Sopa de Cabeza de Pargo

Today's recipe is sopa de cabeza de pargo(snapper fish soup). As we all know fish is a great source of vitamins and minerals, this is one of the reasons why it cannot be taken away from mom's kitchen. Some people say soup is as ancient as the history of cooking is, just combining several ingredients in a pot and create a simple and easy to digest plate. Mom's fish soup is definitely very nutritious, healthy and as always, exquisite. Serves around 3-5 people.

Ingredients:

• 1 Snapper fish head
• 1 small malanga
• 2 potatoes
• 1 green plantain
• 1 can of tomate sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon complete seasoning
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 onion
• 3 garlic teeth
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 package of noodles

Preparation:

• Fill half of a pressure cooker with water.
• Put the Snapper head and the noodles in the pressure cooker and boil for 15 minutes on medium heat.
• Cut the bell pepper, onion and garlic teeth in small pieces.
• Cut the malanga, potatoes and green plaintain into pieces.
• Once the broth with the Snapper and noddles is ready, add the vegetables.
• Add the salt, complete seasoning and tomato sauce.
• Boil for another 10 minutes.

The final plate, served with some toasted bread:

Potaje de Garbanzos

Another of mom's specialties is the potaje de garbanzos (chickpeas stew). A traditional Cuban dish who has its origins in Spain, although it was brought there from the Arab culture when the Moors invaded the Spanish peninsula early in the 8th century. I would say this is truly my mom's BEST dish! Usually serves 4-6 people.


Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz package of chickpeas
• 1 small malanga
• 1 small potato
• 1 small piece of West Indian pumpkin
• 3 garlic teeth
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 1/2 onion
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon complete seasoning
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 small Spanish sausage
• 2 bacon stripes

 

Preparation:

• In a pressure cooker, simmer the chickpeas for 25 minutes.
• In a frying pan, add the olive oil and fry the bacon.
• Cut the bell pepper, onion and garlic and add to the frying pan along with the cut Spanish sausage, ground cumin and complete seasoning. This is what Cubans call 'sofrito'.
• Once the chickpeas are soft, add the sofrito as well as the malanga, potato and pumpkin.
• Add salt and tomato sauce to the pot.
• Close the pressure cooker and cook for 15 minutes.

The final plate, served with white rice, fried sweet plantains and a slice of ham:

Ropa Vieja

Today we'll be eating old clothes...hahaha....actually, joke aside, that's the name of the dish we'll be presenting: ropa vieja, or old clothes. A Cuban specialty, ropa vieja is just shredded flank steak meat with seasoning and tomato sauce. Its origins date back to the Canary Islands in Spain and there's even a clothing line named after it. I can guarantee you this dish does not taste like old clothes though.


Ingredients:

• 1 lb of flank steak
• 1 whole bell pepper
• 1 whole onion
• 3 pieces of garlic teeth
• 1 can of tomate sauce
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 tablespoon complete seasoning
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Preparation:

• Place the meat into a pressure cooker and fill with water until the meat is covered fully.
• Add a teaspoon of salt and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
• Cut the bell pepper, onion and garlic into small pieces.
• In a frying pan, add the olive oil and the cut vegetables and let it cook on moderate heat.
• Once the beef is tender, let it cool for a while and when chill, start pulling into shreds.
• Mix the shredded meat and the cooked vegetables together in a skillet.
• At this time also add the complete seasoning, cumin, lemon juice and tomato sauce and cook on slow heat for 10 minutes.

Finally, we have ropa vieja, served with white rice and tostones(fried green plantains):

Spaghetti a Caballo

Today's recipe is a one of my favorites: Spaghetti a caballo (spaghetti with a fried egg on top). Just talking about it my mouth gets watery and my mom's recipe is both easy to make and as always, exquisite. It is told that Marco Polo brought spaghetti from the Far East to Europe in the thirteenth century, however pasta had existed in Europe already for centuries. The originators, however, seen to had been the Chinese who had been making it since 3000 B.C. This particular recipe adds the egg on top and if you haven't tried it, you don't know what you're missing. It usually serves 3-4 people.


Ingredients: 

• 1 package of spaghetti
• 1 cup of Golby and Monterry Jack cheese
• 4 eggs
• Ragu spaghetti sauce
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Preparation:

• Fill a large pot with water and boil.
• Add a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of olive oil to the boiling water.
• Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook for 10-15 minutes.
• Drain the water and prepare to serve on each plate.
• Add cheese and spaghetti sauce according to your liking.
• Fry the eggs in a frying pan.
• Add the fried eggs on top on the served spaghetti.

 And now the final plate,

Fricase de Pollo

To kick off my blog, I decided to go with one of mom's most exquisite dishes, the fricase de pollo or chicken fricassee, also one of the most popular recipes in Cuba.

This recipe dates its origins to ancient Rome, when the Romans occupied the French provinces of Gaul, back in the first century B.C. It is also told it was a preferred dish by many U.S. presidents. The Cuban style fricase de pollo adds a lot of the typical Caribbean flavors. It usually serves 4-8 people.

Ingredients:

• 8 pieces of drumstick chicken
• Complete seasoning
• Ground cumin
• Bitter orange marinade
• Wine
• 3 medium size potatoes
• 1/2 can of tomato sauce
• 1/2 onion
• 5 pieces of garlic teeth
• 1/3 green pepper

Preparation:

• Get the 8 pieces of drumstick chicken and put them in an empty contained to be seasoned.
• Pour 4 tablespoons of the bitter orange to the pieces of chicken.
• Shred the onion and garlic teeth in the machine and cut the slices of pepper in smaller pieces.
• Mis the condiments with the chicken that is on the recipient and add 3 tablespoons of complete seasoning and 1 tablespoon of ground cumin.
• Fry the chicken in the frying pan until it gets golden colored.
• Insert the chicken in the pressure cooker.
• Pour 4 tablespoons of wine to the chicken and 6 tablespoons of tomato sauce. Do not add water.
• Close the pot and leave cooking for 15 minutes on medium high intensity.

Ladies and gentlemen, served with white rice, my mom's fricase de pollo:

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my little space on the web!

I have to say I was a little shy because I'm a newbie at blogging but I really wanted to give it a try as my friends suggested it was a cool and fun way to share a part of my life with the world. On this blog I specifically want to talk about something I take a lot of pride in, and that is my mom's homemade cooking, because we all have to admit it, there is nothing like our moms homemade food! My mom's specialty is Cuban food and her recipes, which I called delicacies, are impossible to resist. Thus, I feel the need to share some of her simple but delicious dishes to the whole world.

I hope you can take advantage of the simplicity of these homemade recipes and incorporate them into your menu! Enjoy!