Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

4 fresh cod filets
Olive oil
8 lemon slices
Salt and ground black pepper

For the sauce

4 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, grinded
4 tbsp parsley, chopped
4 tbsp mint, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Sal and pepper at taste

Preparation

Pre-heat oven at 350° F.

Rinse cod filets and dry them, spread butter on them and season at taste. Place each one over parchment paper.

Add two lemon slices over each fillet, and close as if making a tent folding all the edges tightly. Place the bags on a metal sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes.

To prepare the herb sauce, pour all ingredients on a blender and mix. Season to taste.

Open each wrap carefully and put its content in individual dishes. Garnish each filet with the herb sauce before serving.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 tbsp canola oil
4 oz Spanish chorizo, sliced and peeled
2 scallions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
3 tomatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 16oz cans chickpea, drained
1 bay leaf
2 cans unsalted chicken broth
½ lb potatoes, cut crosswise into small dices
Salt and ground black pepper at taste for seasoning
½ lb fresh spinach

Preparation

On a deep pan, heat one spoon of oil over a medium-low, pour chorizo and let it brown. Set on a plate.

Add scallion and cook 1 minute. Add garlic and tomato and cook 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add paprika and stir. Add chickpeas, bay leaf, chicken broth, potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cook 20 minutes without cover over a medium-low heat.

Clean spinach and add to chickpeas and chorizo. Cook covered 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper at taste.

In Puerto Rico, we usually prepare the ham with pineapple slices and canned cherrys. I like to change the recipe a bit by using one of our most popular fruits, mango, and the drink that is our trade mark around the world, rum.

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 smoked precooked smoked ham with bone (10-12 lb)
Cloves
½ cup water

For the glaze

2 cups fresh mango pulp*
1 cup brown sugar
8 oz aged rum
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 stick cinamon
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tsp green lemon shavings
1 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp hot pepper flakes
2 tbsp cider wine

Preparation

Pre-heat oven at 325 ºF.

Rinse ham at room temperature to remove the solution that preserves it. Dry with towel paper. Remove excess of grease if necessary, leaving a thin layer of ½ inch and do perpendicular cuts on a diamond shape (rhombus), touching the meat barely. Put a clove on each intersection of the cuts.

On a deep pan, add mango pulp and the other ingredients. Cook over a low heat until it thickens and gets the consistency of glaze, a bit before than caramel. Remove cinamon stick. You can prepare this sauce up to two days beore its use.

Put the ham on a deep metallic recipient in a broiler. Pour water on the bottom. Cook following the instructions of the ham (usually 20-25 minutes per pound).

The last 30 minutes, remove the ham from the oven and cover with glaze with a brush. Continue cooking so it will brown.

Remove from oven. With a meat termomether, check the ham temperature has risen 150 ºF. Let it aside 10-15 minutes and slice.

Heat the sauce and serve together with the sliced ham.

* If you cannot find fresh mango, you can use frozen pulp, although it does not have the same taste. Once unfrozen, cook the pulp 5 minutes to diminish the excess of water, before continuing with the rest of the recipe.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

24 cannelloni
1 lb fresh spinach
¼ lb mild Spanish chorizo, cut in small dices
4 hard boiled eggs, cut in small dices
Grated cheese

For the béchamel

1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 l. milk
Salt
Ground black pepper
Ground nutmeg

Preparation

Boil spinach in salted water 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Boil cannelloni pasta in water 12 minutes (pour each plaque slowly and individually to avoid that they stick to each other).

Remove plaques with a skimmer and pass them through cold water. Put them over a tea towel to dry them.

On a bowl, mix drained spinach, chorizo dices and egg dices. Toss until the mix is homogeneous.

Melt butter on a pan and add flour. Fry flour without getting it dark. Once you have dough of butter and flour, pour little by little the milk (at room temperature) moving continuously to avoid curds. Season at taste with salt, pepper and ground nutmeg.

Add ¼ of the béchamel sauce into the previous mix and toss again.

Pre-heat oven at 375º F.

Stuff the cannelloni with the mixture.

Pour a layer of béchamel on the bottom of a ceramic mould for oven and place the cannelloni carefully to avoid any spills.

Cover the cannelloni with the rest of the béchamel and sprinkle with grated cheese.

Put on the oven at 375º F 10-15, until golden.

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 turkey (10-12 lb)
1 garlic head, cloves separated and peeled
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp salt
2 tsp ground oregano
1 tsp cumin powder
2 sweet chillies, chopped
Lime zest
½ cup canola oil
1/3 cup aged rum
2 cups sour orange juice
3 bay leaves
1 onion, cut in 4
1 orange, cut in half
4oz butter, at room temperature
½ cup white wine

Preparation

Clean turkey, remove excess fat. Remove entrails and set them aside.

Grind garlic and mix with salt, pepper, oregano and cumin. Add oil, lime zest and chillies. Mix all together. Proceed to do small cuts all over the turkey and spread mix, even inside the cavities. Mix sour orange, rum and bay leaves. Put the turkey on a plastic bag or a Tupperware with breast upside down. Let it marinate at least 24 hours and up to 48 hours.

Pre-heat oven at 425° F.

Remove turkey from marinate, dry excess liquid. Discard the marinade. Let turkey rest at room temperature 30 minutes before going to the oven. Place onion and orange on turkey’s cavity. Spread butter over the turkey and in between the skinand the flesh of the breast. Tie turkey legs.

Place turkey (with the breast upside) on a thick stainless steel oven tray with a rack inside. Let turkey brown 30 minutes.

Lower temperature to 325° F and cook another 1 ½ hour. Moisten the bird every 15 minutes with the drippings in the tray.

The turkey will be ready when a cooking thermometer shows 165° F when inserted in the breast and 175° F for the leg. Usually, the total time for a 10-12 lb turkey should be 2 ½ -3 hours, or 13-15 minutes per pound.

Move turkey to a cutting board; remove onion and orange from the cavity. Cover turkey with foil paper and let it rest 20 minutes before carving.

Remove excess fat from the drippings. Heat this liquid with entrails and white wine over a medium heat until it thickens. Season to taste, pass thru a sieve and serve turkey with the jus.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

1 lb dry lentils
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon butter
1 medium Spanish onion, thinly chopped
1 red pepper, cut in small dices
2 garlic cloves, thinly chopped
1 bay leaf
1 carrot, cut in small dices
½ tablespoon paprika
½ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 slices day old white bread, cut in 1 inch dices
2 hard boiled eggs, cut in small dices
2 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped

Preparation

Clean the lentils.

In a pot with cold water, add lentils and cook over medium heat approximately 10 minutes.

In a sauté pan, heat oil and butter over a medium-low and once the butter melts, add onion, garlic, red pepper, bay leaf, carrot, paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook 5 minutes.

After 10 minutes cooking the lentils, add the sofrito and continue cooking at medium-low 10-15 minutes, until the lentils are completely done. Remove the bay leaf.

Heat the canola oil in a wide skillet. Sautee the bread dices until they are crusty and golden brown. Place of a dish over paper towel.

Serve the lentils in casserole; add the toasted bread and the egg on top. Garnish with parsley.

Ingredients

1 lb ground veal
½ lb ground pork
½ lb ground beef
1 tsp parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp dry oregano
½ tsp cumin
2 eggs
2 slices of white bread soaked in milk and squeezed
Salt and pepper to taste

For the spicy salsa rosa

2 tsp olive oil
1/2 medium Spanish onion, finely cut
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 scallion, finely chopped
½ red pepper, diced
1 tsp dry oregano
1 (15 oz) can of tomato sauce
4 oz broth of chicken, no salt added
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
4 oz cream
Salt and pepper

Preparation

Mix the three meats and the other ingredients in a bowl, season with salt and pepper to taste and form medium size meatballs, 1 ½ inches of diameter.

Heat the oil in a large pot, sear the meatballs until golden brown and remove from pan. Place in a platter.

In the same casserole, sauté the onion for approximately 4 minutes, add the garlic, scallion, red pepper and oregano. Cook for approximately 5 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, chicken broth, salt and pepper to taste and red pepper flakes. Cook for 5-10 minutes. Add the cream and stir. Place the meatballs in the pan, and cook, covered, at medium-low for 20 minutes.

For 4 servings

Ingredients

4 fillets of tilapia
¾ cup wheat flour
1 tbsp of cayenne pepper
1 tbsp of salt
1 tsp of black ground pepper
Vegetable oil to fry

For the green Mexican sauce

10 tomatillos (small tomatoes)
1 jalapeño
1 bunch of small cilantro
1 small Spanish onion cut in small slices
Green lemon juice
2 tbspof oil of olive
2 peeled garlics
1 tbsp of salt
1 tsp of black ground pepper

Preparing the Green Mexican Sauce

Boil the tomatillos and the jalapeno during 5 minutes. Reserve the water in which you cook them.

In the blender, mix all the ingredients carefully since the warm ingredients provoke the sauce to expand. If you need liquid on the blending process, add some of the water that was reserved earlier.

Adjust the salt and pepper. Keep the sauce in the fridge covered up until serving time.

Preparation

Combine the wheat flour, cayena, salt and black pepper in a dish.

Dry the fillets of tilapia with a napkin and cover them with the seasoned flour.

Warm the oil in a medium frying pan to average fire, fry the fillets 3-4 minutes for every side, and dry them with napkins so that the oil is absorbed.

Serve with the green Mexican sauce.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, cut in two, boneless, skinless

For the marinade

1 cup cilantro, well packed, stems included
2 garlic cloves
4 scallions
1 jalapeno, seeds removed
Juice of 1 lime
5 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried cumin
1 tbsp salt
½ tsp black pepper

Preparation

Place all ingredients in a blender and process until you are left with a green-colored creamy adobo.

Pour the adobo on the chicken breasts, making sure you cover them completely, on all sides. Keep in a plastic bag or covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.

Remove the chicken from the marinade and set aside.

Cook the chicken breasts over a hot grill until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. You could also cook the chicken under a preheated broiler, 4-5 minutes per side.

When ready, a cooking thermometer should register 165 F.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 20-ounces pork tenderloin
1 tbsp canola oil

For the rub

2 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, mashed
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp rosemary, chopped
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

For the potatoes

2 lbs red potatoes
¼ cup olive oil
5 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Pre heat oven at 375º F.

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade. Make small cuts in the loin and rub the paste all over the meat, making sure to stuff the incisions. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Wash the potatoes in warm water, dry. Cut in quarters and toss with olive oil, thyme leaves and season with salt and pepper. Place in sheet pan and roast in oven for 45-60 minutes or until tender and golden brown.

Take the meat out of the refrigerator, remove plastic wrap.

Place the canola oil in a hot sauté pan over high heat. Add the pork tenderloin and sear on all sides. Bring to the oven and roast for 10-14 minutes, until the pork registers 150º F on a meat thermometer. Let rest for ten minutes before slicing.

Serve with potatoes and salad.