Broccoli fried rice

This fried rice was thrown together using leftovers I had in my fridge.  I had leftover broccoli from a dinner earlier in the week.      I had used up all my soy sauce except two lonely packets leftover from Chinese takeout; so the prime flavoring used was sesame oil  and sesame seeds.

Omelette with spicy mayo sauce served over White Rice

What do you make on a Friday night when you just want to order a pizza and be done with it?  Eggs and rice of course!

My mother would call this "comida de pobre" or "the poor man's dinner."  My husband who lived in Japan would call this "Om-rice," I just call it fast food.

What makes this particular dish awesome is the steamed white rice, which is way easier to accomplish in a rice cooker.  It doesn't have to be as fancy as my zojiroshi Japanese style rice cooker, but when you use a rice cooker the rice really does come out fluffier.  My mother has three different ones that have all served her well: a Hitachi from the 1960's which is still kicking despite its wear, a 20$ one she picked up at a local drugstore, and a microwave rice cooker that she found at her local Latin grocery store.  All are able to produce fluffy rice on the cheap.  Aside from that the only other tool needed is a decent nonstick pan.

Omelette Ingredients:

6 large eggs beaten (at least three per person)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp olive oil divided

White rice ingredients:

1 cup white rice

Water according to rice cooker's recommendation

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

Spicy mayo ingredients:

2 tbsp light mayo

1 very generous squirt of Siracha sauce (spicy Thai chili sauce AKA Rooster sauce)

2 tbsp lime or lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Water if you want the sauce more fluid or less spicy

Directions:

Wash the rice really well with lots of cold water constantly pouring out the fury water and adding fresh water until the water looks clear. Once rice is clean add water according to rice cooker's directions and then add a splash more (this makes rice a little more sticky and fluffy). Then add oil, salt, stir everything and begin to cook rice. My rice cooker takes about 45 minutes on "quick setting,". Other rice cookers depending on the brand can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

During The last five minutes of cooking time begin work on your omelette and sauce.

In a small bowl mix the mayonnaise, siracha sauce, and lemon juice.  Taste it and add salt and pepper as needed.  If sauce is too spicy you can add a tbsp if water or extra lemon juice. If not spicy enough add more siracha sauce.  Keep sauce Refrigerated

Heat nonstick pan in high with 1tsp of olive oil.  while oil is heating up, crack the first three eggs in a small bowl and beat vigoursly with a fork. Add eggs to pan and begin stirring the center and then re distributing uncooked egg throughout pan by turning pan with handle.  Lower heat to medium low.  Using spatula drag it around edges of pan lifting cooked egg up slightly.  Once egg starts to look like a pancake and is only slightly runny in the middle, lift one side of the omelette and fold it over the other side.  Slide onto plate over the rice.

Drizzle sauce over omelette, and serve hot.

Minestrone soup

What do you make when company comes over and you have a bunch of random pantry and fridge items?  Soup of course!  This particular soup was also a good way to use up a head of celery I bought a week ago before it went bad (leftover celery was chopped and tossed into freezer).

Ingredients:

Carrots diced

Celery diced

Can of spaghetti sauce with veggies (I used this also to get rid of it, but I would probably just use diced tomatoes canned)

Onion diced

5 cloves of Garlic smashed

1 can of roman beans ( I bought these by  accident and decided to use them up)

2 bouillon cubes (I had a mysterious box of beef ones leftover from my roommate)

Salt to taste (you may or may not need it based on the bouillon and spaghetti sauce used)

Black pepper 1 tsp

Dry Oregano 1 tsp

12 cups of water (I just added water to a 24 oz can 4 times and added to pot)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup of frozen green peas

2 bay leaves (fish them out before serving)

Directions:

Heat olive oil in large stock pot and add diced onion, carrot, and celery.  Cook until onions are translucent, add garlic and billion cubes (if you use stock instead of water you can omit this).  Add thorough rinsed beans and tomato sauce or diced tomatoes.  Stir and add water.  Bring to boil, lower heat to medium and cook for at least an hour stirring occasionally.  Make sure carrots are soft and add frozen green peas. Stir and serve as first course or with a sandwich.  

Ham and Red Pepper Tea Sandwiches (Bocaditos de Jamón)

Every birthday party growing up there was this mandatory tray of ham croquettes, guava pastries, beef pastries, and these tasty little sandwiches. If you ordered them at a Cuban bakery they'd be served on sweet bread, if they were homemade they'd probably just be on plain white sandwich bread.  

After moving to Orlando I realized that there were certain things you just couldn't get around here decent ham croquettes and these tasty sandwiches were chief among them.  Although I will admit I had something similar at a tea house in Mount Dora, but it still wasn't the same!

So a few years ago after my friend Oscar's grandmother sent him home with a huge care package which just so happened to contain this spread.  I set out to make it, but lower in fat.

Ingredients:

1/4 LB 96% fat free ham 

8oz package fat free cream cheese (today I used Neufchâtel cheese because there was no fat free at the store.)

1 tbsp American mustard

1/2 jar of roasted red peppers and some of the juice

Directions: cut up the ham into large chunks and add to food processor. Add cream cheese, mustard, peppers and about two tablespoons of pepper juice (reserve the rest to add as needed). Process until it has a very smooth consistency.  You may need to stop every once in a while to stir and make sure the blade is processing any large chunks.

Once the spread looks smooth transfer contents to a storage container an refrigerate so that it firms up a bit more.

 (2 hours is best).  Then prepare your desired bread or veggies (this actually makes a really good dip).  Today I used plain sandwich bread with the crusts cut off and the sandwiches cut into triangles.  If I were making these for a party I would probably buy mini Hawaiian rolls as they are very similar to the sweet rolls used at Cuban bakeries.  Either way enjoy.

Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwich

Ingredients:

4 Chicken breasts (with or without bones/skin is fine)

Half palm each of kosher salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and cumin

Pressure cooker

Water

Favorite BBQ sauce or hot sauce

Directions: place chicken in pot and add enough water to fill half of pot and cover chicken.  Add spice to water. Lock lid of pressure cooker and after pot is pressurized (lid begins to shake) cook for 20 minutes.  If cooking chicken with bones add an additional 5 minutes.

Once time has passed cool pot in an empty sink and run cold water over the top and the base until youcan safely   remove the lid.

Remove chicken from pot and place in a bowl.  Remove any skin, bones, or fat. And begin to shred using two forks or tongs.  Add about 1/4 cup of sauce and mix, adding more if desired.

Serve on a salad or on a bun.

"These are a few of my favorite things"

One reason I really enjoy cooking is that I am able to justify the purchase of gadgets.  My purpose in cooking is to sustain life, and if I buy instruments to meet this purpose than I am not wasting money.   at least this is what I tell myself.

These are some of my favorite gadgets to use in the kitchen. They make life so much easier when you are trying to prepare a meal, that when I am forced to cook without them I get absolutely frustrated.  Most of these items are under 20$, and one or two a bit extravagant.  However, in my kitchen they have become indispensable.  The pictures pasted below for the most part represent the actual brand or style that I own.

1. Hand Blender/immersible blender: you can use it to blend soups, make baby food, use it like a mini food processor, potato masher, smoothie maker, and if you buy the whipping attachment as a mixer/potato whipper.  This thing is awesome and weighs less than my food processor.

2. A really good chef's knife.  Spend the money and get one.  Every time I visit my parents and cook in their kitchen I dread using their knives.



3. A bench scraper.  I use it to move veggies from one place to another, and every once in a while when I bake.  Mine has the ruler on the side so if I am try to cut something to a specific size I can use it for that purpose as well.



4. Kitchen Shears...I HATE getting a HUGE cutting board dirty just to quickly chop something.  If I can cut it with the shears AWESOME.  This particular brand lets you take the shears apart and put them in the dishwasher!

5. Cooking Thermometer and timer with a magnet.  I am terrible at guessing the internal temperature of chicken, I can't keep track of time, and I do not want to constantly open an oven door to check the internal temperature of my chicken.  This thing does it all.


6. Tongs.  It's like being able to use your bare hand when handling really yucky or really hot stuff.  AMAZING!  I prefer them with a rubber tip so that I do not scratch my pans.


7. The largest, non-stickiest, sauté pan known to man with a lid.

8. Oil Spray bottle.  Why do people spend money and buy Pam, when they can use these bottles filled with their own higher quality oils?



9. A vegetable peeler.  I actually went to a person's house on thanksgiving to help them cook, and they did not have one!  And of course they put me in charge of making mashed potatoes!

10. A digital food scale.  This is super useful if you buy items in bulk and want to portion it out before storing.


11. Electric Water Kettle.  I boil water for bottles, tea, for my oatmeal in the mornings, to sanitize the sink and toys the uses for this thing are endless.  And it boils water in under a minute.

12. Japanese style rice cooker.  This is truly an extravagance for some people, but if you like rice and grains it's worth every penny.  I make white/brown rice, quinoa, polenta, and oatmeal in this thing.



13. A wire cooling rack.  It's not just for cooling, but cooking too!  I make steaks and bacon in the oven in lieu of heating a grill or using a lame grill pan.




14. A pressure cooker.  Some people swear by their slow cookers (and I own one), but I LOVE my pressure cooker.  I can make a huge batch of black beans in under an hour without soaking over night.  I also use it to make ribs, pulled chicken/beef ("ropa vieja"), pot roast, etc. in very short amounts of time.


15. Silicone ice cube trays.  We used to use it to make espresso cubes to put in ice coffee.  Now we use it to make individual portions of baby food.  Either it is super easy to pop out whatever you have frozen inside.

16. Silicone spatulas. Awesome for cooking and stirring and of course baking.