recipes from grandma

8/9/2019 Recipes From Grandma

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A Tasteof Cuba

Recipes from Grandmas Kitchen

family style cuban cooking


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introduction

My grandmother was a very interesting and resourceful person.

She always managed to make things happen and get things done. Her mother died when shewas young and at 15 she left home. She talked about living in boarding houses and going down to

the ice box late at night to steal some milk, then replacing what shed taken with a little water so no

one would notice. It must have been a traumatic thing for her, because her refrigerator always had at

least one gallon of Vitamin D real deal milk. And shed freak out if we ran out- you had to go get some

ASAP. She was diabetic, but she loved sweets (if you tried to buy her sugar-free sweets, shed pretty

much laugh in your face). She was always joking and making fun of people. Shes where my whole

family gets its sense of humor.

After the revolution in Cuba (in the 60s), she had five children to feed and managed to do it using

the government-approved ration cards and the black market. She sewed up shoes out of rubber and

canvas and traded them for meat to cook for dinner. My mother and uncle used to deliver these shoes

by hiding them at the bottom of a bag of oranges. She had a high standard for nurturance. So much

so that when a pair of swallows made their nest in the overhang of her roof (now my moms roof- this

picture is from today!), she got mad that sometimes the mama bird would let her baby die if it fell out

of the nest. One year she refused to even let her make her nest because she was a bad mother. I

guess seeing the hungry chicks reminded her of something. You can see three hungry babies in that

nest today, mouths open. They just hung open like that forever. I took something like 4 pictures! Once

I realized mama bird wasnt returning because she was waiting for the giant camera wielding monster

to go away, I stopped snapping photos.

Most Cuban recipe books focus on foodways from Havana, but this set of recipes is connected

to my moms side of the family, who were from Camaguey, a sort of dairyland or cattle ranching

community that is far from the bustling urban center of Havana.


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appetizers

4 tbsp butter

1 tbsp chopped onion

1 cup milk

3/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper 1 tbsp dry white wine

2 cups ham, chopped in a food processor

for the coating:

2 eggs for the egg wash

1 cup of cracker crumbs (you can use bread

crumbs, but I like the coating to be fine, so I

ground up some low sodium saltines)

vegetable oil for frying

1) Melt butter and sautee onion on medium heat in a

skillet on medium heat

2) Add milk, flour, salt and pepper and cook on low

heat

3) Stir constantly until you see the bottom of the pan.

It will start to stick to itself and form a big mushy ball.

Turn down the flame even more

4) Add the white wine and ham and mix it all together

well

5) Remove from heat and let cool

6) Once cooled, refrigerate for 2 hours.

7) Once you are ready to start frying them up, make

two dishes, one for the egg wash and one for the

crumb coating.

8) Form the dough into balls and then flatten them

out so they are in a croquette shape (cylindrical, if you

will), then dip in the egg and then in the crumbs (just

once each should do).

9) Fry those babies up in vegetable oil at 375degrees. Once they are browned, set them on a

paper towel to cool.

They should be soft but not runny.

ham croquettes - croquetas de

jamon

directionsingredients


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Plantains done two ways

platanos maduros and

tostones

Plantains may look like bananas, and they are related, but bananas have a

sweeter taste, while plantains are less sweet. Plantains require cooking in order

to be edible, even when they are overripe, the sweetest stage of its life. It is

a testament to the survival skills of my people that plantains have ever been

considered edible. You pretty much have to be starving to try and figure out how

to make these babies worth eating, because if regular bananas are around, youd

just go for those. No cooking required! Plantains have been around forever, and

all over the world. Seriously, they are indigenous to Africa, Asia, North America,

South America, the Pacific Islands, Australia, pretty much everywhere but Europe.


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1)You start by peeling the fruit. Once you

get it peeled, slice em up. I like to go for

about one inch pieces, because I dont like

the finished product to be too thin. If they are

too thin, they are easy to burn and you dont

get any plantain flavor.

2)They are too hard to smash at this point,

so you have to fry them for just a little bit. I

used Smart Balance canola oil, but you can

use vegetable oil. Fry them for a few minuteson each side. After they come out of the spa,

let a paper towel remove some of the excess

oil.

3)After a couple minutes of cooling, You

are ready to smash them up! This is where

the paper bag comes in. They dont stick

to the plantain and they are a good barrier

between you and the hot little slice.I place the

slice in the middle and use a spatula to press

down the plantain. I place my hand over the

spatula and press slightly, until I feel that it

has smashed.

4)Get the oil nice and hot again. And stick

em in there. Once they are browned around

the edges, turn them over and make sure

they get nice and brown.

5)Remember to let the paper towels soak

the oil and salt them just a little bit.

ingredients

1 plaintain

sharp knife

paper bag

Canola Oil

tostones

directions


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platanos maduros

Platanos Maduros are a lot easier. Most

Cuban restaurants serve them with dishes.

They are sweet and fried deliciousness.

Theres no smashing, no double fry, just slicing

and frying. Of course, those extra dark yellow

plantains are easy to peel as well.

1)You just slice them on the bias.

2)Then place them in hot oil, browning them

on both sides, then lower the heat on the oiland continue to fry them until they are dark

brown and carmelized.


1 plantain

sharp knife

Canola oil


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cuban tamales


1 lb. of cooked pork

16 oz. corn (I used a frozen bag)

2 14 oz. cans of creamed corn

12 oz of Yellow Corn Meal (Masarepa

corn meal specifically)

1 package of Sazon Goya

1/4 cup of butter

1 cup of water1 tablespoon of sugar

1)Get the corn to room temperature

and pulse it in the food processor. Add

the creamed corn and pulse that too. I

like a few corn kernels to be mingling

around in the tamal, but many people

like a very consistent creamy texture.

To do that, you really need to process

the corn.

2)Add the Sazon packet and mix it in

well. In a large pan or med-large pot,

melt 1/4 cup of butter.

3)Once its melted, add your cornmixture. Stir in a tablespoon of sugar

and a cup of water.

4)Add in the 12 oz. of corn meal

and stir this mixture up until it starts to

thicken. It wont take too long, only a

few minutes. For larger batches, you

might be stirring for 10 minutes. When

I lifted the whisk, a big clump remained

inside.

Put in the pork and stirred it up.

Take it off the stove and let it cool for

a few minutes.

To make the foil packets I pull out

about two feet of foil and fold it in half


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length-wise. Cut this in half and you

have the beginning of two packets.

Youll want to fold the edges on all

three sides three times:

Then take a large spoon and shovel

in some of your lovely tamale mixture.

The final cooking phase begins,

where you steam them for, no joke,3-4 hours. I placed mine in a deep pot

filled halfway up with water. Make sure

the tops are on top, as the top seam

is often the least sturdy. You need

the steaming to get that meal to hold

together.

cuban tamales cont.

directions


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maincourse

Pork with yuca, white rice andblack beans macitas de puerco

frita, yuca, y arroz con frijoles

ingredients2lbs of pork shoulder

Mojo Criollo

1 lb of yuca

1-2 cups of black beans

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, finely diced

1/4 green bell pepper, finely

diced

3-4 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. cumin

1 bay leaf

/4 cup of white vinegar

1/4 cup dry white wine

white steamed rice

directions formarinating pork

1)Cut those strips into 1-2 inch cubes (saving

a good piece with bone to flavor the beans) and

put them in a big pot with a lid, added a little oliveoil, salt and pepper, and then poured over the

marinade, tossing to coat everything. I left it in the

fridge overnight.

2)Take the pork out of the fridge and set that

pot right on the stove. Add enough water to the

marinade to come up 3/4 of the way to the top of

the meat. Add about 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. Heat

to a simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. After the

water has evaporated, youll be left with very soft

pork, the simmering marinade, and the oil.

3)This is the point where you turn up the heat a

little and get the outside of the pork to be nice and

crisp. If the pork isnt browning up like youd like,use a pinch of sugar to carmelize it up.

directions for yuca 1)make sure theres enough water to cover it

and boil the chunks for one hour until they are

soft, like fall off the fork soft, but before they

disintegrate.

2)drain them

3)set them on a plate, salt them, and drench

them the garlic mojo, which is just garlic, onions

and olive oil heated until fragrant.


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Pork with yuca, white rice and

black beans macitas de puerco

frita, yuca, y arroz con frijoles

directions

1)Start a small pot on medium-

high heat and pour in the olive oil.

2)Add in half an onion and maybe

a quarter to a half of a green bell

pepper. Salt and pepper them and

sautee for a few minutes until theirgolden, then add the garlic.

You have just made what we call

a sofrito.

3)Once the garlic has heated

through, add the following spices:


1 tsp. cumin

1 bay leaf

4)Then add 1/4 cup of white

vinegar and 1/4 cup dry white wine.

5)Add the black beans and the

piece of pork reserved from thepork dish

6)If you dont have enough liquid,

pour in some water or stock/broth.

With this dish, the longer you let

the beans simmer, the tastier they

will be. I brought them to a boil and

simmered them, uncovered, for

about 2 hours.

ingredients

half an onion

quarter of green pepper

olive oil


1 tsp. cumin1 bay leaf

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup of white vinegar

1 can black beans


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Pour a couple of spoonfuls of beans

over white steamed rice and you haveyourself a meal!

Salud, dinero y amor y el tiempo para

gozarlos!

Health, money and love and the time to

enjoy them!


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This book is dedicated to Maria Morffi. Thanks for writing it all down.

All recipes

this book is dedicated to maria morffi. thank you for writing

down all your delicious recipes. we will remember you always.

recipes from grandma

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