When faced with the challenge of finding new ways to cook chicken breast, consider this easy, flavorful method of stewing for 3 hours so it cooks down into a succulent sauce, then gets delicately pulled apart with a fork. Use this saucy chicken recipe for making pulled chicken sandwiches, chicken tacos, empanada filling, or simply…
Salsa Verde with Roasted Poblano Pepper
When indulging in Mexican food, the most difficult decision for me ends up being the decision of choosing salsa verde or salsa roja — red sauce or green sauce. If you like just a subtle kick of heat, the addition of poblano peppers will convince you that green is the way to go. On the…
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 to yield an irresistibly light and fluffy batch regardless of which technique you use. After much trial and tragic error, I arrived at these tips that I swear…
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 cans in stores, you’ll notice that pretty much all brands seem to have some trace of “spices”, herbs, or sometimes “red” coloring. Making your…
Rice with Pigeon Peas (Arroz con Gandules)
Pigeon peas (gandules) are quite global 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 a couple things a little differently. The global concept of cooking rice and beans in the same pot seems quite simple … seasoning…
Jalapeño Poppers Stuffed with Pork Shoulder
Pork shoulder is perfectly suited for jalapeño poppers due to its succulent fibrous texture. This cut of meat allows you to break it apart into long whole chunks that conform easily to the pepper and still remain intact when handled and stuffed into a Jalapeño. Also, the fat rendered from pork shoulder can be brushed…
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…
Coquito with Homemade Caramel
Coquito is a creamy coconut-and-rum-based cocktail that is very popular in Caribbean Latin households. It’s similar in concept to egg nog, 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…
Flourless Chocolate Raspberry Torte
Since the emergence of the gluten-free movement, countless flourless cake recipes have surfaced based on the concept of trying to mimic the volume and texture of an actual “with-flour” cake, largely by adding lots of eggs. However, my first recollection of flourless dessert dates back to the late 1990s when flourless “cakes” took on a…
Skillet Baked Mac and Cheese
Recipes for a comforting batch of mac and cheese can quickly go from inspirationally gooey to a tragic cheese casserole of mush if not handled with care. Overcooking the pasta and to many cheeses are the two biggest problems huge problems in my humble opinion. To achieve a smooth and creamy cheese sauce all it…