For 4 servings

Ingredients

4 slices bacon
2 hard boiled eggs, cut in cubes
2 tsps white sugar
2 tbps cider vinegar
2 tbps water
½ tsp salt
1 lb spinach, washed and cut into pieces
¼ lb fresh mushrooms, sliced

Preparation

Place bacon in a large, deep saucepan. Cook over medium heat until brown. Crumble and set aside.

Reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon fat in the saucepan. Stir in sugar, vinegar, water and salt. Keep warm.

Place spinach pieces in a salad bowl. Pour warm dressing over and toss until coated. Top the salad with mushrooms and bacon, garnish with egg.

For 4 servings

Ingredients

1 cabbage (2lb)
2 medium red peppers
5 tbsp sunflower oil
5 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 parsley sprout, chopped
Salt and pepper at taste

Preparation

Remove external leaves. Cut cabbage in four and remove trunk. Cut leaves into thin strips and place on a salad bowl. Add salt at taste.

Clean peppers and cut into thin strips. Mix them with cabbage and chopped parsley.

Mix vinegar, salt and pepper and pour over salad. Mix and leave aside for a couple of minutes. Re-season if necessary.

For 6 servings

The perfect side dish for fish, red meat and chicken.

Ingredients

2 lb small confetti colored (three skin color small potatoes-purple, red, Yukon)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 fresh rosemary sprig leaves, chopped
1 tbsp salt
Pinch of pepper

For the sofrito
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 small red pepper, julienned
1 small yellow pepper, julienned
3 scallions, finely cut
1 teaspoon salt
¼ tsp crushed red peppers
½ tsp sherry vinegar

Preparation

Pre heat oven at 375º F.

Rinse potatoes. Place in a bowl with oil, salt and pepper and rosemary. Toss well.

Roast the potatoes, checking once until done, approximately 25 minutes. Place in a serving bowl.

For the sofrito, heat a frying pan at medium-low heat, add oil, when warm, add shallots and sauté 1-2 minutes. Add bell peppers, scallions, and salt. Cook one minute.

Turn off the heat, add crushed red peppers and vinegar. Stir and pour on the potatoes. Mix gingerly and serve.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

2 green plantains
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt

Preparation

Heat the oil to 375 degrees.

While the oil is heating up, peel the green plantains and then cut them into 3/4 inch slices.

Fry the slices in the hot oil for 3 minutes. They should be a light golden color and semi-soft.

Remove the plantain slices with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

When the plantain slices are cool enough to handle (about 1 minute), smash them into flat rounds.

Fry the rounds in the hot oil for 3 minutes.

Place on paper towel. Add salt immediately.

Yield: Serves 8

Ingredients

1 lb dry black beans
¾ l. water
1 green pepper; cut half into small dices, keep the other half
1 bay leaf
2 ounces of bacon, cut into 1-inch squares
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium Spanish onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar

Preparation

Spread the beans and pick through them, removing any pebbles or bits of stem, rinse them and soak the beans overnight.

Drain the beans and place them in a large pot and add enough water to cover them. Add half of the green pepper in one piece and bay leaf, and bring the beans to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pan and gently simmer until beans are cooked, approximately 25 minutes. Discard the bay leaf and the green pepper.

Meanwhile, place the bacon pieces in a medium saucepan and cook at medium-low, until browned and crisp. Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towel. Prepare the sofrito by draining off excess fat leaving just 1 tablespoon in the pan; add olive oil, onion and let it cook at medium-low heat for approximately 4 minutes, until golden. Add the other half green pepper cut in small dice, garlic, oregano, cumin, reserved bacon, salt and pepper and let it cook for 3 or 4 minutes more. Add the tomato sauce and cook another 5 minutes.

Pour the sofrito to the beans and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Smash with a fork one or two tablespoons of black beans and add to the soup to thicken. Cook for an additional 10 minutes at medium-low heat. Uncover and sprinkle the vinegar and the sugar. Stir and enjoy.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

1 lb yuca
½ tbsp salt
2 tsp white vinegar

For the mojo

2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp lime juice or sour orange
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
Pinch of black pepper

Preparation

Peel the yuca with a paring knife and cut in half lenghtwise, then sideways. Cut into 3 inch chunks.

Bring ar least 2 quarts salted water to a boil. Add the yuca and cook for 20 minutes or until cracks begin to appear in the center. Add the vinegar. Cook the yuca for 2-3 more minutes, or until very soft.

Meanwhile, make the mojo. Finely chop the garlic, and, in a mortar and pestle, pound it to a paste with the salt and pepper. Stir in the lime juice and correct the seasoning. Just before serving, heat the oil in a small frying pan and pour it into the garlic mixture. Stand back -it may spatter.

Drain the yuca and pull out any fibers. Arrange on a platter or plates and pour the hot mojo on top.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
10 oz frozen spinach
1 scallion
3 cups unsalted chicken broth
2 tbsp canola oil
1 garlic clove, minced
½ Spanish onion, small dice
1 ½ cups long grain white rice
1 tsp salt
1 scallion

For garnish

1 scallion (green part only), finely diced

Preparation

Place the spinach, cilantro, and chicken broth in a blender and mix until all ingredients are well blended, 2-3 minutes. Put the mix through a colander and set aside.

In a medium sized pot with lid, heat the oil at medium heat, then add the diced onion, cook for 3-4 minutes, add the garlic, cook an additional 2-3 minutes, until it is golden and wilted.

Add the rice, broth and scallion, stir well, let it come to a boil, then lower the heat to medium until the liquid has almost evaporated. Place the lid on the pot and let it continue cooking at very low heat for another 10-15 minutes.

Turn off the heat and stir the rice cautiously so as not to break the rice grains. Let it rest-lidded- for an additional 5 minutes.

For 4 servings

Ingredients

16 oz corvine fish or any other fish of delicate firm texture (as grouper, flounder or tilapia)
8 oz small shrimp peeled and deveined
1 red onion Julienne style (thinly sliced)
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 teaspoon ginger, finely diced
½ cup lime juice
¼ cup lemon juice
½ Aji limo (Peruvian pepper) finely chopped
Salt and ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Few lettuces for presentation

Preparation

Cut the fish into small dice, place fish in a non-reactive ( like aluminum) bowl. Add the shrimp into a large pot of boiling water and let it simmer until the color begins to change, remove them from the pot immediately and drain the shrimp, transfer to a bowl of ice water and leave them one to three minutes until they are cold. Drain again and add the cooled shrimp to the fish.

Add onions, limo pepper, garlic, ginger or Kion, salt, ground pepper, olive oil, cilantro and stir to combine.

Just before serving add the juice of the two lemons, wait 5 minutes, check the salt.

Arrange 1 lettuce leaf on a soup plate and arrange the ceviche inside the leaves and serve.