Boriqua Blog

Daisy is interviewed on Foodcandy, the premier Food Blogger interactive community. Click here to read her interview.

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This past Wednesday, April 18, 2007, I have, in the company and with the help of Mark Twain Intermediate School’s sophmore class 7C and their intrepid teacher, accomplished the greatest feat since the birth of my children! We planned and executed a dinner party for 100 people! The event was a great success due to the hard work of the students and Karen Silverman,teacher, who allowed me to invade her classroom for four weeks prior to the dinner party, and hijack her class into culinary madness!

Mrs. Karen Silverman, teacher extraordinaire!
The class learned nutrition, etiquette, and math among other things, in the process, and earned great confidence from the evolution. In the past few weeks we discussed balancing a menu, and how important it is to make your guests feel welcome and at home. We designed an invitation, which Twain’s Art Talent and teacher, Mrs. Louzonis, and her class executed for us.

The students decided on a “World Menu” showcasing that people from all places and countries easily come together around a dinner table. I second that motion! I have a ton of pics fom the weeks leading up to this event, but time and space limit me, so I am going to post the pics from theis last Wednesday, which, by the way, were taken by the ever elusive, but always present, Miguelina Polanco, my trusty assistant!

I decided to divide the recipes among the kids…each group would do one recipe from start to finish. We had one group prepping and browning the chicken for the Country-Style Chicken with Potatoes and Calamata Olives.

Of course proper sanitation is enforced!

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I’ve had the pleasure of being invited to the Institute of Culinary Education to teach a class for leisure cooks a number of times, but I must say that this last one was really special. Not only were the students a very spirited bunch, but the menu was chock-full of Daisy food, so there was a lot of fun fare to boot! The students were met by my trusted assistant Chef Tagere (hey girl!) and her assistant Culinary Student Sebastian, who greeted them with a lovely platter of assorted cheeses, nuts and fruit to nibble on. Assignments were handed out, and we were on our way!

The menu included Tostones with Garlic Mojito, Pork in Guajillo Sauce, Chicken with Figs, Yellow Rice, and Mexican Flan. I was pleasantly surprised to see some familiar faces in the class amongst the new.

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I decided to take Angela to Florida, last week, to celebrate her 12th birthday and see my parents at the same time. I can honestly say that the balmy weather in Florida was a welcome respite to the nasty New York chill that we’ve been recently struck with. It really is quite needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway!) that we woke up to perfect fishing weather, and we all felt up to the task.

As usual, the fish knock each other out of the way to jump onto Angela’s hook, and she managed to catch a nice black bass that Mama prepared for lunch.

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In this month’s newsletter for DaisyMartinez.com, I offer an exclusive recipe that is our own Ode to Spring. It is a poached artichoke heart that is stuffed with a ragu of morels, bacon, shallots, peas and cream and it will serve as our first course for our Spring holiday dinner. The complete recipe with amounts and such is on the site as the April homepage, so stop by a take a look.

We’re going to start out with the ingredients: artichokes, slab bacon, morels (I’ve used dry here, but definately use fresh if you have them available…just omit the soaking step), shallots, peas, cognac, heavy cream and fresh parsley.

Render the diced bacon in a bit of water to render the fat. Start at high heat until it boils, then lower the heat to low, to manage the browning until golden.

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Makes 8 servings.

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, plus more for pans at room temperature

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1/2 cup sour cream

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 very ripe plantains (about 3/4 pound)

• 1 cup chopped peeled almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two round 9 inch cake pans with butter.

Stir the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, ginger and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using a handheld mixer), beat the sugar and 8 tablespoons butter together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing completely after each addition. Sir in the sour cream and vanilla.

Peel the plantains and mash them thoroughly with a fork or a potato masher. Beat into the batter and then fold in the dry ingredients and the almonds. Divide the batter between the prepared pans.

Bake until a knife or a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake come out clean, 50-60 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Invert the cakes onto serving plates. Serve dusted with powdered sugar or drizzle the cakes with chocolate syrup

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Makes 10 to 15 servings, as part of a larger meal

• 1 5lb boneless leg of lamb

• Fine sea salt or koshersalt

• Freshly ground pepper

• 2 tablespoons Achiote Oil

• 1/4 cup canola oil, or as needed

• 5 stalks celery, trimmed and roughly chopped

• 3 carrots peeled and roughly chopped

• 1 large Spanish onion, roughly chopped

• 4 cloves garlic, smashed

• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme

• 2 bay leaves

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup brandy

• 7 cups beef broth, homemade or store-bought (or lamb stock if you have it)

• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch rounds

• 3 potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes

• 2 cups diced celery root

• 1 cup green peas, frozen or fresh (cook fresh peas in boiling water for 2 minutes before using)

Trim the excess fat and sliver skin from the leg of lamb. Cut the meat into cube of 1 inch, tossing them into a large bowl as you go. Season thelamb with salt and pepper, drizzle cooled ahiote oil over it and toss to coat.

Heat 1/4 cup of canola oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches if necessary, add as much of the seasoned lamb as fits in the pan without touching. Cook, turning, until lightly brown. Remove to a bowl as they are done and replace with more lamb. Adjust the heat throughout so the little brown bits that stick to the pan don’t burn.

When all the meat has been browned and removed, check to make sure that you have at least two tablespoons of oil left in the skillet. Add more canola oil if necessary. Over the same medium-high heat, add the roughly cut celery, carrots, onion as well as the farlic, thyme, bay leaves and cloves. Cook, scraping up any bits that have formed at the bottom of the pan until the vegetables start to caremelize and are fragrant.

Add the tomato paste, reduce the heat to medium-low and stir to coat the vegtables. Cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly to prevent the tomato paste from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables, reduce the heat to very low, and cook, stirring constantly for a few minutes until the flour is well incorporated and no white remains.

Pour in brandy, increase the heat to high, and scrape up any bits that remain on the bottom of the pan. Boil until the brandy has almost completely evaporated, then stir in the broth. Bring to a boil and then adjust the heat so the sauce is simmering. Cook for 30 minutes, skimming off any foam that rises to the top. Strain the sauce and wipe out the Dutch oven.

Place the meat and the strained sauce in the Dutch oven and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Adjust the heat so the sauce is simmering and cook for 45 minutes.

Add the carrot rounds and the celery root and cook for 15 minutes. Stir in the potatoes. Check the potatoed for doneness after 10 to 15 minutes. When the potatoes are tender, stir in the peas and cook just long enough to warm through, about 2 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper if you like.

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*This recipe is a DaisyMartinez.com exclusive!

Makes 6 servings.

• 2 cups cannelini beans

• 2 bay leaves

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

• ¼ cup white wine vinegar

• 1 medium red onion, sliced thin

• 2 tomatoes, seeded

• 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

• ½ cup Calamata olives

• salt and pepper

Cook the beans in water for 1 ½ hours with the bay leaf. Salt the water and cook for 30 minutes more, until the beans are cooked through, but not falling apart. Drain the beans and immediately dress them with the oil and vinegar. Add the onion, tomatoes, the parsley and olives. If you are serving hot, adjust the seasonings. If not, set aside to cool, and adjust seasoning before serving.

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I love it when the Spring holidays fall in April, if for no other reason that chances are the weather is going to be better. Well, that and the fact that I celebrate the birth date of two of my four children; it really feels like a month long celebration. If those weren’t reasons enough to celebrate, I have the added joy of fresh ramps making their debut in the green grocers, baby artichokes peeking their tiny heads in to say, “Hey!” and asparagus, baby peas, morels and shad roe vying for pride of place in all the specialty markets. Take all of those things, and add to it the newspaper ads for the Macy’s Flower Show, and the television commercials for Barnum and Bailey’s Circus coming to town, and I know that I can pretty much say “goodbye” to the long winter. Birthday dinners have always been a big deal at our house! Of all of things that I anticipate with the coming of Spring, nothing titillates me more than Spring lamb! Lamb is something I get very excited about, because I learned to love it not as a child, but as an adult. Up until the time when I went to culinary school, I would readily pass over any lamb on the dinner table. I’ve since learned that this was because the lamb I had eaten, had an almost unpleasant, “gamey” flavor, that I could not get my teeth around. So negative were my food memories of lamb (and this is not a capricious feeling, as I love to eat strong tasting meat like liver) that I would not venture to revisit it at all. During my “lamb rotation” at culinary school, I learned how to correctly prepare lamb, and since then I have been one of its biggest fans.

Celebrating Marc’s birthday at The Fish House, in Key Largo.
They brought out a huge fish with a candle on it for Marc.
He didn’t know if it was his birthday we were celebrating, or April Fools!

Lamb features prominently in Mediterranean cuisine, and so Spain pays tribute to gently roasted lamb with garnishes of herbs, served with sides of delicate young Spring vegetables. In South America, lamb is revered in its roasted form, but is further worshipped in its estofado form, or stewed, and that is how I am going to feature this month’s lamb recipe. We can enjoy the anticipation of Spring, yet prepare it in a matter that is cozy enough to ward off any lingering chill that might be in the air. To further pay homage to the season, our exclusive recipe will be Stuffed Artichoke Hearts with Spring vegetables (see a step by step tutorial here), which will serve as a lovely, elegant first course with your lamb stew, or, as a stylish side dish served with a lamb roast. During a conversation with a close friend recently, we discussed the Sephardic table, and how beautifully Jewish/Mediterranean cuisine reflects a period of history when culture and cuisine showcase that period. No cuisine does that better, in my humble opinion, than Sephardic cuisine which mirrors the presence of the Jewish population in the Iberian Peninsula during the time of the inquisition, when Jews (mostly conversos ) masked their religious diets and recipes to avoid persecution and death. After some research (and a fine dinner at a Spanish/Portuguese restaurant) I came up with this recipe for a bean salad that is delicious served on its own, chilled, or warm, served with grilled sardines, as a main course. Either way, I urge you to try it…it is nothing short of miraculous. Whatever your Spring celebration may entail, I pray that it is a happy, healthy one, enjoyed in the company of family and friends. Make sure you all visit Boriqua Blog, leave comments, share your stories and your recipes, and make yourselves at home. You are all family now!

Buen Provecho!

Daisy

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*This recipe is a DaisyMartinez.com exclusive! 

Makes 6 servings.

• 6 artichokes, stems attached

• water

• lemon

• ¼ cup diced slab bacon

• 2 shallots, diced

• 1 cup fresh morels, ¼ inch slice

• ½ cup baby peas, blanched

• 2 tablespoons Spanish cognac

• ¼ cup heavy cream

• olive oil

• salt and pepper to taste

Trim the artichokes by cutting off the tops, and trimming off the tough outer leaves. Scoop out the touch choke and trim the stems off, and rub all of the parts with the open side of the lemon, to prevent discoloring. Place artichokes and stems in a non reactive pan , fill with salted water, and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 35-45 minutes, when the hearts will be tender but not falling apart. Drain and set aside.

Place the bacon in a skillet with 2 tablespoons of water over high heat, until the water evaporates. Lower the heat to render the fat and brown the bacon. Remove the bacon. If there is more than 2 teaspoon of fat, drain from the pan. Add the shallots and cook over low flame until softened.

Add the morels, tossing the pan until the morels are fragrant and softenend (2-3 minutes), and the blanched baby peas, and the cognac, tipping the skillet to flambé. When the flames die out, add the heavy cream, raise the heat to medium, and reduce. Adjust the seasonings.

Trim the tough “bark” from the artichoke stems (discard), and dice the tender “heart” inside. Add the stem “hearts” to the skillet, and toss to heat through. Dress the hearts of artichoke with the olive oil, and place on a plate. Fill the scooped hearts with the mushroom/bacon/pea mixture.

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