tasting memories

Photo by Marta Bartolomei Edmonds. Bowl by Roger Baumann. Plate by Scott Bartolomei Edmonds.

Life is full of small delights. Guacamole is one such delight. I enjoy this simple dish in its most basic incarnation: chunks of avocado decorated with green onions, a dash of salt and drizzled extra virgin olive oil. But today, I'm experimenting with ginger.

When it comes to guacamole, my thought is: the simpler the better. It's all about the plump, ripe avocado, the olive oil and the salt, but, adding a little something like minced ginger can really change your experience.

Recently I learned that the ancient Aztecs named this delightful fruit ahuakatl - testicle - and that they prized it as an aphrodisiac. I hold avocado in high regard, not because of its shape suggestive of that hanging fruit between a man's legs, but because the flavor and texture is so deeply satisfying. Avocado's silky texture and rich flavor heightens the experience of any meal.

This summer dish is a twist on traditional guacamole. Fresh grated ginger gives it a kick and the radish adds a surprisingly clean, crispy element. Serve it with homemade lemony cumin chips that will make mouths water.

Learn more about avocados here.

Gingered Guacamole
1 ripe Hass avocado
1 radish, cut into matchsticks
1 green onion, sliced
1/2 teaspoon of fresh minced ginger
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
Lemony Cumin Chips

1. Quarter and peel a ripe avocado. Cut it into 1/4" chunks and place in a bowl. Add the radish, green onion, ginger, olive oil and gently stir. Add salt to taste and serve.

Makes 1 cup.

Photo by Marta Bartolomei Edmonds. Plate by Scott Bartolomei Edmonds.

These tangy chips are a great companion to a frothy beer or an icy margarita. Scott and I have been serving these to guests for years and we've never had a complaint. On the contrary, these chips are usually a big hit. Serve as a simple appetizer with a dip like salsa, guacamole or hummus. They are super easy to make and so much better than a store bought bag of corn chips.

Lemony Cumin Chips
6 fresh corn tortillas
lemon pepper
ground cumin
kosher salt
canola oil for frying

1. Pour about one inch of oil into a heavy frying pan. Heat over medium high heat until the oil is hot (to test if the oil is hot, carefully sprinkle a few drops of water into the oil - the oil will sizzle loudly when ready).

2. Cut the corn tortillas into 1/4" thin strips and fry in small batches until the strips are light and golden. Use a slotted spoon to remove chips from oil. Place the chips on a paper towel to drain any excess oil. Sprinkle liberally with lemon pepper, cumin and kosher salt to taste.

Makes 3 servings.

Plate and bowl by Jim Shack. Photo by Marta Bartolomei Edmonds.

Making sorullitos de maiz takes me back to childhood, standing around Abuela Sara's clean and ample kitchen with my favorite aunt Titi Sara. Titi would paint my nails, comb my hair, talk and play with me and she taught me how to make sorullitos. These simple Puerto Rican corn fritters made with cooked cornmeal and cheese are still a point of connection to my family that I hold dear. Such simple activities meant so much to me as a growing child.

Titi Sara would cook the dough and then ask me to help roll them into little logs that looked like fingers. She taught me how to take a little mound of hot dough in my hands and to roll it quickly between both hands so that the dough did not burn. We would hover around the kitchen counter rolling a stack of sorullitos and talking. Once the sorullitos where rolled, Abuela Sara would drop them into hot oil to fry. We enjoyed them immediately after frying on a napkin-lined plate with a pink dipping sauce made of ketchup and mayonnaise.

Sorullitos de maiz are a simple but versatile appetizer. The process and ingredients are somewhat similar to those of making polenta. You can add herbs, spices or garlic to the dough. I have also experimented with many different types of cheeses and have found that sharp, dry cheeses like parmesan, romano or manchego are a wonderful substitute to the traditional gouda. Sharp cheddar and edam are good substitutes too. A finer grain of cornmeal works best for this recipe. Avoid using white cornmeal flour or coarse cornmeal as they do not yield the right consistency of dough. This recipe for sorullitos de maiz comes from Carmen Aboy Valldejuli's Cocina Criolla (translated into English as "Puerto Rican Cookery").

You can make the sorullitos up to step 2 ahead of time and freeze the rolled sorullitos. When you are ready to fry them, simply remove them from the freezer and drop the frozen sorullitos into the hot oil.

Sorullitos de Maiz Corn Fritters
2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup corn meal
1 cup gouda cheese, shredded
canola oil, enough to fill a frying pan to a 1" depth
secret dipping sauce

1. In a medium sauce pan, bring water and salt to a boil. Remove from heat. While vigorously stirring with a wooden spoon, gradually add the cornmeal. Continue stirring until the mixture comes apart from the sides and bottom of the pan. Add the shredded cheese and stir until well incorporated.

2. Roll the sorullitos, by taking a little mound of hot dough in your hands (about 1 tablespoon) and quickly rolling it into a ball. Using both hands roll the ball into a stick about 2 1/2 inches in length. Working quickly, roll the rest of the sorullitos.

3. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat to about 375° F (the oil will be hot enough when a drop of water crackles on contact with the hot oil). Fry the sorullitos until golden, turning as needed. Remove from the oil and drain on a paper towel.

4. Serve the corn fritters hot or at room temperature with the sauce.

Makes approximately 50 sorullitos.

Photo by Marta Bartolomei Edmonds.

If you are planning a Three Kings Day party to mark the end of the holiday season, try this savory appetizer. Chicken escabeche (pollo en escabeche) is delicious, easy to make and can be prepared days ahead of a party.

Escabeche refers to a marinade of fragrant olive oil, vinegar (or citrus), onions, garlic, black peppercorns and bay leaves. It originates from Spain and can be found throughout Latin America. There are many different applications of the escabeche marinade. You can use escabeche to poach fish, seafood or chicken for juicy entrées. Another application is to add the prepared escabeche marinade to cooked starchy vegetables like yuca and green bananas to make a savory side dish like yuca escabeche (yuca en escabeche) or green banana escabeche (guineos verdes en escabeche - a personal favorite). Most escabeche recipes are best served after marinading for a day and served at room temperature.

The recipe I share with you today is for a chicken escabeche appetizer. You will poach chicken breasts in the escabeche marinade, then shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces to serve on crackers. It's a perfect party appetizer as you can prepare it a day or two ahead. Serve the escabeche at room temperature with a simple cracker. My favorite cracker to serve it with is the most humble saltine cracker. It's also great with matzos or cracked wheat crackers. Try it, your guests will love chicken escabeche.

Photo by Marta Bartolomei Edmonds.

Chicken Escabeche Appetizer (Pollo en Escabeche)
2 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 large onions, sliced across into thin rounds
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt

1. Heat olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until it simmers. Add the chicken, bay leaves, peppercorns and salt. Top with the sliced onions, garlic and white vinegar. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

2. Remove the chicken breasts and cook the escabeche marinade in low heat until the onions are clear (don't allow the onions to caramelize). Use two forks to shred the chicken into bite size pieces and return the shredded chicken to the escabeche marinade.

3. Transfer the chicken escabeche to a glass container and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for 24 hours to allow the flavors to develop. Serve at room temperature with your choice of crackers.

Makes 4 cups of escabeche.

This beautiful little plate was made by Roger Baumann and the white sauce dish was made by Jim Shack. Photo by Marta Bartolomei Edmonds.

Tostones and a good plate of white rice and pink beans made by my grandma is what I call home. This side dish of twice fried plantains is as ordinary in a Puerto Rican household as french fries are here in the U.S., but I have to say that in my food memory, tostones are a delicacy, especially the way my grandma makes them.

On our last visit to Puerto Rico I asked my grandma, Mima, to teach Angelica and I to make tostones her way. She's shown me how to make them a dozen times and I've watched her and helped her make them them since I was a little girl, but I still can't manage to get them quite right. Mima's tostones are soft on the inside and crusty on the outside with a salty crispy edge that makes them just perfect. Her secret is dipping them in salty water after they have been smashed flat.

Fried green plantains can be served as a side to almost any Latin meal. They are a wonderful side to soak up the savory juices of a flavorful asopao de pollo (Puerto Rican chicken stew). I especially love them served alongside a juicy bistek encebollado (steaks cooked in onions) or pernil (roasted pork). Tostones also make an interesting appetizer served with guacamole or stuffed with savory stewed seafood or ceviche.

A note about plantains: Plantains are a larger, starchier version of the banana and are usually sold by the piece. Grocery stores and most Latin markets will carry green plantains and ripe plantains. For tostones, pick plantains that are green or green with a hint of yellow. I prefer a plantain that is green with a hint of yellow as they will have just a hint of sweetness that is such a nice compliment to the salty exterior. Avoid using yellow plantains for this dish as a ripe plantain contains too much sugar and will burn in the first frying.

Tostones Fried Green Plantains
3 green plantains
2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons salt
canola oil for deep frying

1. Cut each plantain at either end and score them lengthwise three or four times by running your knife from one end of the plantain to the other to make a shallow line, deep enough to cut through the skin. Use your fingers to pry the hard skin from the plantain and peel. In a small bowl mix some warm water with enough salt to make the water salty, set aside.

2. Pour enough canola oil into a deep cast iron pot to make a 1" deep pool. Heat the oil over medium heat until just a few drops of water sprinkled over the oil start crackling.

3. Slice the peeled green plantains on a slight diagonal into six even pieces. Arrange the plantain pieces in the hot oil (the oil should cover the pieces) and fry in batches until the plantain pieces are cooked. The pieces are cooked when they yield softly to a fork inserted into the plantain. Transfer the cooked pieces to a plate covered with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

4. Now proceed to smash the cooked plantain pieces into 1/4 inch thick wheels. Some people like to use a tostonera for this task, but I find that the flat end of a glass or bowl works just as well to flatten the tostón against your cutting board. As soon as you smash them, place them in salty water for about a half a minute to allow them to soak some of the liquid. Remove them from the salty water and pat them dry with a paper towel and immediately place them in the hot oil to fry. Please be careful as plantains with excess water might splatter.

5. Fry the tostones in batches and remove from the hot oil once crispy and golden yellow. Remove and drain once again in a plate with paper towel. Serve the tostones right away while still piping hot.

Makes 18 tostones.

Plate by Roger Baumann. Photo by Marta Bartolomei Edmonds.

The Easter egg hunt is for children, but deviled eggs are for adults. After the egg hunt is done and the children are playing, scoop up those decorated Easter eggs and have yourself a deviled egg feast.

Deviled eggs are a quick, easy, and delicious appetizer perfect for a dinner party. You can boil the eggs a day before serving, whip up the filling the morning of the party and fill and garnish right before the guests arrive.

The recipe I share with you today is a very basic recipe. I add the wasabi powder to give the filling some punch, but you can get creative with the garnish. What about some fresh chopped chives, dill or even some finely diced applewood smoked bacon? The one garnish I do not compromise on is the smoked paprika. It is an absolute requirement for my deviled eggs. The smoky sweet pepper compliments the creamy spicy filling so well.

Enjoy!

Deviled Eggs with Wasabi and Smoky Paprika
6 boiled eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon wasabi powder
smoked Spanish paprika (pimentón)

1. Cut the boiled eggs in half and carefully remove the egg yolks onto a medium bowl. Add mayonnaise and dijon mustard and mash the ingredients with a fork until the are a light, smooth and creamy paste. Add salt to taste and stir to incorporate.
2. Scoop a heaping teaspoon of filling into each egg cavity. Use a fine wire-mesh sieve to dust each egg with wasabi powder. Garnish with a pinch of smoked paprika.

Makes 6 deviled eggs.