I had so much fun this past weekend. I was invited to be a part of the Eastern States Exposition, or as it is more affectionately known, The Big E! To call this venue “big” is the understatement of the century. It is the largest state fair in the northeast, boasting an attendance of 72,126 on Sunday alone, and the party lasts for 17 days!

We arrived to sunny skies and cool temperatures, ready to rock. After a brief “catch up’ with my comrade in crime for the day, Chef Jack, and Event Coordinator Howard Cowdrick. Wayne McCary, President of The Big E! came down to the beautiful set kitchen they had prepared for my visit for a personal hello.

Mr. Wayne McCary, President of The Big E! and Daisy

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This past week, on the repeated recommendation of numerous friends, I took my family to a Peruvian restaurant in Jackson Heights, that is thronged with customers, day and night (I, myself, have actually gone here for lunch once before, and had a great meal). It is rumored to have the best recipe for the gastronomic marvel that is known as Peruvian Rotisserie Chicken. I know, I know…but before you say anything, let me tell you that the secrecy behind the recipes for these chickens (as well as the green Peruvian aji that sits on the table as a condiment) are practically a matter of Peruvian National Security!

The name of the restaurant is Pio Pio and is located on Northern Boulevard and 83rd Street in Jackson Heights. We arrived with very perky appetites, to find a colorful and beautifully appointed restaurant, with 2 dining rooms and a garden area suitable for dining, as well.

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You will often hear me say that “Daisy” fans are nothing short of rabid! They will weather rain, snow, wind and scorching temperatures to come and say “hola”. This was the case this past Sunday, September 9th, when I was invited to help celebrate Hispanic Heritage month with the Bronx Botanical Garden (are you listening Brooklyn? the Bronx Botanical Garden!), by doing a cooking demo outside their Caribbean Gardens exhibition (if you get a chance, make a point of going to see it; it’s nothing short of breathtaking!).

The demo was held outdoors and, while we were blessed with dry skies, the temperature was quite high, the humidity rivaled it, and the sun was on steroids! I was a bit concerned that the weather might discourage people from coming out of the air conditioning, and after meeting with Chef Frank (of Abigail Kirsch Catering on the premise) to discuss the mise en place, I quickly retreated to a downstairs classroom, to hydrate myself and cool off a bit.

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It’s been a hectic past couple of weeks, so I have been pretty delinquent in my posting, but I promise you I will try to catch up a bit over the weekend.

On a recent trip to Puerto Rico, I stayed with one of Mami’s sisters who is nothing short of a pepperpot. Tia Bienvenida has a joie de vie that is to be envied. Nothing gets her down, and I wish that I could have half the energy now, that she has at 72. Tia Bien took me to one of her favorite seaside restaurants in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico called Restaurante Historico Puente Blanco. The views from the restaurant are picturesque and dramatic, but since we went in the evening, the view was quite wasted on us. The restaurant is at the very end of a long road that is studded with restaurants and “posadas”, little guest houses that dot the coastline. I was curious as to why Tia had decided to go to the very last of the restaurants on the road. My fears were soon resolved. We were greeted with a basket of fresh, hot Pan de Agua rolls that practically melted in our mouths.

The appetizers featured fresh seafood, of course, but I ordered the Surtido Platter, with corn sorullitos, fried cheese, chicharron, masitas, and croquetas de bacalao.

Surtido Platter

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Remember them in your prayers

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This past month, I received an email from a fan who was requesting a recipe for one of my favorite things in the world, a Relleno de Papa, and because I promised her that I would walk her through the process, step by step, here I go. The ingredients are as follows:

Picadillo

2 tablespoons of achiote oil

3/4 pound of ground pork

3/4 cup sofrito

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 cup alcaparrado

2 tablespoon AP flour

3 tablespoons water

sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Potato Mixture

5 large Yukon Gold Potatoes

3/4 cups of milk

3 tablespoons butter

1 egg

sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

3 cups of AP flour

3 jumbo eggs, beaten

canola oil for deep frying

1. Heat the achiote oil over medium high heat in a skillet and add the pork to completely cook through. Once most of the meat is cooked through, add your sofrito, stirring well to incorporate.
2. Add the remaining ingredients: the alcaparrado, the ground cumin, salt and pepper to season the picadillo, stirring to mix completely.
3. Singer the picadillo with the flour, to thicken slightly, then stir the water into the picadillo to cook off the flour, and aid in the thickening process.
4. Stir in the blanched peas and carrots (frozen is okay), and add this to the picadillo. Set aside.
5. Boil the peeled potatoes in salted boiling water until soft, and drain. Add the butter, milk, and egg, and whip until fluffy, but still dry. Set aside to cool (I actually put mine in the refririgerator for 30 minutes to dry out a bit).
6. Using your hand, scoop up a baseball sized portion of cooled mashed potatoes, and using the back of a large spoon, make a well in the center of the potato.
7. Using a tablespoon, add the picadillo to the center of the well, working the potato ball closed (you can add a little more mashed potato to close it off, if that helps).
8. Okay, here comes the fun part. Dredge the potato balls in flour, dip them in beaten egg, and then in flour once more to coat. In the meantime, heat your oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees (please make sure that the fryer is deep enough that the oil does not spill over when you add the potato balls, and make sure that you use a thermometer, as temperature is integral to the success of the execution). I would not recommend you do this in a pan.
9. Carefully lower the potato balls into the oil, with a wire spider or a slotted ladle.
10. The potato balls will form a golden crust in about 4-5 minutes. Take them out and drain on paper towels, keeping them in a warm oven while you finish.

Served with a salad these rellenos make a delicious lunch or supper. If you make them smaller they are a wonderful hors d’oeurve. Esquisito!

This recipe yielded about 12 baseball sized rellenos. Buen provecho!

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(Bacalao con Berenjena)

• ¼ cup Achiote Oil
• ½ cup Sofrito
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Two 8-ounce cans Spanish-style tomato sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 large eggplant (about 20 ounces), stemmed, peeled and cut into 1 ½ inch chunks
• 3 pounds salt cod, soaked, cooked and flaked
• 1 cup water, or as needed
• 3 leaves culantro, torn into rough pieces or ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Makes 8 servings

Heat the achiote oil in a heavy 5- or 6-quart pot over medium heat. Add the sofrito and cumin and cook until most of the liquid is evaporated. Add the tomato sauce and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Stir in the eggplant until coated with sauce, then stir in the salt cod. Tear the leaves of culantro, if using, into the pot and pour in the water. Bring to a boil, adjust the heat so the sauce is simmering and cover the pot. Cook until the eggplant is very tender, about 45 minutes. Check the pot from time to time to make sure there is enough liquid to barely cover the eggplant. If not, top off with a little water.
Serve with white rice or tostones or with crusty bread as a light supper.

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(Lasagna, Estilo Mami)

Tomato Sauce for Pasta

• 2 ½ pounds sweet Italian sausage (or if you can find it,longaniza; see below)
• 1 medium eggplant (about 20 ounces), stemmed, peeled, and sliced 1/2 inch
• Kosher salt
• Vegetable cooking spray
• Two 1-pound boxes curly-edge lasagna noodles
• Splash of olive oil
• 2 pounds mozzarella cheese, preferably whole milk, shredded
• One 3-pound container ricotta cheese
• 2 cups grated parmesan, manchego or zamorano cheese

Makes 8 Daisy servings or 12 regular servings

Make the tomato sauce.

While the tomato sauce is cooking, remove the sausage from its casing and crumble the meat into a large skillet. Set the skillet over medium heat and cook, breaking up any large clumps with a fork, until browned and sizzling, about 10 minutes. Drain the fat from the browned sausage meat.

When the tomato sauce is done, ladle off 4 cups and reserve to pass at the table. Stir the browned sausage meat into the remaining sauce and simmer 15 minutes.

Toss the eggplant slices together with a generous amount of salt in a bowl. Set aside for at least 30 minutes or up to an hour.

Pat the eggplant slices dry. Spray a large heavy non-stick skillet with vegetable spray and heat over medium-high heat. Fry the eggplant slices in batches until soft. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the oil. Slip in the lasagna noodles and cook, stirring gently to keep the lasagna from sticking, for 3 to 4 minutes less than package directions state. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Spray the bottom of an 11 x 9 x 2 ½ inch deep lasagna pan with cooking spray, then ladle in enough plain sauce to paint the bottom of the pan. You will be making 4 layers with your ingredients (except for 5 layers of lasagna and grated parmesan), so make each layer accordingly. Don’t worry if there’s a slight difference between layers, just don’t run out of anything half way through. Make a layer of lasagna noodles that covers the bottom of the pan, overlapping them slightly. Cover with a layer of meat sauce, sprinkle the grated cheese over the sauce and place eggplant slices randomly over the cheese. Dot with ricotta, and sprinkle with grated mozzarella. Repeat the process 4 times (or as much as your pan allows) and top with the last layer of pasta. Sprinkle any remaining parmesan cheese over the top. Cover loosely with foil and bake 1 hour. Remove from the oven let set 1 to 2 hours.

To serve: Heat gently for about 30 minutes in a preheated 300° F oven until a knife inserted into the center feels warm. Just before serving, reheat the reserved tomato sauce and pass separately at the table.

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(Ensalada de Tomates Chileña)

• 4 large, ripe tomatoes, cored and sliced ½-inch
• 2 small red onions, sliced thin
• Spicy Pepper Sauce (see box that follows)
• Olive oil
• Fine sea or kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper

Arrange the tomato and onion slices overlapping on a serving platter. Spoon some of the spicy pepper sauce, including some of the vegetables if you like, over the tomatoes and onions. Drizzle olive oil over the salad and season with salt and pepper.

Serve right away.

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Vegetable Pot Pie, Ensalada de Tomates Chileña, Lasagna, Estilo Mami and Bacalao con Berenjena

September has always had a bittersweet feel for me. I wax between nostalgia for the summer gone by, and anticipation for the approaching autumn, and all of the great things that come with it. In my family, September is always called “Little Christmas”, because there are about 7 birthdays in the space of two weeks! Papi and Jerry celebrate on the same day, September 21 (happy birthday, boys!), Erik on September 29, my friend Roe on September 17, and my friend Wendy on September 22 (can I get an AMEN?!!) to name a few. All that said and done, the start of the new school year is always exciting. This year Marc enters his senior year at Arcadia, David enters his sophomore year at Temple, Angela is entering the 7th grade (wow!), and Erik is busy with his AMCAS applications. Needless to say, things are pretty busy around here this time of year.

Daisy and Migui in Boca Chica, DR

Daisy meets with fans in Jacksonville, Florida

This past summer was pretty busy, as well. Of course, there was the trip to the Dominican Republic, and the retrospective that I’ve been sharing with you at www.boriquablog.com. I could argue that I had waaay too much fun on that trip, but let’s face it…it’s my job (and boy, do I love my job!).

In addition, I got to meet, chat, and shake hands with a lot of you who I met at the Simon Malls Super Chefs Live! Events in Miami, and Jacksonville, and that is always something that I love to do.

Soooo, what’s next? Well, this is shaping up to be a very exciting season. Starting this month I will be writing a monthly column for Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine called Mucho Gusto, in addition to continuing my column in Spanish for Siempre Mujer Magazine. I am also shopping the demo for my new show to a gazillion and one networks, and it’s getting some terrific buzz, and I’m putting the final touches on my notes for the new cookbook. As if that weren’t enough, I am doing a series of mini webisodes and events for Food University, (you can find out more about this at www.myfoodu.com) and will be in Napa Valley to do my second stint as a judge for the Build a Better Burger Competition! Sounds like fun, right? Actually, it’s going to be a blast because the other judges are all my homeboys, James McNair, Chris Styler and Art Smith! I can’t wait!

At the Food University Charter Class in Chicago

Yeah, it is certainly shaping up to be a great season, and in anticipation and celebration of the harvest season, my exclusive recipe of the month is Ninotchska Estevez’s Pastelon de Vegetales, a delicious take on a vegetable pot pie! I cannot say enough about this dish; it’s a great dish to bring to a potluck, or to enjoy as a meal by itself. This is one of those recipes that you will want to keep tacked to the refrigerator, so it doesn’t get lost. In addition, I am including the Salt Cod and Eggplant recipe from the book, because eggplant is at its prime this time of year.

In closing, and because we will never forget, I am nominating September as national “Tell a Firefighter You Appreciate Him/Her” month. I, for one am reclaiming September 11 to celebrate and honor the individuals who risk their lives for us each and everyday (a huge shout out to my cousin Joe Mondello at Ladder 102 in Bushwick, Brooklyn!).

Ladder 102 in Bushwick, Brooklyn
(my cousin Joe is the one with the great legs, second from the right!)

…and last but not least,

Happy Birthday Boys!

Jerry, Erik, and Papi celebrate their birthdays

Edit* I’d very much like to thank all of you who sent sympathy and condolences to my family and myself on the loss of my Tia Maria this past August. It was greatly appreciated.

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