Arroz con Maíz

The kids are on summer vacation and dinner time is starting to loosen up. My daughter asked me for arroz con maíz for dinner, which usually means leftover Killer Rice, reheated with a can of corn.

Tonight, I felt adventurous and wanted to try to formalize the process, building off the original Killer Rice recipe.

The end result was something else. It was Killer Rice with bling. Corn bling. That rice glistened in the corn juice and garlic oil like nothing I've ever seen before. I swear I heard angelic chimes when I lifted the lid.

I now present, a La Cocina de Christina original recipe, Arroz con Maíz.

La Cocina de Christina Original Recipe : Arroz con Maíz

Ingredients:
2- 15oz cans of corn
3 garlic cloves
3 Tablespoons olive oil
Liquid from the cans of corn
Water
1 Tablespoon salt
2.5 cups jasmine rice

1. Heat the oil in a pot and add the garlic.
2. Fry the garlic until golden on both sides, pressing down gently on the garlic occasionally.
3. Remove the garlic and let the oil cool.
4. Strain the liquid from the cans of corn and set aside into a measuring cup.

5. Add water to the corn liquid to complete 3 cups, measured.
6. Add 1 Tablespoon salt to the liquid.
7. Turn on the heat and add the corn and dry rice to the oil in the pot, tossing to coat thoroughly.

8. Add the liquid to the pot, stirring a few times until completely boiling.

9. Cook on low, covered for 30 minutes.

Serve hot.

Arepas de Arroz

This recipe for Arepas de Arroz is under the Pancakes y Hotcakes section that I first tried on January 2, 2010.

My kids still love pancake mornings so today, after I made the basic pancake recipe for them, I moved on to try the arroz version.

Over the last few years, I moved my pancake prep straight to a blender. Forget the sifting and beating and all that. Not worth it. And, because I  made the basic recipe a few times Nitza's way, I'm entitled to my own way.  And, this way gets the consistency to more of what we know and love.  Round pancakes.  Not those thin, runny bell-shaped pancakes from my first try at Cuban Pancakes.

To refresh your memory, the basic pancake recipe (now in osterizer form):

Sift 1 1/4c flour, 1 1/2t polvos royal (double acting baking powder), 1T sugar and 1/2t salt in the blender.

Add an egg, 1 1/4c milk and 2T butter.

Pour by ladlefuls onto a greased skillet.  Wait for the bubbles to form on top.

Flip and serve.  Round circles.  Not runny bell-shapes.

For the rice version of the pancakes, or Arepas de Arroz, as Nitza calls them, add rice that was soaked in milk from the night before.  I didn't know I was going to make these, so I started the soaking when I read the recipe through.  Probably 20 minutes before I needed to throw them into the blender.  I'm assuming the rice would have gotten puffier and softer.  

This sweet and savory pancake is really quite good.  It has the subtle Killer Rice taste, but the sweetness of the pancake.  Well played, Nitza, well played.

The Healthy Cuban: Carne con Sweet Papas and Brown Rice

Trying to balance health and The Project isn't easy. So I've taken to running, to help my Weight Watchers POINTS plan. And in order to keep running, I've got to put better fuel in the tank, so I dreamt of Carne con Papas, with a twist.

I know that the tried-and-true Carne con Papas is always a hit, so for The Healthy Cuban version, I switched out the potatoes for sweet potatoes and the Jasmine rice (ack!) for brown rice.

The Carne con Sweet Papas was a big success. The Killer Rice without Jasmine? Well, we'll need to work a little more on that. If anyone has any good brown rice recipes to share, please send them my way.

Click here for the Carne con Sweet Papas recipe.




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Carne con Platano

As a follow up to an interview with Trina (@MiamiDish) for WLRN's Under the Sun, we scheduled a cooking session, with Trina choosing the dish for me to try.

Recipe #72: Carne con Platano

I didn't even know this was in The Project. What a hidden little gem of a recipe.

Something magical happens when the platano and beef stew together in the pressure cooker. Much different than its Cuban cousin, Carne con Papas.

Because you use a platano pintón (a plantain that isn't mushy ripe, or maduro, nor very hard, or verde), there's a starchy sweetness that blends into the sauce that pops forth a tang with every bite.

Paired with killer rice, this is a big winner.

This second interview with Trina, that included the every day sounds of our crazy house, was fun. The kids ran around, the dog barked, the hubby peeled platanos and weighed in on his thoughts about The Project. My parents made a cameo, just in time to enjoy the meal.

When Trina asked my mom about the worst recipe so far, she referenced Huevos a la Florentina, which we all quickly remembered as really being a bad one.

Funny how we keep moving forward, recipe to recipe, and hardly stop to look back. Thanks, Trina, for helping us reflect on the past two and a half years. And how much more we have ahead.


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217: Carne con Platano

Ingredients:


2 lbs beef, cut into 2" pieces (beef for stews, as it is commonly labeled)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon oregano
1 bay leaf
1 large white onion
3 garlic cloves
1 green pepper
Parsley
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 cup dry cooking wine
3 green plantains (medium ripe)
Juice from one lime

1. In a food processor, blend the onion and garlic.
2. Remove the onion and garlic and pour into a bowl.
3. Add the green pepper and parsley to the food processor and blend.
4. Remove the green pepper and parsley and pour into a bowl.
5. Heat the oil in the pressure cooker.
6. Add the meat and fry until browned on both sides.


7. Add the dry spices and the bay leaf to the meat and mix well.


8. Add the onion and garlic to the meat and mix well.


9. Add the green pepper and parsley to the meat and mix well.


10. Peel and cut the plantains and toss in the lime juice while the meat and seasonings cook for a few minutes. (lime juice optional)
11. Add the tomato sauce, vinegar, cooking wine and plantains to the meat.


12. When everything comes to a boil, top the pressure cooker and let the pressure set.
13. When the pressure is set, lower the heat to medium-low and let cook for 45 minutes.


Serve over white rice. Serves 6-8.



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Arroz Blanco – aka Killer Rice

Killer Rice Step 1: fry 3 cloves garlic in 3 Tablespoons olive oil.

Killer Rice Step 2: remove golden garlic from the oil (now you have infused the oil) and let the garlic cool before eating it. LET THE OIL COOL AT THIS POINT!

Killer Rice Step 3: OIL IS STILL COOLING AT THIS POINT. Add 1 Tablespoon of salt to a cup of water, filled to Joe Flanigan's head (3 cups).

Killer Rice Step 4: once the oil has cooled, add the salted water to the pot and bring to a boil.

Killer Rice Step 5: add 2.5 cups white jasmine rice to the boiling water.

Killer Rice Step 6: once the rice comes up to a boil, cover and lower heat to simmer for 30 minutes. DO NOT PEEK.

Killer Rice Step 7: EAT! Buen provecho.