Meatless Monday: Sopa de Papas • Potato Soup

4 medium potatoes, diced
2 cups vegetable broth (I made my own, but canned is fine)
1 medium onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cups milk
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup sour cream
Salt
shredded cheddar cheese (optional

In a soup pot boil your potatoes in 2 cups of vegetable broth until tender but not mushy. In the meantime, sauté your onion, celery and garlic in butter. Add this to your soup pot, add the milk and sour cream and season with salt to taste. Stir. Bring to a gentle boil, cover and turn off the heat. Serve in soup bowls and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. (You can refrigerate leftovers but may have to add more broth if it thickens too much when reheating).

P.S. My husband, of course, wanted bacon bits. So if you're not doing the vegetarian thing, go right ahead and sprinkle some bacon bits on top with your cheddar cheese.

Cuban Shepherd's Pie???

I've been meaning to make this for a while. It's difficult for me to make all the recipes I would like to  because of the likes/dislikes and food restrictions of my family. My daughter can't eat dairy... that eliminates a lot, no cheeses, no creamy sauces, no mashed potatoes! My mother can't eat eggs or red meat.... yeah, I know! My husband doesn't like olives, peppers or raisins... and here I am going to make a meat dish (which my mother can't eat) with olives, peppers and raisins (which my husband doesn't like) and mashed potatoes (which my daughter can't eat). The only ingredient that suits everyone on is the sweet fried plantains that lay on the bottom layer! Here we go.

First we are going to prepare our PICADILLO. I have posted this recipe before, but I will repeat it again here as I'm adjusting it slightly.

1 lb ground beef
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
4-6 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 cup tomato sauce
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 cup Sherry
about a dozen pimento stuffed Spanish olives
1/3 cup raisins (optional)
1 cup water
1 carrot, sliced
salt to taste

Brown and strain the ground beef. Set aside. Warm olive oil on medium heat and saute onions, peppers, and garlic until limp. Add the bay leaf. Add the ground beef, tomato sauce, sherry, water, cumin and Sherry. Add the olives and carrots and salt. Cover and let simmer for about 40 minutes.

MASHED POTATOES...
You can used instant mashed for this if you like, prepare enough for about 8. Otherwise, while your picadillo cooks, peel 5 large red potatoes, slice and boil. Prepare your mashed as you normally would. I mash mine until creamy with milk, butter and salt.






MADUROS...
I cheated and bought a couple boxes of GOYA frozen sweet plantains that only require frying. It's difficult for me to find ripe plantains here, but if you have access to them you need to buy some that are turning black (if they are black they may be too soft and fall apart). You will need about 3 plantains.  Peel them and slice them diagonally about 1/2 inch thick and fry them in vegetable oil. (see picture) Let them sit on a paper-towel lined plate 'til ready to assemble.

THE ASSEMBLY...
Preheat your oven to 350F. In a rectangular baking pan place your plantains in a layer at the bottom. (I was a little short on plantains, it's best to have enough to fully cover the bottom of the pan). Next, using a slotted spoon (you don't want too much liquid) transfer your picadillo in a layer on top of your plaintains. Next comes the potatoes, smooth them out with a spoon to cover the picadillo completely and form a seal to the edges of the pan. Bake for 30 minutes. (I turned on the broiler for the last 5 to brown the potato top).

Meatless Monday: Tostones de Papa con Mojo • Crushed Potatoes with Mojo

These new potatoes are boiled then pressed and fried as you would to make plantain tostones. They even look like them! The dipping sauce (mojo) gives it the Latin flavor; otherwise, all you get is fried potatoes. You may think I made this up, but I did not! (Okay, I made up the name) I got the idea from a recipe called  "Papas Pelayo" from Memories of a Cuban Kitchen by Mary Urrutia Randelman and Joan Schwartz. I just made some modifications of my own; they are as follows:

10-12 small to medium sized new potatoes, unpeeled
oil for frying
1 cup fresh parsley chopped
1 cup onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tbsp olive oil

Boil the potatoes in salted water to cover until tender.

While the potatoes are boiling prepare the mojo. Chop your parsley and onions, press your garlic with the salt. Place these ingredients in a non-reactive bowl. Ad you lime juice and olive oil. Stir.

Drain the potatoes and let cool a bit on paper towels. Cut a piece of aluminum foil and place one potato at the end, fold the aluminum foil over and gently press with the palm of your hand to flatten. Don't press them down too thin or you'll get mashed potatoes. Repeat this process for all your potatoes. Heat your oil to medium high and fry the potatoes in batches until crisp.

Ensalada Rusa: Russian Potato & Egg Salad

I came across this recipe searching for something new to make, and it sounded very familiar. I'm pretty sure that my grandmother used to make this.

There are five main ingredients: potatoes, carrots, sweet peas, hard boiled eggs, mayonnaise

In doing some research I found that this basic recipe varies greatly. Ingredients that can be added are: beets, tuna, olives, green beans, asparagus, apples and sweet corn

I'm sticking with the basic salad plus olives.

The proportions are:
4 medium potatoes, peeled, cubed and boiled
4 large carrots, scraped, cubed and boiled
4 large eggs, hard boiled and chopped
1 cup drained cannet sweet peas
1 cup mayonnaise
half a dozen pimento stuffed olives, sliced
a dash of paprika
salt and pepper to taste

I'm going to cut this recipe in half, since this is not something that will keep for too long.  There's not much for instructions, once you've chopped, sliced and boiled, you need only assemble.

Papas Rellenas: Meat Stuffed Potatoes

I've been cooking all week. It's Sunday and even though it would be only temporary, I'd like to leave the kitchen spotless. My husband has been bugging me for papas rellenas for a while now. He loves this ... it's meat and potatoes, duh! Unfortunately, this is one of those recipes with which you could make a really big mess. You have been warned, but I'm going to try to make this as simple as I can.

We'll start with instant mashed potatoes. Figure on 1 serving = 1 papa rellena. I'm making enough for 12 (to make it worth my while). Follow directions on the box. You want these mashed to be firm not creamy, so you may need to add a little more potato flakes than called for.  Refrigerate the mashed potatoes for a couple of hours.

Take out the potatoes and sit them on the counter. Remember that picadillo from yesterday? Take that out and sit it on the counter. Grab 3 bowls and line them up: in the first, pour all purpose flour; in the second, beat 2 eggs, add 2 tbsp water; in the third, pour bread crumbs. Wash your hands well, this is a hands on project.

To form a papa rellena, take a large tablespoon (or serving spoon) of mashed potatoes and put it in the palm of your hand. Make a dent in it. With a slotted spoon (we don't want the liquid from the picadillo) take some of the picadillo and press it into the dent. Now take another tablespoon of mashed potatoes and put it as a lid on top. Seal the sides with your fingers to form a ball. Set it down into the flour bowl, roll it around to coat all sides. Dip it in the egg wash (you can use a spoon for this). Gently roll it around then pass it into bowl #3 with the bread crumbs. Coat on all sides. Wash your hands and do the next one.

Repeat this process until you've used up all the mashed potatoes. At this point you can refrigerate them, to fry at a later time or you can freeze them for another day.

To fry, fill your fying pan with about 1/2 inch vegetable oil. Bring the heat up to medium high, Place the papa rellena in the oil. Let it brown on one side (if it's browning too fast, reduce the heat) then roll it, and then roll it, etc. Place on plate with paper towel. Don't fry too many at one time you need enough space to freely roll the papas in the oil.

That's it. They're ready to eat or you can make these in advance and warm them later in the oven, and my kitchen is now clean ... at least until dinner!