Choosing salsa verde or salsa roja — red sauce or green sauce – when indulging in Mexican food is always a difficult decision. Green usually wins for me because I love the tart flavor of tomatillos. But it’s fun to get creative with tomatillo salsa, so this time I’m incorporating Poblano peppers. On the Scoville…
7 Tips for Fluffy White Rice
Everyone has varying techniques for cooking a batch of plain white rice and other rice-based recipes. Because of its wishy-washy nature, rice deserves its own blog post about how to yield an irresistibly light and fluffy batch, regardless of which technique you use. After much trial and error since I was a newbie home cook,…
Easy Plain Tomato Sauce
Countless comfort food recipes – especially many for rice and beans – call for a small 8 ounce can of plain tomato sauce. Upon reading the labels on the tomato sauce sold in stores, you’ll notice that many brands seem to have some trace of “spices”, herbs, or sometimes “red” coloring. Plus, take notice of…
Rice with Pigeon Peas (Arroz con Gandules)
Pigeon peas (gandules) are a global ingredient, but I first encountered these nutritious legumes in a Puerto Rican context bywatching chef Daisy Martinez. This was basically her recipe, until I started doing things differently as I progressed over the years. The global concept of cooking rice and beans in the same pot seems quite simple….
Jalapeño Poppers Stuffed with Pork Shoulder
Pork shoulder is perfectly suited for making Jalapeño poppers due to its long, fibrous texture. This cut of meat allows you to break it apart into long pieces that conform easily to the pepper shape and still remain intact when stuffed into a Jalapeño. Also, the fat rendered from pork shoulder can be brushed on…
Adobo Roasted Pork Shoulder
I learned about Puerto Rican style roasted pork shoulder from watching Chef Daisy Martinez on public television when I first moved to NYC, circa 2005. Traditionally called “Perníl” in Spanish, the pork shoulder is marinated in a garlic-based “Adobo” wet rub and a few other key ingredients, all mashed together into a paste using a…
Caramel Coquito
Coquito is a creamy coconut-and-rum-based cocktail that is very popular in Caribbean Latin households. It’s similar in concept to eggnog, except there’s no egg. When the Holidays are approaching, it’s common to receive a bottle of homemade coquito from various Puerto Rican friends and/or co-workers, and the concoctions can vary quite a bit from kitchen…
Flourless Chocolate Raspberry Torte
Flourless cake recipes have been on the rise since the gluten-free movement emerged. My first recollection of making a flourless dessert dates back to the late 1990s when flourless “cakes” took on a more dense, fudge-like richness. That fudgy texture is what I wanted to achieve with this recipe instead of trying to simulate the height…
Skillet Baked Mac and Cheese
I take macaroni and cheese recipes super seriously. So many restaurants have bad mac ‘n cheese because they focus too much on creating an Instagram-worthy cheese pull by using lots of tasteless mozzarella cheese. Other restaurants cut you a brick-like serving from their mushy “cheese & pasta” casserole. I came to terms with the fact…
Cranberry Apple Crisp
As Fall approaches and the temperature begins to drop, apple pie always comes to mind. However, making a really good pie crust certainly has some complicated obstacles. Making an apple crisp is an equally exciting, easier option. What’s even better about apple crisp is that both the filling and crumb topping can be made ahead…