe into two parts – Part One is cooking the meat and Part Two is frying the meat.

Ingredients









Part One
½ head garlic – smash the cloves
3 Roma tomatoes – quartered
1 large onion – cut in large wedges
1 green bell pepper – cut in strips
1 teaspoon of Sazón or other Latin seasoning mixes
½ teaspoon salt
1½ lbs Beef Flank Steak
Water to cover the ingredients

Part 2
1 large onion – thinly sliced
3 heaping teaspoons minced garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon salt
Olive Oil to coat the pan

Process

This recipe makes approximately 6 servings

Part One

1. Cut the meat vertically, with the grain, in half or thirds (depending on its width).

1. Add the meat, vegetables and seasoning to pot.

1. Add the water to cover the ingredients.

1. Set pressure cooker as usual. Cook on medium for 30 minutes until the meat is fork tender.

• NOTE: If you’re not using a pressure cooker, just follow the recipe as indicated, except let the meat and other ingredients slow boil for at least an hour until the meat is fork tender.


• NOTE: You can also use a slow-cooker setting it on Low for about 8 hours.

1. Turn the heat off and take pot off heat source. Let the pressure release completely.


2. Remove meat and set aside.

• NOTE: The broth and vegetables make a great base for soup.

Part Two

1. Shred the meat using your hands and/or a fork.

1. Add salt, garlic, half of the sliced onions, and the lime juice.


2. Coat a frying pan with olive oil and add mixture to the cold pan without heating the oil.

1. On medium heat stir the meat constantly, adding additional onions and more oil gradually as needed.

1. Once the onions are soft and the meat cooked, raise the heat and sear the meat until it’s slightly brown and crispy.

Serve with white rice and black beans, or plantains, or all three!

As usual there was wine and great conversation, with some family gossip, memories and secrets being shared – fun! We all enjoyed a wonderful lunch of Vaca Frita and since we doubled the recipe we had enough to take some home!

¡Buen provecho!

Caldo Gallego de Roberto (Galician White Bean Stew)

Last Sunday we visited Grace and Roberto again - a couple of months ago we learned how to make Grace’s delicious Carne con Papas – but this time Roberto taught us how to make his famous Caldo Gallego. OH. MY. GOD! It is so good , particularly when it’s a little cold outside as it was on Super Bowl Sunday.

Here's Roberto - our teacher for the day.

Caldo Gallego is a traditional Cuban dish with origins in Galicia, Spain. It is comfort food for many because it’s so warm and hearty. You can serve Caldo Gallego in a small bowl as a soup course, but most often it is served in a big bowl as the main meal because it contain greens, beans and meat. Don’t let the amount of fat used fool you, the beans and collard greens make it a relatively healthy meal.

Since it takes a long time to make, it is best to make large quantities and freeze the remainders – it gets better with time. And again, because it takes quite a while and requires some prep work – lots of peeling and cutting – do what we did and get together with a few friends. Be sure the wine is good and plentiful and that you have some “saladitos” for sustenance during the hard work – we had ham and manchego cheese canapés along with fresh fruit.

Ingredients:








8 quarts of water
3 lbs dried Great Northern Beans
5 lbs potatoes – peeled and chunked
3 lbs turnips – peeled and chunked
4 lbs flank steak – cut into large pieces
5 lbs bone-in-ham – cut into large pieces
2 lbs bacon slices (sliced bacon slab or pancetta can also be used)
6 oz. salt pork (or pork leaf fat called “unto” in Spanish) – rinsed and cut up
10 Spanish chorizos
2 bunches of collard greens – washed well and shredded

• NOTE: This is what the "unto" or salt pork/pork leaf fat looks like in the package.

Process

This recipe makes approximately 20 servings.

1. Soak the beans between 6 and 8 hours.

2. Peel and chunk potatoes and turnips.

3. Cut the flank steak and the ham – save the ham bone.
   
4. Add all the ingredients, including the ham bone – except the collard greens - to the beans and water.
   
5. Bring to a boil - it doesn't look pretty, but it's OK - it'll get better.
   
6. Set temperature to medium and cook until the beans are ready - approximately 90 minutes.
   
• NOTE: At this point the broth will be a reddish-orange because of the chorizo. Don’t panic! It will change color once the greens are added.


7. Wash, shred and add the collard greens.

8. Cook for an additional 30 minutes.
9. Remove the flank steak pieces, the ham pieces, the chorizo and the ham-bone and serve on a separate platter.

The finished product!

Serve with crusty bread - preferably Cuban - and a hearty Rioja wine.

¡Buen provecho!
 

Crème de Vié de Cris (Cuban Egg Nog - sort of)

We finally got Cris to teach us how to make her famous Crème de Vie (pronounced crehm deh vee or crehm deh vieh - it's supposed to be French!). She's been bottling this stuff and giving it as a Christmas goodie for years, and it is always very well received. Now she's decided to share the knowledge. She told us she's tried several recipes through the years and has taken elements from several until finally settling on this one.

After the lesson, we spent the afternoon enjoying pastelitos and other snacks. Cris had made a batch of Crème de Vie weeks ago so we were able to enjoy a glass or two. Everyone got a bottle of the fresh batch to take home and enjoy over the holidays.

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1 cup water
8 egg yolks
12 oz evaporated milk
14 oz condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups white rum
Ground nutmeg for garnish

This recipe makes 1 quart of Crème de Vie

Process

1. Bring sugar and water to a rolling boil until the sugar dissolves and the syrup lightly coats a spoon. Set the syrup aside to cool.

1. Separate and lightly whisk the egg yolks.

1. Add the evaporated and condensed milks to the yolks and whisk.

1. Add the vanilla and rum. Mix well.

1. Slowly add the syrup to the egg mixture after ensuring the syrup has cooled. Mix well.

1. Strain the mixture at least twice to ensure all solid pieces of sugar or egg are removed.

1. Pour into bottles and let them sit for about an hour. Store in the refrigerator.

1. NOTE: Cris recommends refrigerating the crème de vie for a minimum of three weeks, the longer it's stored the smoother it gets.

1. Serve chilled in a liqueur glass or a small glass - a little goes a long way! Garnish with nutmeg if desired.

¡Buen provecho and feliz Navidad!

Do you have any traditional Christmas recipes to share?

Carne con Papas de Grace (Cuban Beef Stew)

Several requests for a good and simple Carne con Papas recipe have finally been satisfied. Our teacher Grace welcomed us into her home so we could learn how to make this delicious Cuban comfort food. We were joined by family members who only added to the fun!
Grace served the carne con papas with white rice along with a delicious avocado and tomato salad followed by an amazing flan - we're going to have to recruit her to teach us how to make that flan - and of course, cafecito! Oh and there was plenty of wine to go around of course.

Ingredients











4 medium onions - chopped
2 medium green peppers - chopped
1/4 cup corn oil
5 lbs Beef for stew
2 tsps Lawrey's Garlic Salt with Ground Parsley
4 lbs medium potatoes - peeled and chunked
1 lb jar Ragu Traditional Pasta Sauce
2 14.5 oz cans cut green beans - drained

Process

This recipe makes approximately 10 servings.

1. Sweat the onions and green peppers in the oil until the onion is translucent.

2. If necessary, cut the beef chunks into large bite sized pieces.

3. Season the beef chunks with 1 tsp of garlic salt.
4. Add the meat to the onion and pepper mixture. Stir to brown evenly.

5. Season the potatoes with 1 tsp of garlic salt and add the potatoes to the pot.

6. Add the pasta sauce.

7. Cover and cook on medium-low for 25-30 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Add the green beans.

8. Cook for another 10 minutes, setting the lid ajar so some of the liquid can evaporate and the sauce thickens a bit.

9. Traditionally served with white rice.

¡Buen provecho!

Potaje de Lentejas de Miriam (Lentil Soup)

Miriam, our very first teacher - the one who taught us how to make croquetas back in February - once again shared her culinary skills with us. This time we made Potaje de Lentejas – which was perfect for Saturday’s stormy weather.

The fact that Miriam was the one who taught us how to make this was inevitable, as she is in charge every New Year’s Eve for making lentil soup in order to observe the New Year’s tradition – eating lentil soup on New Year’s Eve will bring you prosperity the following year. So amidst all the other “traditions”, the lentil soup is a mainstay.

This time we met at her daughter’s house and then followed the “class” by having a great dinner – Miriam’s sister made a pork loin. (By the way, that same sister, her name is Nora, will be teaching us how to make Turkey Fricassee some time next year.) Accompanied by some hearty red wine, a salad and good friends, it was delicious!

We had a great time as always, sharing stories of Miriam and her sisters’ travels all over the world, reminiscing about early days in Miami, and just laughing and being silly. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Ingredients








14 oz. bag of lentils
1 medium green pepper - chunked
8 cups of water
1 medium onion – minced
5 cloves of garlic - minced
2 carrots – peeled and sliced
1 packet or cube of chicken bouillon
1 packet of Sazon Goya – the one with Coriander and Annatto (this can be replaced with any Latin seasoning with coriander)

1 chorizo – sliced
2 small smoked ham shanks
3 tbsp olive oil
5 tbsp tomato sauce
Salt to taste

Process

This recipe makes approximately 10 hearty servings.

1. Sort through the dry lentils to remove foreign objects.
2. Rinse the lentils.
3. Add lentils and peppers to the water.
4. Mince the onions and garlic together and add paste to the lentils.
5. Add everything except the salt to the lentils and water.
6. Set on high until it comes to a boil.
7. Taste the liquid and add salt to taste.
8. Set the temperature to Medium-Low. Cover and cook for 30-40 minutes.

• NOTE: Some lentils absorb more water than others and you may want to add more water to get it to your preferred consistency as some like it soupier than others.

1. Once it has cooked and thickened, take out the ham shanks.

1. Strip the meat, shred it and put back into the soup. Stir well.

• NOTE: The green peppers are cut into chunks so they can be removed if desired. Their flavor may overpower the lentils if the soup is stored for later use.

1. Take off heat.

NOTE: The longer the soup sits, the more it will thicken.

Serve as soup or over rice.

¡Buen provecho!