Bacalao

2 pounds of dried cod or Bacalao
2 onions
6 cloves of garlic
1 julianned green bell pepper
1 table spoon of vineger
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of oregano
3 roma tomatoes
sprinkle black peppers
dash of red pepper flakes


First you have to boil the dried bacalao. So you want a deep pot and fill it with water. Once the water boils, discard it and refill with cold water. And wait till it boils again and then discard the water. So you should do this three times. And this should take out all the salt. taste a few different peices to make sure that there is no salt. This method works perfectly for me.

Saute onions first until they start getting tanslucent. Next add the garlic and let it marry with the onions. Then add the rest of the ingredients except for the bacalao. Add a 1/4 cup of water and let everything simmer until the tomatoes create a small sauce. I didnt have cilantro but I would've added some if I had. Now finally combine the bacalao with the mixture and let simmer.
You can eat this with white rice or yuca. I made it today with some potatoes.
So you would be able to boil the bacalao a day before. And then just prepare. This is a very easy dish. Enjoy!

Pictures of Tiramisu!

Tiramisu!!!

So when my sister eve came over yesterday we made my favorite all time favorite. Tiramisu...I order this when eve I can. But recently I have dissapointed with the tiramisu that I was tasting. Bakeries make many mistakes with this italian desert. They cheat and use cake instead of lady fingers. They make the filling too dense. And many dont even use coffee or liquor in the desert..ewww. Well eve and I went on a mission. Being that the only place in our part of the bronx that you can get mascrapone cheese is arthur ave..we went to that historic location. And even had lunch there. But anyways we found this recipe on line. And it came out great. My sister julie and my brother in law Johnathan thought that the cream filling should be sweeter. But you be the judge. This is super easy desert. And it even tasted better the next day!

So the link is the title. And enjoy the pics of us making this.

baked Breaded dijon Chicken breast

So I was looking through the betty crocker website and I got this awsome recipe. I have been craving crispy fried chicken, and this is a baked alternative that satisfied my craving. I altered it so it could be more flavorful and healthy. Ok so the original is linked to the title. This is my version. And it taste amazing!

1/2 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons of butter
2 table spoons of honey Dijon mustard
3/4 cup japanese style panko bread crumbs
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
4 cloves of garlic

Half a lemon
Italian seasoning (or just dried parsley and basil)
dried dominican oregano
garlic powder
salt and pepper

6 big quarterd potatoes
1 yellow onion
1/2 bell pepper

1.Heat oven to 375ºF. Put garlic and olive oild in the food processor.
2.Now pour half of the sauce over the potatoes. Season the potatoes with salt, pepper and sprinkle the italian seasoning. Then put it uncovered in the oven.
3. Now add the mustard and lemon to the remaining sauce in the food processor and add some more olive oil.
4. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and italian seasoning and dominican oregano. Season the panko breadcrumps with garlic powder, salt and italian seasoning.
5. Dip one piece of chicken at a time into the sauce coating all sides.Then pass over cover each side with breadcrumbs. Place chicken in single layer on a pan.
3.Bake uncovered 40 minutes, turning once and moving the potatoes around once.Ten minutes till end time add the onions and pepper to potatoes. Your chicken is going to be soo juicy!

finnally! my brown rice and beans came out perfect.Thanks to Melina and Johnathan(my sister in law and her husband).
In my house hold we are only eating eating whole grain brown rice. The difference between brown rice and white rice is that it has a lot more nutritional value than white rice.
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=128.

It is also has a very different cooking process than white rice. And I finally got it down.(yay! no more hard rice or mushy rice!)So the ratio of rice to water is 1:2. So Ray and I usually add 1 and 1/2 cups of rice to the pot then I add 3 cups of cold water. Then put the fire to medium high until the water starts boiling.( don't wait til the water starts evaporating like when cooking white rice, this was the mistake that I was doing) Immediately cover the pot with a tight lid and put the fire very low. Make sure the lid is very tight, and if its not I put aluminum foil and a heavy plate on top. And in 50 minutes the rice should be nice and fluffy.

So on Monday Melina came over and showed me how she makes her beans. So once I got the basics from her recipe..I created my own habichuela recipe yesterday. So I did one pound of red kidney beans, which is the the small bag. I used a deep pot and filled it up with about 12 cups of water. I added 3 pieces of ham hock to it. I had it under medium high heat for about 3 hours, adjust the heat so its a nice bubble all through out.
The beans should be soft enough that when you take one between two fingers and squeeze it, it should easily break apart. Once the beans are very soft. then we are ready to prepare the sofrito.

1/2 TSP of: sea salt, powdered oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt
1/4 TSP of black pepper
6 cloves of garlic
1 red onion halved
half a green bell pepper
3 small pieces of ham hock
2 TSP of tomato paste
1 TSP of white vineger
2 sprigs of cilantro chopped


In a sauce pan saute all the ingredients. Add like a 1/2 cup of the beans into the saute pan and stir. And then add everything that is in the saute pan into the pot that has the beans. Now take out 1/2 cup of the beans and mash in the pilon. Add that back into the beans and let the beans simmer in very low heat. And then ur done!

Went all asian this weekend

I had seven drum sticks
seaseme oil
1/4 TSP dried oregano
1/4 TSP sea salt
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of teriaky sauce
1/8 TSP black pepper
1/4 cup of sofrito
1/2 onion

Take off the skin of the chicken. rinse in cold was with a generose amount of salt and vineger. Once its rinsed add all the ingredients in the bowl. Let marinated for 30 minutes. Have a hot pan in medium high heat, add the seasme oil. Then add the peices of meat. Do not add all the excess marinade. You want to sear the meat on one side. And the turn them over to the other side. Once it is seared add the rest of the marinade. Lower heat to low and cover with a tight lid. It might look like there is too much liquid..but its ok. When the chicken is done, you will raise the heat to medium high with the lid open. Leting the liquid evaporate and allowing the chicken to get nice and brown. This would go nice with brown rice and vegetables.
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Tilapia with Stir fry

For the Tilapia( 4 filets)
1/2 cup of sofrito
1 TSP of honey
1/2 TSP garlic powder
1/4 TSP of black pepper
1/4 cup of soy sauce

For the Stir Fry
seasame oil,
1 red Pepper, julianne
1/2 onion diced
boc choy
1 head of broccoli
1/4 soy sauce
2 TSP of Hoisen sauce
1/2 TSP of black pepper
whole wheat thin pasta


First prepare the fish. I seasoned the fish with the sofrito. Added the dry ingredients. And then drissled them with the honey. Have a small pot filled with water added salt on high heat. This is where the pasta will go. While the water is boilng we will be preparing a second pan. This pan should be on medium high heat. Place the peices of fish on the pan, getting a nice sear. Now don't add the marinade that is left in the bowl. Once one side gets a nice sear carefully turn once. Add a little bit of the rest of the marinade with onion and cover on very low heat.
By now the water should be bowling. Add 1/4 of a box of pasta (small amount)in the water. Watch carefully, for the pasta is only going in for a few minutes. Take it out as soon as it starts getting soft and its pre adente. Drain and put aside.


Now You should have a hot wok on high heat. Add the seasame oil then the hoisen sauce. Next add the rest of the ingredents,leaving the bochoy for last. Moving it quikly, we want nice crispy vegetables.Add the noodles making sure its welling corporated and is married with the sauce. Cover til the pasta is adente. And its readyto eat! This is such a quik and easy dish. And my husband Ray loved it!


This fish was def inspired by my father's eccentric sense when cooking fish. Although he didnt do stir frys he often cooked his fish in this style.

Other things to have in the kitchen

Fresh Produce to have in the fridge:
Red peppers
Green Peppers
Cilantro
ajicitos dulces
Onion
Garlic
Lemon
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Condiments:
kikoman Soy sauce
Honey
A good Hot Sauce
Teriaky, regular or roasted garlic
Goya Bitter orange Marinade
Seasame oil
white vinegar
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powdered:
Onion
Garlic
parsley
Basil
Oregano
red pepper flakes

Sea salt
whole pepper corns
black pepper

seasoned italian breadcrumbs
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Must haves in the kitchen

Mami always told me "el secreto para sozonar la carne es el oregano y mucho ajo". Mother knows best for oregano is a key ingredient in most dry seasonings from adobo, italian seasoning, meditarianian seasonings and southern BBQ rubs among many more.

So from years of watching food network and being in mami's kitchen, the key ingredients when cooking red meat and Poultry are:

Good Dominican dried oregano
onion
garlic
sea salt
pepper
lemon

The combination of the first four in powdered form is a condiment that is sold in supermarkets called adobo seasoning. But I like to have each seperatley in powedered form and in fresh form in my kitchen. Paprika and chilli powder are not common in Dominican cooking and I havent used them yet, but I will def play with those ingredients soon.


-Check out my sofrito post. A must have also..