Tostones!

As promised a while ago, here is my recipe for tostones! (Always with an exclamation point because DAMN THEY ARE THAT GOOD!)

Also known sometimes as platanos verdes or patacones, tostones! are the most delicious, heavenly, savory, yum yum yummers Latin American side dish you ever will come across. They're kind of like a cross between a potato chip (a really, really good, thick one, like a Kettle chip) and home fries and something else otherworldly.

If you've ever had platanos maduros before (the kind of plantain that is sweet when cooked), you're probably thinking, what the...? Platanos are sweet, not savory, crazy lady!

But the key here is the ripeness of the platano when you cook it, which is easily discernible by its color. A ripe -- and thus sweet-tasting when cooked -- platano is yellow in color, similar to its banana cousins. An unripe -- and thus savory and very umami when cooked -- platano is green in color. Thus the alternate term "platanos verdes" (green/unripe plantains) for tostones.

 Tostones are sadly, miserably, unfortunately, tragically quite hard to find in restaurants on the west coast. When I lived in New York City, I could get them everywhere and didn't eat them every day, thinking they were (as they ought to be) commonplace. Then I moved back to the west coast (San Francisco initially and Oregon now) and realized what a rare delicious golden treasure they are in this land of Mexican and Central American food with a sad dearth of proper Latin Caribbean (Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban) food.

Being the daughter of a Colombian, you would think I'd be partial to the maduros. My dad can't get enough of them, and I remember him teaching me to cook them when I was young. But as soon as I tasted my first toston, I was a lost cause: it was tostones for me, forever. I like the maduros, sure, and especially in certain meals, situations, etc. But give me a choice and I'll always choose the savory tostones.

So the only way for me to satisfy my toston craving is to make them myself. And while, yes, these are not the healthiest food in the world to eat, when you make them yourself, they totally fall into Food Rule #39 of Michael Pollan's: Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.

These go wonderfully with rice and beans; grilled chicken; fried eggs; anything else with even a little bit of latin flavor or that needs a carby, salty side. As for me, I could eat an entire batch solo, no problem. But only as long as the requisite mojo de ajo (garlic-lemon dipping sauce) is on the side.

And so, without further ado, I present to you my recipe for these gorgeous wonderful delights of salty and garlicky and yummmm:

DENA'S TOSTONES

•  As many platanos verdes (green plantains) as you can handle -- for me, this usually falls somewhere between my desire to eat 17 and my capacity to cook anywhere between 2 to 4
• Plenty of high-heat cooking oil, such as sunflower or safflower
• Salt water
• Salt

1. Peel your platanos -- they don't peel like regular bananas due to their un-ripeness. You'll need to score the outside in two to three vertical lines to get the peel to come off.

2. Slice them into fairly thick rounds -- they're going to get smashed into flat delicious toston-ness, so they need to start out pretty substantial.

3. Meanwhile, heat enough cooking oil to cover the bottom of your skillet by about 1/4 inch til it's hot; I usually set mine on medium-high.

4. If you've got a lot of tostones, fry them in batches: place each piece in the skillet so that it can lay flat but not crowd the others. Let them get just golden, about 90 seconds to 2 minutes or so, depending on the heat of your stove. You don't want them to brown. Once they've reached that gorgeous golden state, flip them so they get golden on the other side, too.

5. Once they're all golden on both sides, remove from the skillet to a plate with paper towels to soak up excess oil. You can turn off your skillet for now.

6. While they were cooking, you've set up a little toston-smashing station: Small bowl of salt water, a clean surface on which to smash (I sometimes use a plate for this), and a smasher -- I usually use one of our flat, heavy-bottomed glasses. A heavy mug can also work.


7. Take each toston onto your surface, place the smasher over it, and smash just until properly smashed but not falling apart. It can take a few tries to figure out where that line lies; you'll get the hang of it!




8. Dip each smashed toston in salt water and set aside.

9. Once all the tostones are smashed and salt-water dipped, heat up your skillet again, to about the same heat, and fry up the tostones til they cook through and get really golden and just this side of browned.

10. Remove to a paper-towel covered plate, sprinkle with plenty of your favorite salt (I like the big crystals of kosher salt for this job), let them cool just a bit, and enjoy with a dipping sauce of mojo de ajo. HEAVEN.

Coming soon.... my recipe for mojo de ajo!

James' Root Cellar Smash

My dear friend James is a fantastic cook. The kind who doesn't even really have to work at it, you know? Who just like throws stuff together and it looks and tastes divine. Someday I'll get there. Til then, I keep working at it.

So of course I had to ask him for a recipe to share during this crazy month of NaBloPoMo. And he responded with a great little recipe that will likely come in handy next week as our nation prepares to eat as a way of giving thanks.

Reading it through, YUM is all I can say. I might need these to show up on our Thanksgiving table!

James' Root Cellar Smash

• Three white sweet potatoes (sometimes called Japanese sweet potatoes at the grocery store)
• One large, orange sweet potato (any more and it would be too sweet)
• A couple of your favorite potatoes (Dena's note: russets always work great in mashed potatoes)
• A large turnip would be exciting as well, but I haven't tried that variation yet

This recipe is very forgiving -- you can make changes to the ingredients as you see fit and based on what you might have in your root cellar.

Peel and cut up into similar-sized chunks all of the above. Boil them until they are fork-tender.

When done, smash it all up -- I like things lumpy.

Pour in that stick of butter and cup of half & half you've been heating up in a small pan on the back of the stove. Season liberally with salt and pepper (taters need gobs). Here's the totally inspired part -- add a goodly dash or two of cinnamon.

Just a Regular Guy

Remember we were talking about the French Laundry restaurant a little while ago? NPR did a fantastic piece on Thomas Keller on Morning Edition today. And basically he sounds like a totally down-to-earth, normal guy who just loves to cook and has an incredible work ethic. Which makes his food heavenly.

My favorite part? When he admitted that years ago, fancy chefs were all into making their own ketchup, but their diners kept asking for Heinz. And recognizing that how we taste and eat food has so much to do with what we were raised on -- Heinz ketchup, for instance. I know this is certainly true for mayonnaise; anything but Best Foods/Hellmann's tastes off to me (though their light mayo still totally works). I've tried fancier mayos and they just don't taste right, to me.

Take a minute to listen. He sounds like a guy I'd love to cook with and sit down to a homecooked meal with. Thomas Keller, you're officially invited over for dinner anytime you're free.

Oregon Fall Bounty Hash with Quinoa

A week ago Sunday we went to the delicious and oh-so-very-Oregon Mushroom Festival at the Mt. Pisgah Arboretum with our dear friends Eric, Nic & Vic, and Nic & Vic's friends Gabe & Suzanne and their daughter Coral. I'll post separately about the festival and that lovely day; it was so cool it definitely deserves its own post!

It was fantastic and sooooo fall and a pretty perfect way to spend an autumnal afternoon. There were hay rides! And many mushrooms on display -- Coral, who's eight years old, delighted in pointing out to us the coral mushrooms. Which, I gotta say, really do look like coral! And they are gorgeous. Who knew mushrooms came in so many different colors, textures, sizes, and shapes? And I was again reminded of mushrooms' truly mysterious magic -- they have so many incredible medicinal properties!

While there, we signed up for a mushroom CSA! I'll post more on that later for sure. What a brilliant idea, no?

In keeping with the spirit of the season, I threw together this dish for our dinner on Sunday night. It was seriously seriously no joke not even kidding delicious. I have already promised hubby I'll be making this every week for as long as these fall ingredients last.

It's super easy and super seasonal, so get thee to the forest a-foragin' or store or farmer's market and get a-cookin'!

Dena's Oregon Fall Bounty Hash with Quinoa

• EVOO (use of acronym is just for you, James)
• As much chopped garlic as you can handle like (for us, that's about 5 or 6 cloves or so, depending on their size)
• ~ 3 cups cooked quinoa (I prefer to cook in mushroom or chicken broth to boost the flavor)
• Anywhere between 12 to 20 heads brussels sprouts, trimmed of brown spots and halved lengthwise
• 3 to 5 good-sized leeks, green stalks removed and white to light green parts sliced lengthwise and then chopped and washed (ours came from our garden!)
  
• 1/2 lb chanterelle mushrooms, sliced (and if you're lucky like us, they were foraged for very nearly in your own backyard. And remember that the smaller the chanterelle, the creamier and more delicious it will be!)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Good, nutty Parmesan cheese as a garnish

Begin by pre-heating your oven to 400F. (Also begin cooking your quinoa in a pot right about now -- I always do 1½ parts broth or water to 1 part quinoa. So, 3 cups broth to 2 cups uncooked quinoa, which does get you about 3 cups cooked, give or take. Add the broth and quinoa to your pot, set it to high uncovered and once it is boiling, bring down to a simmer, cover, and cook for 10 minutes. Easy!)

Heat about 1 tbsp (remember that's ~ one solid drizzle around the pan) EVOO in a cast iron skillet on medium-high heat. Once it is shimmery and hot enough, add the sprout halves, cut-side down. Cook without moving until they brown nicely and develop a crust. Do not move them, no matter the temptation to do so -- this is where the unique and addictive nutty-delicious brussels sprout flavor is developed. If necessary, brown the sprouts in batches. I used about 20 heads, and had to do about 3 batches or so -- it's very important every sprout gets a chance to develop that browned deliciousness!

Once all the sprouts have been browned, toss them onto an oven-roasting sheet with sides and pop them into your 400F oven for about 7 minutes. When they are done, set them aside in a big mixing bowl -- this will be where you mix all the ingredients together.

Next add more EVOO to your skillet and toss your leeks in when the oil is shimmery and hot enough, letting them get translucent and hopefully even a little browned -- about 10 minutes, give or take. When done, add to brussels sprouts in mixing bowl.

Then bring up the heat on your skillet a bit, to a little above medium-high heat, adding EVOO and letting it get nice and hot before you add your chanterelles. Give them a couple of minutes to heat up and develop a bit of brown fond, then stir to make sure they're cooking all over. After about 5-7 minutes, toss in your garlic and stir to get the garlicky goodness and mushroom yumminess all mixed together. Let it cook for a few more minutes, then add to your brussels sprouts and leeks.

Add your quinoa, mix it all together, add plenty of salt and pepper, and serve. Oh god it will smell absolutely heavenly. Garnish with Parmesan cheese or another nutty hard cheese of your choice. You will taste the warmth and flavor of fall in each bite.

Serve with your favorite Oregon beer in a frosty glass and enjoy!

What Is Your Favorite Thanksgiving Dish?

Now that we're less than a month out (I am so excited; Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday), I've been starting to ponder Thanksgiving food and my favorite dishes.

Which made me wonder: what are YOUR favorites?

Mine are (in no particular order):

1. Cranberry sauce
2. Mashed potatoes or potato side dish of any sort
3. Stuffing that hasn't been cooked inside a turkey, preferably with cranberries and apricots in it. And definitely WITHOUT oysters -- blech.
   
4. Brussel sprouts
5. Green beans

There's more, but then I'd be listing the whole meal and that wouldn't make the dishes especially favorite, now would it?

Post a comment with the dishes you most look forward to on Thanksgiving. And including recipes for them gets you extra super bonus points! Also let me know if you wouldn't mind my sharing your recipe here; this is a recipe exchange, after all.  :-)

Summer Camping & Dena's Homefries

I mentioned a while ago that hubby, the dog, and I went car-camping out in the gorgeousness that is the outdoors of Oregon. I'm finally just now getting around to writing about it!

Because our beloved doggy is very old, very weak, and very sick, we decided to try it just for one night to see how he was able to handle it -- he'd never been camping before! He loved it and was a total trooper.

So.... I had to plan meals and food only for a one-nighter, which was nice. We had bought ourselves a brand new big cooler that purports to keep the contents cold for up to 5 days (!!!), so I was able to factor that into my planning.

My main goal with our camping food was to keep it as simple as possible. The food wasn't the focus of the trip, anyway, and, like I learned with the ballpark food, I knew the surrounding environment and peaceful atmosphere would add all the right flavorings to make it taste really darn good. Seriously: why does food taste so much better when you're camping?

So here's what I planned, with simplicity and ease as my two main goals:

• Day of Arrival Lunchtime: Turkey & Swiss Sandwiches with Root Veggie Chips


• Dinner: Whole Wheat Pasta with Jarred Tomato Sauce and Pan-fried Vegetarian Italian Sausage


• Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Dena's Famous Homefries (recipe below)


• Day of Departure Lunchtime: Same as yesterday, but just as good!

Some notes: I bought good, crusty bread that I sliced myself for the sandwiches -- not only does this bring the sandwiches up a notch, but you can also have some slices for dinner to go with your pasta, or for breakfast. Potentially you could toast them over your campfire on a stick.

I kept the sandwiches really simple and just brought mustard, onion, and tomato for them -- I forwent the lettuce so as to avoid soggy, wilty lettuce from the cooler. That totally worked for us, but of course do whatever works for you.

I used whole wheat macaroni for our pasta so that it was small and would cook in the small saucepan I wanted to bring. I did NOT want to lug around a giant pasta pot!

And yes, I used -- gasp! -- jarred tomato sauce. I was keeping it super simple, remember? I actually used Trader Joe's Rustico sauce, and it was surprisingly good! It's no homemade sauce, but it far exceeded our expectations. It was actually tasty, and not just camping-food-eating-outdoors-tasty. Two thumbs up from both me and hubby, who is...let's just say he's particular about his pasta sauce and I've never seen a jarred sauce that was up to par for him.

Dena's Homefries

• As many yukon gold potatoes as you'll need. For the two of us, it was about 6. We like a lotta homefries. Yum.


• Half a red onion, chopped into medium-sized pieces


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• EVOO (that's extra virgin olive oil for you non-Rachael Ray folks)


• Plenty of salt and pepper to taste

Before you leave, par-boil your potatoes so they're halfway done. Cool them down, then pack in the cooler with all your other perishables.

After you wake up in the morning and have stretched and looked out on the river as soon as you step out of your tent, start water boiling for coffee and begin slicing your par-boiled potatoes into thin slices.

Chop your onion and your garlic. Set your cast-iron skillet on the stove or fire to pre-heat. Once it's at about medium-high, drizzle ~ 1.5 tbsp of your EVOO and let it heat til it shimmers. Add your onion and garlic and let it get fragrant. Then add the potatoes and cover. Let them cook for a while, check on them every so often, and stir every so often too, to make sure they're all getting equal time on the skillet bottom. You want them to get a little crispy brownness to them, but not so much that they're burnt.

Keep an eye on them and test them with a fork...you'll know when they're done. Once the potatoes are done, serve them up with plenty of salt and pepper alongside scrambled eggs and bread if you like. Eat by the McKenzie River in the sunshine. Life is good.

Midsummer's Eve Ballgame

Last month, hubby and I went to see the season opener of the Eugene Emeralds, our local minor league baseball team. (I know, minor league baseball team -- how cool is that!)

It was so fun and so small-towny and so great all around. One very cool thing about the Eugene Em's, as we call them here, is that they play in the historic Civic Stadium -- it's 71 years old! And it really is as quaint as you would imagine, from the manual scoreboard to the location right in the middle of town.

We of course had ballpark food and beer for dinner. Now this was my first minor league game; I wasn't expecting anything special food-wise at all. Especially as my previous experience with ballgames had been Pacbell Park, home of the San Francisco Giants -- you seriously can get gourmet food there. And the garlic fries! To die for.

But I learned a little ballpark food lesson that night, I think: it's the heart of the ballpark and team that make the food taste good. Because the hot dog and fries that I ate were absolutely delicious.

So here's a little photo essay of our lovely evening, with a special focus on the FOOD, of course.

The view from the footbridge walking over.




They have these adorable little stands strewn about right outside.


OH YEAH!


This hot dog was so perfect.
I think it was the green grass, big lights, and cheers from the stands
that added just the right seasoning.


Oh and did I mention?
We had GREAT seats -- right in front of first base.
Only $9 each. Can't beat that!


With our Em's commemorative cup, of course.






Life is good.

Go Em's!

A Passover Feast with Bubbe Winston

The last time I was in San Francisco, my dear friend Winston had a little surprise in store for me: a preview of a Pesach (Passover) feast!

Knowing I am on my path of conversion to Judaism -- and knowing I don't have a Jewish grandmother of my own to teach me her secret recipe for matzoh ball soup and other Jewish culinary delights -- Winston decided to play bubbe and share his love of Jewish food and culture with me.

Boy, am I a lucky girl. Today, I'm sharing with you almost all of it -- I'll post his amazing flourless dessert tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Bubbe Winston's Pesach/Passover Feast (minus dessert)

Now remember: Passover is the holiday when, according to the wonderful JewFAQ, Jews remove all "chametz (leaven) from our homes. This commemorates the fact that the Jews leaving Egypt were in a hurry, and did not have time to let their bread rise. It is also a symbolic way of removing the 'puffiness' (arrogance, pride) from our souls."

Because Passover is the commemoration of the Jews' exodus from Egypt and slavery. The word for Egypt in Hebrew is mitzrayim, which also happens to be the word for "the narrow places." So we're contemplating not just the historic exodus from Egypt, but our own personal coming through and out of our own personal narrows. DEEP.

Spring Matzoh Ball Soup

Matzoh Balls
2 eggs
1/4 cup seltzer
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch fresh dill
salt and pepper
1/2 cup whole-wheat matzoh meal

Soup
1 quart home-made or store-bought chicken broth
1 boneless, skinned chicken breast
Mix of asparagus, zucchini, carrots, fresh shitakes, fresh ginger, lemon
Salt and pepper

Rinse, stem, and loosely chop dill; reserve some for serving.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until they are pale and frothy. Add seltzer, olive oil, and dill; season and mix well. Add matzoh meal and mix well, cover, and refrigerate at least one hour to overnight.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Oil or wet your hands and form very small, loose ½” balls (they will at least double in size). Gently drop matzoh balls directly into boiling water and cook for 15 minutes or until they all float to the surface. Taste one for doneness. Rinse original bowl, and use slotted spoon to remove matzoh balls and reserve in bowl.

Empty pot and place stock and chicken breast in pot and bring to a boil; lower to a simmer for 10 minutes. Thinly slice asparagus diagonally, and thinly julienne zucchini, carrots, shitakes, ginger, and lemon peel. Slice lemon wedges for serving.

Check chicken breast for doneness and remove and cool. Add vegetables and peel to the broth and simmer for 10 minutes. Thinly slice chicken and add with matzoh balls to re-warm briefly and serve with dill garnish and lemon wedges.

Will serve 4-6 people.







Minimalist Latkes
Because these have no eggs or flour, they are also fine for Pesach.

2 large russet potatoes
6 scallion bulbs
1 shallot
salt and pepper
olive oil

Either by hand: grate potatoes, cut scallions into 3” lengths and thinly slice, and peel and thinly slice shallot; or use feeding chute and grating attachment on food processor to grate halved potatoes, 3” lengths of scallion, and peeled shallot.

Season well and mix together in large bowl and let sit for at least half hour to allow potatoes to release their starch—that starch is what holds these latkes together. Heat olive oil at a depth of 1/8” in a cast-iron pan until shimmering. Set oven to 200’ and line an oven-safe platter with parchment paper and paper toweling.

Mix potato mixture again, and use a stainless steel fork to place about a tablespoon of mixture in the oil and use the fork to spread out into a lacy pattern; do not crowd pan. Use spatula and fork together to turn when golden and to transfer to oven until ready to eat. Add oil and heat before adding new mixture. Serve with applesauce and Greek-style yoghurt.

Yields approximately four dozen latkes.







Coleslaw

½ head red cabbage (or green, or savoy, or any combination)
1 carrot
1 pear (or apple, peach, mango, papaya, according to season or availability)
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Greek-style yoghurt
1 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon honey

Core and finely slice cabbage, grate carrot, and core and julienne pear. Mix in large bowl, salt and pepper well, and add remaining ingredients and mix. Cover and refrigerate overnight; toss, taste,and adjust before serving.



Don't forget: dessert tomorrow! Yum yum.