Notes about Recipes in this book

• Sofrito

  • jenmacgregor18 on March 27, 2015

    This stuff it wonderful! I freeze it in an old muffin tin & then put the frozen 1/2 cup portions in a Ziploc freezer bag. Livens up any bean or lentil soup, white rice or chicken dish. Great aroma and flavor. It does make a big batch. Be warned that the garlic does linger on the muffin tin after washing. It is potent.

  • jenmacgregor18 on May 31, 2016

    I've been using this sofrito in all sorts of soups, succotash and also in chicken spaghetti (Texas Home Cooking-Jamison).

  • BlytheSpirit on December 30, 2014

    This recipe makes a huge quantity. I froze the leftovers for later use and used part of it to make Puerto Rican red beans. It really does add a ton of flavor. As I do not do that much Latin cooking, I would probably halve the recipe in the future.

• Achiote oil (Aceite de achiote)

  • jenmacgregor18 on March 27, 2015

    This is easy & has a mild, nutty flavor. However, it is the only thing that I used the Achiote seeds for. I'll have to try a smaller container of the seeds in the future.

  • milgwimper on April 05, 2016

    I have to agree with janmacgregor18 it was really easy, and adds beautiful color and a little bit of nuttiness to rice, and other dishes.

• Roast chicken with garlic rub (Pollo asado)

  • BlytheSpirit on July 18, 2013

    I made this as per the instructions. It could be that my oven is too hot. After following the instructions to a 't' the chicken skin was slightly burned. I enjoyed the flavor combinations of the wet adobo but would likely cut back on the salt and pepper - which were a bit overpowering for me. I am going to try this again and tweak the temperatures and times a bit.

• Wet rub for meats and poultry (Adobo mojado)

  • BlytheSpirit on December 30, 2014

    Very flavorful rub. The first time I made it, the amount of pepper (one Tablespoon) was too much for me but not my Puerto Rican guest. I subsequently lowered the amount of peppercorns to 1 heaping teaspoon ( this time I used the rub for a Pernil roast pork). With only a teaspoon of pepper, the seasoning was very just right for my taste but my Puerto Rican guest felt it was a tad under-seasoned !

• Grandma's pork chops (Chuletas de abuela)

  • BlytheSpirit on December 24, 2014

    This was an effective way to keep pork chops juicy, and the flavor from the marinade was great. I started with pork that had some decent marbling and followed the directions for the one hour marinade at room temp. The timing, temperature and resting directions were also just right for the one inch chops.

• Tomato salad (Ensalada de tomates)

  • BlytheSpirit on December 30, 2014

    Easy and delicious - as long as the red onion is sweet.

• Lentil soup (Sopa de lentejas)

  • jenmacgregor18 on August 02, 2022

    This recipe requires a portion of sofrito, which is another recipe given in the book. Make a batch of sofrito & freeze it for further use, like here. This is the best lentil soup I have made. The sofrito adds a lot of flavor. I have made it with and without the ham and it's good either way.

• Puerto Rican white bean soup (Sopa de habichuelas blancas)

  • jenmacgregor18 on March 20, 2017

    I used canned beans, carrots in lieu of butternut squash & doubled the amount of sofrito. This is really quite good. I'll definitely make it again.

• Cuban black bean soup (Sopa de frijoles negros al estilo Cubano)

  • jenmacgregor18 on March 27, 2015

    very simple and good. used canned beans. mine was thick enough that I served it over white rice as a side dish.

• Basic white rice (Arroz blanco)

  • jenmacgregor18 on March 27, 2015

    It is perfect rice. I usually keep the salt to 1 tsp- 2 tsp for the 4 cups of rice. If I'm only making a small batch, I'm using 1 cup of dry rice. 2 Tbl of canola oil & 1/4 or 1/2 tsp of salt. I'm usually serving it with something--like black beans--that are already salted & seasoned. But the 3 Tbl of salt for 4 cups of rice is too much for me even for just the plain rice.

  • BlytheSpirit on December 30, 2014

    This method produces perfect rice. I reduced the amount of salt for my taste.

• Rice and red beans (Arroz junto)

  • BlytheSpirit on December 30, 2014

    This was one of the best pots of beans I've made. I did not use the chicken broth or add rice. Added extra water and cut the salt to 2 teaspoons. The culantro (a cousin of cilantro) imparts a deep cilantro-like taste when cooked, though it tasted just like cilantro when I tasted it raw.

• Mami's potato salad (Ensalada de papas de Mami)

  • BlytheSpirit on January 03, 2015

    I have made this a few times - sometimes with all the ingredients, and sometimes adjusting for what I have on hand. This is my go-to potato salad recipe.

• Seared scallops with black-eyed peas (Vieras con frijoles carita)

  • chawkins on January 02, 2019

    Black-eyed peas cooked and dressed this way were very flavorful. I used shrimp broth instead of clam juice. I did use the anchovies in the dressing for the peas but I skipped those to be placed atop the scallops. I cooked the peas in the IP from dry for 7 minutes and they were perfect.

• Puerto Rican roast pork shoulder (Pernil)

  • BlytheSpirit on December 30, 2014

    Used pork shoulder 2.6 lb roast from a Latin market. Marinated a day ahead and used the wet adobo rub from this book. Ended up cooking the roast an hour and twenty minutes - 25 min at 475 and 400 for the remaining time - using her recommendation for a half hour roasting time per pound. The roast held perfectly for an hour in a 160 degree oven and was not overcooked. Because I was unable to get a shoulder roast with the skin on (something one can only get on the east coast) I placed a layer of pork fat (which the butcher gave me for a dollar) over the roast during cooking. It protected the roast from drying out, but the fat rendered did burn and had to be poured out of the roasting pan a couple times. I discarded the fat at the end though I suppose I could have attempted Chicharones. Seasoning is a repeated challenge for me with this book - my taste is definitely for much less salt but it does make the result a tad under-seasoned for native Puerto Ricans. Will definitely try this again.

• Spicy pineapple vinegar (Vinagre)

  • jenmacgregor18 on March 01, 2023

    Simple to make. I did a 1/2 a recipe. It isn't sweet at all, but it has a good pineapple flavor and a nice kick to it. I used 3 habaneros. I might try 4 next time. It was good as is and was great in my black bean soup. Just for the heck of it, I might try to add a little pineapple to it next time and let it ferment for a couple of days.

• Meatballs (Albondigas)

  • jenmacgregor18 on June 05, 2018

    I didn't have the spanish tomato sauce, so I used marinara with chopped capers & some mild harissa. and I used Tony Chachere's cajun seasoning instead of dry rub (my sofrito didn't have any hot peppers in it at all, so I figured the heat would be ok.) These smelled amazing, even before I started cooking them. Because I'm lazy and don't want to deal with grease spatter, I baked them at 425 for 15 minutes instead of frying them. It was killing me not to try them last night; but it was a little late. But based on everyone else's reactions, these are keepers.