Cuban-Style Shrimp

I am a big fan of seafood. I really love it, and one of my all-time favorite seafood dishes is the Cuban-style shrimp made by my mother and Abuela. Not only are the shrimp cooked to perfection, but the sauce is heavenly! There is nothing like eating a plate of Cuban-style shrimp with a side of white rice to mix with the sauce or dunking a piece of bread in the sauce. You can even serve it with pasta or use it to make a shrimp pizza (YUM!). It is just amazing! What makes it even better is how simple the recipe is and how quick it is to make. Yet, it has a bold flavor that will make people think it took hours and a lot of work to make! This recipe is one of the gems I learned from my mother and Abuela, so have fun trying this recipe and enjoy!  

Cuban-Style Shrimp Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 lbs of shrimp (use fresh or frozen raw shrimp)
•  ¾ of a large red pepper
• 1 large onion
• 32 oz of tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 teaspoons of garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 packet of sazón con asafran or ½ tablespoon saffron

TOOLS NEEDED:

• A large pot
• A knife, cutting board, large spoon, and measuring utensils
• A food processor (optional)

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION / INSTRUCTIONS

BRIEF DIRECTIONS (See the video demonstration for detailed instructions):

1. Collect the ingredients. Finely chop the onions in a food processor or by hand. Slice the red pepper into long strips about ½ inches wide. Clean the shrimp by removing the shells and deveining the shrimp.
2. In a large pot, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat on high heat.
3. Now add the shrimp, onion, red pepper, salt and garlic powder to the pot and sauté until the shrimp begin to turn pink.
4. Next, add the saffron and tomato sauce to the pot and mix thoroughly.  Then reduce the heat to medium and let cook for 25 to 30 minutes, but stir the pot occasionally throughout the cooking process.
5. Once the shrimp and red peppers are fork tender, the shrimps are done and can be served.

Tostones

One of the best side dishes to any Cuban meal are plantains as they can be made in a variety of ways. I’ve already posted a recipe for how to make platanos maduros, which are made with ripe plantains, and a recipe for plantain chips using green plantains. And another great way to make plantains is to make tostones using green, unripe plantains. In fact, tostones can be made using plantains that are green all the way to starting to turn yellow but are still firm. Very ripened plantains, like the kind you want for platanos maduros, won’t work for tostones. Tostones are really great because they can be eaten as is, lightly salted, or can be added to soups, roasts, and stews. Moreover, they are very simple and inexpensive to make, so have fun trying out this recipe and enjoy! 

   

Tostones Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 or more green plantains (you can use plantains that are firm and just starting to turn yellow)
• Corn or vegetable oil for frying
• Salt to taste (optional)

TOOLS NEEDED:

• A frying pan or small pot
• A knife and cutting board
• Forks or spatula for flipping and removing plantains from the oil
• Wire strainer

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION / INSTRUCTIONS

BRIEF DIRECTIONS (See the video demonstration for detailed instructions):

1. First, peel the plantains, cut into slices 1 inch thick, and reserve the peel for later (see video demonstration for further detail).
2. Fill a pot or frying pan with oil at least 2 inches deep. Heat the oil on high heat.
3. Once hot enough, carefully place the plantain slices in the pot/pan, so they are not overlapping. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook the plantains for 2 minutes. Then flip the pieces over and continue to cook for 2 minutes or until they start to have a golden yellow color. Remove the plantains from the pot/pan and place on a plate.
4. Now take the plantain peel, place one cooked plantain piece on the peel, fold the peel over, and press down over the plantain slice with the palm of your hand. You want to squash and flatten the plantain a bit so that the slices are about ¼ inch thick (see video demonstration for visual). Repeat the process for the rest of the plantain pieces.
5. Next, place the plantains back into the oil and cook on medium-high heat for about 1 minute and 30 seconds flipping the tostones over ½ way through the cooking process. Cook the tostones until they are golden brown. Then remove the tostones from the oil, place on a plate, add a little salt over them (if you want), and serve!

***NOTE: The plantains will continue to cook once they are removed from the frying pan,

so remove them when they are starting to turn golden brown to avoid overcooking or burning     

them.

Arroz con Pollo

Another viewer of mine requested an arroz con pollo recipe because they fell in love with the dish while vacationing in the Caribbean. And, well, I can’t really blame them, as arroz con pollo is one of my favorite dishes, especially when made by my Abuela! It is one of those dishes that is truly comforting to eat, and the taste is absolutely amazing! So, it should be of no surprise that my recipe is based on my Abuela’s recipe. The great part about arroz con pollo is that it is a one-pot wonder, which results in a complete meal of chicken and rice. The rice is extremely flavorful due to the blending of flavors of the freshly made chicken broth, small peas, roasted red peppers, and the addition of beer! Making fresh chicken broth and the inclusion of beer is really important as it gives the rice that distinct arroz con pollo flavor. The chicken also ends up extremely flavorful and moist. Overall, arroz con pollo is not difficult to make, and it is an incredibly satisfying meal, so have fun trying this recipe and enjoy!

Arroz con Pollo Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 lbs of chicken
• 2 medium-sized red peppers
• 2 medium-sized onion
• 3 cups of long grain rice (or medium grain rice)
• 7 cups of water
• 1 ³/₄ tbsp garlic powder
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 packet of sazón con asafran or ½ tablespoon saffron
• ½ cup of tomato sauce 
• 1 bottle of beer (about 1 ½ cups)
• 5 oz bottle of fancy pimentos/roasted red pepper, the water drained 
• 1, 15 oz can of very young small sweet peas 
• ¼ cup of olive oil 
• ¼ cup of vegetable oil 

·     

TOOLS NEEDED:

• A large pot
• Fork, knife, cutting board, large spoon, and measuring utensils
• A food processor (optional)

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION / INSTRUCTIONS

BRIEF DIRECTIONS (See the video demonstration for detailed instructions):

1. Collect the ingredients. Remove the skin from the chicken (Note: if you use leg quarters or a whole chicken you need to cut the chicken into pieces and remove the rib ends along with the skin, so you don't get any loose bones in the chicken broth being created).
2. Finely chop the onions in a food processor or by hand. Slice the red peppers into long strips, 1-inch wide.
3. In a large, deep pot, put 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and spread around the pot. Heat on high heat, add the chicken to the pot, and brown the chicken on all sides. Then remove the chicken from the pot and set aside.
4. Next, add the olive oil to the pot along with the onion and red pepper, and saute for 1 minute.  Then, add the tomato sauce and saute for 30 to 40 seconds.
5. Now add the chicken back to the pot, then add the water and stir to loosen up the bottom of the pot. Next add the salt, garlic powder, and saffron and mix. Bring the pot to a boil on high heat and let cook for 5 minutes. Then reduce the heat to medium and let cook for 40 to 50 minutes.
6. Remove the chicken and red peppers from the pot and about 1 ½ cups of the fluid and reserve for later. Rinse the rice 3 times with water and drain the water each time. Then add the rice to the pot, stir to evenly distribute the rice in the broth, and let cook for 10 minutes on medium heat.
7. Now loosen the rice with a fork, add the beer, and let cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the rice is fully cooked, not hard (Note: if the rice is still hard, add some of the reserved broth ¼ cup at a time. If the rice seems too wet, let cook for 5 minutes or more with the pot uncovered).
8. Once the rice is fully cooked, reduce the heat to as low as possible with the stove top still being on. Then add the peas to the rice and gently mix them in. Next, create pockets in the rice and add the chicken to the rice. Then top the rice with the red pepper and pimentos (Note: I suggest removing the skins from the red pepper using a thin knife, but it's not entirely necessary. Most of the skins should have separated from the peppers anyway so it should be easy to remove them). Let the rice sit on the stove top on the lowest setting for 5 minutes. The chicken, peppers, and peas should be warmed up, and the flavors will meld together. Then the rice is ready to serve!

Cuban Empanadas

One of my viewers requested for me to post a Cuban Empanada recipe, so I figured why not! Empanadas are really delicious and can be made in a variety of ways. However, the Cuban empanadas made amongst my family are fried (not baked) because they did not have access to an oven while living in Cuba. I will be providing some instructions on how to bake these empanadas to give you a few options. There is also a lot of variability in how to fill the empanadas. Filling empanadas with picadillo or guava are commonplace, but you can really fill these with whatever you want -ropa vieja, pollo en salsa, Cuban-style shrimp, etc. Just get as creative as you'd like! For this recipe, I am focusing on empanadas filled with picadillo. The empanadas are medium-large sized, about 6 inches by 4 inches, so you can choose to make them smaller or larger. Furthermore, the empanadas are light, flaky, and a bit crunchy with a slightly salty and sweet meat filling. The filling complements the outer shell of the empanada perfectly! So have fun trying this recipe and enjoy!

Cuban Empanadas Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

For the Picadillo/Meat Filling:

• 1 lbs of ground beef
• ½ of a large red pepper
• 1 medium-sized onion
• ¹/₃ of a 5.75oz jar of green olives
• 1 cup of raisins
• ¾ tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 packet of sazón con asafran or ½ tablespoon saffron

For the Empanada Dough:

•  2 ½ cups of flour
• ¹/₃ cup of shortening
• ²/₃  cup of cold (ice) water plus ¼ cup extra
• 1 ¼ tsp of salt

For frying:

• vegetable or corn oil (a few cups or more depending on the size of your pot)

TOOLS NEEDED:

• A medium-sized pot
• Rolling pin
• Fork, knife, cutting board, large spoon, and measuring utensils
• A food processor (optional)

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION / INSTRUCTIONS

BRIEF DIRECTIONS (See the video demonstration for detailed instructions):

1. Prepare the empanada dough first. Put the flour in a medium-sized bowl, add the salt, and whisk to loosen the flour and evenly distribute the salt. Then cut the shortening into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse grains. Next, add in the water a few tablespoons at a time and use a fork to mix. Continue to do this until all the water is added and the mixture formed large chunks. Now use your hands to press the mixture together into one large ball that stays together. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap, then place in the refrigerator for 1 hour. While waiting make the meat filling.
2. Collect the ingredients. Soak the raisins in water for about 20 minutes (put enough water so that the raisins are covered, the water will be discarded anyway. You can set the raisins to soak before making the empanada dough). Finely chop the red pepper, and onion with a food processor. Cut the green olives in half or in thirds.
3. Put the meat in a large pot, break up the meat, and cook on high heat to lightly brown the meat, but continue to stir and break up the meat. You don't want there to be clumps, it should be very refined.
4. Next, add the red pepper and onion to the meat and mix. Add the seasonings, raisins, and olives to the meat and mix thoroughly. Then reduce the heat to medium and let cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Now turn off the heat and start rolling out the empanada dough.
5. Take the empanada dough out of the refrigerator and separate into 1 <iframe frameborder="0" width="480" height="270" src="//www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x6i6mg5" allowfullscreen allow="autoplay"></iframe> ½ inch balls (about 12 to 13).
6. Now on a lightly floured surface, take one of the dough balls and roll it out to be 1/16th of an inch thick (very thin) by 7 inches in diameter. Make sure to keep it relatively circular, but any imperfections can be trimmed later. Add 5 or 6 tablespoons of the meat filling to the center, then wet the edges of the dough all around the meat and fold over the dough pressing from the meat outward to avoid getting air trapped inside and fully seal the empanada. Now use a fork to crimp the flat edge of the empanada which also helps seal it, and use a knife to even out the edges. Repeat the process for all the empanadas (Note: you can take the scraps and any excess dough, roll it out, cut into smaller pieces, and fry it as is, flat, without any filling, which tastes great with just a bit of powdered sugar and cinnamon)!
7. Now we can fry the empanadas. Take a medium-sized, deep pot, fill with at least 2 ½ inches of vegetable oil, and heat on high heat. You can use a small piece of the empanada dough to check if the oil is hot enough. If you see bubbles, the oil is ready.
8. Carefully, place one empanada in the oil (you can use a spatula to place the empanada in the oil to avoid splashing the oil) then let cook on each side for about 1 minute or until the outside is light brown then remove from the oil and place on a wire rack (Note: the first empanada will take longer to cook, and the rest will cook extremely fast). For the remaining empanadas reduce the heat to medium-high and cook for 20 seconds on each side or until they are starting to turn light brown and remove from the oil and place on a wire rack (Note: the empanadas will continue to cook once removed from the oil and should end up a golden color, so don't overcook them in the oil; see video for visual).
9. Once all of the empanadas are fried, they can be served!

Note: you can also bake the empanadas if you want....just bake them at 400 degrees F for 10 to 15 minutes on each side or until they brown. Be sure to flip the empanadas over halfway into the cooking process.