Friday, August 1, 2008

Frijoles de la Olla (Mexican Basic Pinto Beans)

Among Mexicans simply called "Frijoles" or "Frijoles Pintos" and they already think of this dish. I am gonna show you the most basic form of preparing them, the way you will find them at any Mexican household if you where to visit.

My mom likes these, we usually don't eat them as often (because we usaully prefer the Cuban black bean stew) but when eating Mexican food this is the best to choose, especially for refried beans.

-3 1/2 cups Pinto Beans
-1/2 onion whole
-2 cloves garlic whole just peeled or unpeeled up to you
-About 13-14 cups water (THese arent meant to be thick)
-salt ot taste

-Rinse and clean beans, get rid of any ugly ones.
-Now add water, with 1/2 onion and garlic.
-Bring to a boil, cover on low and simmer about 1 hour to 2 hour (depends on your beans mine are done in 1 hour)
-Now that they are done add salt to taste (about 2 teaspoons I added) stir and you done. EASY I KNOW!
NOW you didn't think I'd eat em just like that (though they are still good) but I want a more flavorful kick. So this is what I do in addition to the standard way of makin em.

-2 tablespoons lard or bacon grease (DO NOT DARE USE ANYTHING ELSE!)
-1 large Jalapeño pepper minced or 2 small ones or even better 1 or 2 chile serrano minced

(1)Now that your beans are done, heat lard or bacon grease in a pan on medium.
(2)When oil is hot enough add minced chilies, sautee about 5-7 minutes until seeds are goldish DO NOT BURN EM.(3)Now add this to cooked pinto beans and boil together 5-10 minutes.
OMG THEY TASTE WONDERFUL LIKE THIS, you can also sautee other types chilies particualrily the dried Mexican chilies like "Guajillo", "Negro", or "de Arbol" just remove seeds and hard stems from the large dry types and sautee in oil and add in beans to rehydrate. Or when starting to cook beans add a whole "Chile Guajillo" for a different taste,

To refry beans just heat lard or bacon grease, sautee 1/2 minced onion until translucent, scoop in some Pinto beans without that much of it's liquid (just mostly beans) bring to a boil and start mashing and stiring until thickend.

Refried beans is like a savory bean mash or paste. You can also add minced chilies, or dry chili peppers when refrying if you didnt do it when you boiled them.

You may check my post for making them:

Champignones al Ajillo (Mushrooms "al Ajillo")

Super simple, nothing special. It is simply sliced button mushrooms sauteed with lots of garlic and olive oil and then some fresh lime or lemon juice topped with minced parsley or cilantro.

-4 cups botton mushrooms cleaned, sliced
-4 cloves garlic crushed and minced
-3 to 4 tablespoon olive oil
-3 tablespoons parsley or cilantro minced
-juice or 1 lime or lemon

(1)Heat olive oil on medium, sautee garlic quicky until golden and slightly fragrant (dont burn).
(2)Add mushrooms sautee stir a little, add some salt.
(3)When mushrooms nearly done add lime or lemon juice, stir in cilantro/ parsley and turn of heat.

NOTE: You can sautee the mushrooms first then add garlic if your to scared of burning it. Also I wish I had more I only had one 8 oz package, so if I where you I would double this recipe or quadruple. (you don't have to quadruple the garlic though maybe just add 6 instead of 4 if you up the quantity)

Chilindron de Carnero (Cuban Lamb Stew)

Someone commented my blog, they said they wanted to learn to make, "Chilindron" which is the Cuban Lamb stew. It can also be made with "mutton" or "goats meat." This would also taste wonderful using beef or pork maybe rabbit or veal (not so sure about the last 2)

I honestly had no idea how to make it at the time they asked, so I talked with my grandmother but she didn't remember well because she said she never made it that her father is the one who made it (you can imagine how long ago that was)

Well so I searched several recipes, told them to my grandmother in an attempt to maybe help her remember.

After much searching I bumped into many "faux" Cuban "Chilindrones" some sounded authentic but way to bland and not proper to get rid of the odd lamb taste. Some sounded like they could possibly be from Cuba's "Oriente" provinces that use "allspice" in many things but it didn't appeal, I lean more towards more Spanish style of cooking especially in Cuban food.

Well the closest one I found was one from a book called, "Memories of a Cuban Kitchen" the writer was from Havana, Cuba, left in 1958, etc. (so she can be trusted I assume when it comes to cooking, but none the less I ONLY USED IT AS A GUIDE LINE. After reading it was SOOOOOOOOO SIMILAR to my grandmas style except when it came to the proportions of added spices and also usually when cooking Cuban food the cheaper the wine the BETTER ahahaha. So I didn't use no good "Sherry" or anything like that. I used "GOYA'S Dry White Wine" perfect for Cuban cooking IMO.

So I pretty much made the recipe my own, it is not like the original, close but not really so Im confident to put it as MY OWN, it's not my grandmas, it's not the authors BUT MINE. Influenced by both, perfect results. :)

Ingredients to marinade meat:
-2 1/2 pounds lamb shank (I used "mutton" but if you can I suggest lamb, it's softer and might not need to cook as long)
-1-2 teaspoons salt (or less to taste)
-1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper.
-Juice of 2 juicy limes or 2-4 tablespoons of white vinegar (we prefer white vinegar)

Ingredients for the rest:
-1/4 cup or more extra-virgin olive oil
-6 slices of bacon minced
-1 whole medium or large onion finely minced
-1 whole large green bell pepper julienned (thinly sliced)
-1/2 head of garlic (about 5-6 cloves) peeled, minced finely (pressed or mashed in a mortar)
-2 cups tomato puree (I used 4 cups but thats because I like it tomato alot, I used fresh tomato, I blended it in the blender with no water in it's own juices)
-1 teaspoonful of ground cumin
-1 teaspoonful of paprika (whatever you have on hand hot smoked is good so is sweet)
-1/2 teaspoonful dry oregano
-2 bay leaves
-1 teaspoon salt or to taste if needed.
-1 cup water (because it will reduce significantly during cooking.

(1)Marinade meat for atleast 2 hours, I left mine overnight about 12 hours or so. When ready to use dust with flour.

(2)Now heat olive oil on medium high heat in a deep- shallow pan, or in a dutch oven, brown the meat on all sides it takes about 3 minutes on each side. It's okay to do it in batches. (DO NOT DO IT ON SUPER HIGH MEAT YOU WILL DESTROY THE OLIVE OIL BY SMOKING IT)
(3)Now set meat aside.
(4)In same pan and same heat (medium to medium high) add bacon and sautee until browned (about 5-7 minutes). Now add onion, garlic, and bell pepper sautee it for 5-6 minutes until caramelized and soft while doing this scrape to pick up tasty burnt toasted parts of the meats browning.(5)Stir meat back in, add tomato puree/ sauce, dry white wine, cumin, paprika, oregano, salt and bay leaves.
(6)Cover and simmer for about 2-3 hours, check every 1 hour add water if it reduces to much.

When done transfer to a nice large serving thing.

This is one of the best Cuban stewed meat dishes I have ever had honestly DO NOT LET THE MUTTON OR LAMB TURN YOU OFF IF IT DOES JUST USE BEEF ROAST OR PORK BUTT OR SHOULDER.

P.S. I have a great story to say, kinda funny (to me) but I'm putting it last here because some might want to skip haha. Here goes:

Well my Dad always say's, "Ew I don't eat mutton or lamb that's garbage"(he said it in Spanish to make of me) so I didn't tell him I was making it, it was really well seasoned so it got rid of the strong smell and taste people dislike.

I was like, "Im gonna make it really good and fool him into eating it" I prepared it and told him, "Oh es una carne de res entomatada con tocino" (translates to it's a Beef In Tomato Sauce with Bacon)

He was so hungry to, so I served him immediately, laughed inside so hard and didn't tell him anything I will tell him some other day hahaha! So he will have to swallow his words hahahaha!!!!!!!!

When he walked into the house he was like, "Oh it smells so good what you cooking" (me in my head rolling on floor laughing my ass off, I'm sooo imature)