Tag: Latin American
Salvadoran Style Red Bean Soup
Salvadoran Style Red Bean Soup
This red bean soup is packed full of flavor and is extremely easy to prepare. Cook up bacon. Sauté onion, green pepper, and garlic in bacon grease. Purée beans and beef stock. Add to the veggies. Simmer. Stir in bacon and sour cream. Simmer for a few more minutes. Garnish the red bean soup with lots of crumbled queso fresco and more diced bacon. If you want some heat, I recommend adding a few paper thin slices of serrano peppers.
Equipment
- blender
Ingredients
- 6 strips bacon diced
- 1/2 medium white onion diced
- 1 green pepper diced
- 6 garlic cloves chopped
- 32 oz red beans cooked
- 2 cups beef stock
- 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1 cup sour cream
- salt to taste
Garnish
- queso fresco crumbled
- cooked bacon diced
- jalapeños or serrano peppers sliced paper thin
Instructions
- Cook the bacon over medium high heat for 8 minutes until the fat has rendered out. Remove the bacon from the pot, saving the grease.
- Saite the onions, green peppers, and garlic in the bacon fat for 5-6 minutes.
- While the vegetables are cooking, add the beans, beef stock, and black pepper to a blender. Purée until smooth.
- Pour the bean purée into the pot. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the bacon back in. Stir in the sour cream. Continue simmering for 5 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
Spare Ribs in Adobo
Spare Ribs in Adobo
I love ribs in every shape and form from every animal. These Mexican spare ribs in a homemade adobo sauce are just to die for. These ribs are very versatile. They can be prepared in the oven, on a grill, the stovetop, a slow cooker, and even in an Instant Pot. I am very partial to wrapping them in foil and baking them in the oven. After they are baked, I broil the ribs for 6 minutes to brown them. Then the ribs get a layer of the adobo sauce brushed on top then baked for 10 minutes. Brush on 1 more layer of adobo and bake for another 10 minutes.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Food processor or blender
Ingredients
- 4 lbs spare ribs
- 1/2 medium white onion sliced
- 4 garlic cloves sliced
- 6 avocado leaves
Adobo Sauce
- 4 guajillo chilies
- 2 ancho chilies
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Dry toast the dried peppers for 2-3 minutes.
- Soak the peppers in water for 20 minutes. Remove the seeds from the peppers.
- Add all of the adobo sauce ingredients with 1 cup of the pepper soaking water to a blender. Purée until smooth. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Place the ribs on a baking sheet lined in foil. Cover the ribs with sliced onion, garlic, and avocado leaves. Wrap the baking sheet in more foil. Bake for 2 hours and 15 minutes.
- Remove the onions, garlic, and avocado leaves from the ribs. Turn on the oven’s broiler.
- Broil the ribs for 6 minutes.
- Turn the oven back to 275 degrees. Brush on a layer of the adobo sauce. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Brush on another layer of the sauce and bake for 10 more minutes.
Chifrijo
Chifrijo
Chifrijo is a popular Costa Rican bar snack consisting roasted and fried pork belly over black beans and rice. It’s topped with pico de gallo, diced avocado, and salsa Lizano. Even better, it is scooped up with tortilla chips. This recipe has a lot of steps; all which are fairly easy. When preparing for a recipe that has multiple things going on at once like Chifrijo, the best thing you can do is first gather all of the ingredients for each thing you are making. This will cut down time running back and forth looking for things. Know how long it will take to make what you’re cooking. In the chifrijo’s case, the pork belly takes the longest: 100 minutes for roasting and 5 minutes for frying. While the belly is roasting, you can prepare the beans, rice, and pico de gallo. Lastly, but also firstly: pack a bowl and relax.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Pork Belly
- 2 lbs pork belly
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- cracked black pepper
- vegetable oil for frying
Pico de Gallo
- 2 medium tomatoes diced
- 1/4 large white onion diced
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 jalapeño diced
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 lime juiced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
Costa Rican Black Beans
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 stalk celery finely diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tbsp Salsa Lizano
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 14 oz canned black beans with it’s juices
The Rest
- 2 cups white rice steamed
- 1 avocado diced
- tortilla chips
- Salsa Lizano
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Season the pork belly with soy sauce and cracked black pepper. Place the pork belly on a rack on a baking sheet lined in foil. Poor some water in the bottom of the pan.
- Roast the pork belly for 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to 325 degrees. Roast for 90 minutes. Let cool completely.
- Chop into bite size pieces.
- Heat up 1/4” deep of vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Fry the pork belly until it is browned, about 4-5 minutes.
- Drain on paper towel.
- While the pork belly is roasting, combine all of the pico de gallo ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate until ready for use.
- Also, while the pork belly is roasting, heat up olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Sauté the the celery and garlic for 5 minutes.
- Add in the cumin, salsa Lizano, and black beans.
- Cover and simmer over medium low heat for 20 minutes.
Assembly
- Place a scoop of rice in the center of a bowl. Scoop a ladle of beans over the rice. Place a scoop of the fried pork belly in the center. Distribute a scoop of pico de gallo over the pork belly. Add some diced avocado. Drizzle some more salsa Lizano. Serve with tortilla chips.
