Tag: Latin American
Sofrito Pasta
Sofrito Pasta
Have a bunch of extra sofrito and don’t know what to do with it? It is great as a light sauce tossed with pasta. I recommend using pasta that isn’t spaghetti noodle shaped. Something that has some type of ridge to catch the sauce like penne rigatta, gemelli, bowtie, etc. You can also add chicken, shrimp, or pork to the pasta and eat it as a main course.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups sofrito
- 1 lb dry pasta cooked according to directions
- 2-3 tsp creole seasoning
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese grated
Garnish
- parsley chopped
Instructions
- Heat up olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add in the sofrito. Cook for 5 minutes to get the raw flavor out.
- Add in the cooked pasta and toss in the sofrito. Season with the creole seasoning. Cook for 5 more minutes.
Sofrito
Sofrito is used as a base for soups, stews, beans, and rice in many Spanish speaking countries such as Cuba and Puerto Rico. It is typically made out of a lot of green ingredients such as green bell pepper, cilantro, green onions, and culantro; similar to green seasoning used in African/Caribbean cuisine. Sofrito adds aromatics to whatever you add it to.Sofrito can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month. I like to freeze it in ice cube trays and store in gallon sized freezer bags. You can then keep your sofrito for up to a year.
Equipment
- Food processor or blender
Ingredients
- 2 small green bell pepper seeded and chopped
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 1/2 cup cilantro
- 1 1/2 cup culantro
- 1 head garlic
- 1 medium white onion
- 4 green onions chopped
- 2 roma tomatoes
- 2 tbsp oregano
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a blender or food processor.
- Purée until smooth. Store in the refrigerator for up to a month or in the freezer for put to a year.
Tacos Arabes
Tacos Arabes
This is not your typical Mexican taco. Tacos Arabes has its origins from Christian Arab refugees from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq forced into displacement to what is now the Mexican city of Puebla. An estimated 113,000 Arabs had made there home in Mexico in the 1870s. They introduced the concept of shawarma, roasting meat to an open flame upright on a spit, to the Mexican culinary world. Instead of serving the meat in a tortilla, the meat is served on a pita-like flatbread. Originally, lamb was used. But since lamb isn’t very popular in Mexico and is more expensive, the recipe had evolved into pork.If you were to get tacos arabes in Puebla today, you would see a large stack of thinly sliced herb marinated pork shoulder roasting upright on a spit. The meat is shaved off, much like the same way the meat is for a gyro or even tacos al pastor. It will be served with a simple vinegar based chipotle salsa. Since the overwhelming majority of home chefs don’t have an upright spit, you can sauté the marinated pork in a pan for 15 minutes.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork shoulder cut into thin strips
- 1 medium white onion sliced
- 1/4 cup parsley chopped
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 lime juiced
- 4 tbsp oregano
- 2 tbsp thyme
- 4 tsp vinegar
- 3 tsp salt
- 6 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
Authentic Arabes Salsa
- 1/2 cup water
- 4 tbsp chipotle paste
- 4 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp Mexican oregano
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients together except the cooking oil.
- Marinate the pork in a gallon sized storage bag for at least 8 hours.
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Drain the pork of any marinade juices. Add the pork to the sauté pan.
- Cook the pork for 15 minutes. The pork is done when the onions have cooked down.
- To make the salsa, purée all of the ingredients together in a blender or food processor.
Pita Bread
Pita bread can trace it’s roots over 14000 years ago to the Stoned Age in the Middle East. Today, pita bread is a staple of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine. The yeast leavened flatbread dough is rolled flat. The edges are then tucked up underneath itself into a ball. This allows air to be trapped, creating steam to puff up the flatbread and make a pocket once the dough is baked. There is also pita that is just rolled flat and use more as a wrap, such as is Greek cuisine.
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp sugar
- 1 cup warm water
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients together.
- On a floured surface, knead the dough fo 7-8 minutes.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Keep in a warm place.
- Let dough rise for 2 hours. It will double in volume.
- Roll dough out on a floured surface.
- Cut the dough into 4 pieces.
- Flatten the dough into a circle.
- Tuck the edges up under into itself to form a ball. This helps trap air inside, making the pita light and airy.
- Roll out the dough ball into 1/4” thick discs.
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
- Cook the pita for 4 minutes a side.
Guisado a Los Tres Chiles (3 Pepper Stew)
Guisado a Los Tres Chiles (3 Pepper Stew)
Guisado a Los Tres Chiles is pork shoulder stewed in a sauce made of 3 different types of dried peppers. Ancho and guajillo chilies are always the base, followed by a that has some heat. I used puya peppers, but morita, chipotles, piquin, and arbol chilies are all acceptable. This stewed pork is typically served with rice and pinto beans, but is also great as a taco filling with chopped onions and cilantro.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork shoulder cut into 1” cubes
- 6 cups water
- 1/4 medium white onion
- 6 garlic cloves
- 3 bay leaves
3 Pepper Sauce
- 3 ancho chilies seeded
- 3 guajillo chilies seeded
- 3 puya chilies seeded
- 4 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1/4 medium white onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring the water to a boil with the pork, onion, garlic, and bay leaves in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Simmer uncovered for 50 minutes.
- Strain the meat from the stock you just created. Put the meat back in the pan and continue to cook on low.
- Save the stock.
- Dry toast the dried peppers in a sauté pan over medium high heat for 5-6 minutes until they get some color and swell.
- Place the peppers in warm water and let soak.
- In the same pan, toast the sesame seeds for 3 minutes until they start to sizzle. Set aside.
- In the same pan, dry toast the onions and garlic for 5 minutes.
- Add the peppers and sesame seeds back in. Continue toasting for 5 minutes over medium low heat.
- Place the peppers, sesame seeds, onion, and garlic in a food processor or blender with 3 cups of the stock. Purée until smooth.
- Stir in the 3 pepper sauce with the pork over medium heat. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. If the meat gets too dry, add in a 1/2 cup of the leftover stick at a time.
- The sauce should be thick. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
