Mangu (mashed green plantains)

1. To peel plantains, cut off ends then cut in the middle or into thirds if very large. Then make a slice through lengthwise, from cut end, to cut end. Make another slice a quarter of the way around and then peel off that piece. I often make 3 -4 cuts equidistant around then peel them off with the side of the knife. They should just pop off.
2. Boil the plantains until tender (like potatoes). Drain and reserve the broth. Mash plantains, adding reserved water broth plus 1 T. butter or oil until they look like mashed potatoes. Add salt.
3. In meantime while boiling plantains, fry the bacon and drain on paper towels. With 1 T. of oil left over or any other you have, fry the onion until limp and add crumbled up bacon if desired.
4. Transfer mangu to platter and top with onions.

Stuffed Cabbage

Ingredients

2lbs lean ground beef
2 heads of cabbage
24-20oz tomato sauce
14oz crushed tomatoes
6oz tomato paste
¾ cup sauerkraut
1 cup chicken broth
1 onion
1 lemon
1 egg
2tbsp brown sugar
Garlic
Dill
Allspice

Makes about 12-18 cabbage rolls (it all depends on how many leaves you get/not tear, and how large you stuff them)

Preparing The Cabbage

There are a couple methods for blanching cabbage in order to make the leaves more pliable. I found the simplest way was to bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil while I rinse off the heads. Once the water was boiling I just plopped the heads in. After about five minutes I removed the heads and shocked them with cold water. Simple as that.

Once they have cooled to the touch you can delicately peel off each bright green leaf and set it aside. Once the soft leaves are removed and you are left with the dense inside of the cabbage that looks a bit like a brain you want to stop and set that aside as well.

The Filling

For my filling I chopped my onion, though next time I will dice it, and I seated that in a pan with a tiny drizzle of olive oil and one chopped clove of garlic. Once the onion pieces were translucent I put a half cup of  them into my metal mixing bowl to cool.

I also added to the mixing bowl a half cup of cooked rice, a half cup of sauerkraut, two pounds of lean ground beef, two tablespoons of tomato sauce, about a tablespoon of chopped fresh dill, salt and pepper.

The Sauce

Making the sauce was super easy. In a pot combine two cans of tomato sauce (for a total of between twenty-four and thirty ounces depending on can size), one can of crushed tomatoes, one to four tablespoons of tomato paste (depending on how thick you want the sauce, I went with three), a quarter tablespoon of allspice and two heaping tablespoons of brown sugar. Heat everything up and let it simmer a bit while you doing your rolling.

Rolling

I am not going to give you a how-to on the subject of rolling stuffed cabbage because nearly all of mine turned out different. I chose to cut out the tough center stem. Some people shave it down but I found that difficult and tedious after trying it on one leaf. After cutting the leaf looked like it had two legs. I put a rounded palm-full in the center then fold the legs diagonally across each other then rolled the whole thing up burrito style, folding in the sides near the end. It seemed to work well since I did’t have any fall apart, but again, they were’t uniform at all.

Cooking

I chose to steam my stuffed cabbage rolls. To do so I chopped up the cabbage cores that I saved and put those in the bottom of the same large pot I boiled the cabbages in and put on top of that a quarter cup of sauerkraut. Then I poured a cup of chicken broth in before layering in the stuffed cabbage rolls and covering them with some of the sauce, keeping about a third of the sauce for plating. I brought everything up to a boil before reducing and leaving to steam until a meat thermometer showed the inside of the stuffed cabbage rolls was cooked. It took about an hour and a half.

Plating & Conclusion

Stuffed cabbage is a simple and rustic meal so I served it very simply. Two stuffed cabbage rolls covered in more sauce and served with just a little bit more rice.

I enjoyed making the meal despite the various cooking methods needed and the mess that can come from that. Stuffed cabbage is very forgiving for a beginner cook while a more experienced chef can improvise and experiment with different ingredients.

White Rice

Ingredients:

• 3 cups long grain rice (look for a tip of what I do before serving time at the bottom)
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil

Directions:

Bring the water to a boil on medium heat with salt and oil. Wash the rice twice with tab water and drain it (you can use a colander). Add the rice to the boiling water and stir. Cook uncover, stirring constantly to avoid the rice to stick to the bottom (the concon is supposed to form during the low heat cooking stage, not before).

When all the water has consumed, stir again, put a piece of aluminum foil over the rice inside the pot, covering the rice well, then cover the pot with the lid. Lower the heat to the lowest level. To let the concon to form on the bottom, just lower the heat to medium low. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Uncover and carefully stir from bottom to top. It must be tender. If not, cook for five minutes more.

See? I told you, cooking white rice or arroz blanco Dominican style is a breeze!

Chicken Wings

Habichuelas Guisadas - Stewed Red Beans

Ingredients

Directions

Fruit and Potato Salad

Ingredients

Directions