When faced with the challenge of finding new ways to cook chicken breast, consider this easy, flavorful method of stewing for 3 hours and delicately pulling it apart with a fork. Use this recipe for making pulled chicken sandwiches, chicken tacos, empanada filling, over salad, or just eating it over simple white rice with a…
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 a little kick of heat, the addition of poblano peppers will convince you that green is the way to go. This relatively easy…
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…
Easy Plain Tomato Sauce
Countless comfort food recipes – especially many rice and beans – call for a small 8 ounce can of plain tomato sauce. However, upon reading the labels on the cans, pretty much all brands seem to have some trace of “spices”, herbs, or even red coloring. Making your own plain tomato sauce takes only 20…
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 meat allows you to break it apart into long whole chunks that conform easily to the pepper and still remain intact when handled. Also, the fat rendered from pork shoulder can be brushed on before roasting for added love. If…
Adobo Roasted Pork Shoulder
Chef Daisy Martinez introduced this recipe for Puerto Rican style roasted pork shoulder to my life 10 years ago. It’s traditionally called “perníl”. Cooking for large amounts of people (who have no hang-ups about eating pork) has never been the same again. A wet rub, called Adobo, consisting of garlic paste and other basic ingredients…
Coquito with Homemade Caramel
Coquito is a egg nog-like, coconut based cocktail that is often shared around any festive time in many Caribbean Latin households. It’s common and exciting to receive a bottle of homemade coquito because the recipes can get quite creative from kitchen to kitchen. With the absence of raw egg and realizing that other kitchens incorporate…
Flourless Chocolate Raspberry Torte
Since the emergence of the gluten-free trend, countless flourless cake recipes are 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 more…
Skillet Baked Mac and Cheese
Recipes for a nice, 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 is often a huge problem. To achieve a nice, creamy and smooth cheese sauce you only need a low temperature, the right blend of…