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! On the Scoville scale of pepper heat, Poblanos are on the low end, so they are a safe choice if you want to make a green salsa…
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 pretty many brands seem to have some trace of “spices”, herbs, or sometimes “red” coloring. Plus, take notice…
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 from watching 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…
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. Dietary reasons aside, the concept of trying to mimic the volume and texture of a “with-flour” cake is also a fun culinary challenge. My first recollection of making a flourless dessert dates back to the late 1990s when flourless “cakes” took on…
Skillet Baked Mac and Cheese
Recipes for a comforting batch of macaroni and cheese can quickly go from inspirationally gooey to a tragic cheese casserole of mush if not handled with care. Overcooking the pasta and too many cheeses are the two biggest mistakes that ruin this most-popular comfort food. To achieve a smooth and creamy cheese sauce all it…
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, so making an apple crisp is an equally exciting easier option. What’s even even better about apple crisp is that both the filling and crumb topping can pre-made…