Boliche

So this weekend was my first attempt at a starter dish-- Boliche. Now this is not the Boliche found at Versailles, it is not stuffed with chorizo. No this dish is just a slow cooked eye round roast. It is one of Mama's specialities and I am glad to say that on my first try it turned out just like abuelas!

Ingredients

6-7 lb. Boliche

Garlic cloves

Oregano

Salt

Bay Leaves

Cooking wine (preferably dorado)

Onions

Spanish Olives

Red Potatoes

Cover a large pot with cooking oil and heat. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Brown the meat on all sides. As you are browning the meat add 4 chopped garlic cloves to the pan. Also add 1 tbsp. of Oregano to the pot and 3 Bay leaves. When the meat is browned add 3/4 of cooking wine. Lower heat to a simmer and cover. Allow the meat to cook at a low temperature for 3 hours, in order for it to release its liquid. After three hours, add Spanish Olives, an onion and red potatoes. Recover the meat and raise the heat to medium-low and allow to cook for one more hour. Make sure that the meat is cooked through and serve (preferably with red beans** and white rice) ENJOY!!

**recipe forthcoming. :)

Friturita de Bacalao

Today I begin this blog in earnest making my first two recipes; Frituritas de Bacalao and Frituritas de Malanga. These weren't exactly random selections. Last night Mima happened to pass by the house and not only did she give me her okay but she also gave me two of her most beloved recipes. It was my dad who pressed for me to make these two particular recipes- they are definitely some of his favorites.

First Frituritas de Bacalao;

There are two methods to this recipe; Mima gave me both but more on that later. The first is way more involved were you make the frituritas from scratch. The second is definitely more user friendly, and easier if you are busy, you use the Goya Friturita mix as a base for the recipe. Without further ado the good stuff.

HOMEMADE INGREDIENTS:

Bacalao ( 2 pieces)

2 Cups White Flour

1 Onion

Parsley

1 Egg

Goya seasoning packet with cilantro and Achote

* Begin by washing the bacalao well. Then place the bacalao in a pot of water over medium heat to boil. Once the pot comes to a rolling boil, remove from heat and drain water. Refill the pot (with bacalao still inside) with warm water and put over heat to boil again. Repeat this process 2 more times to remove the excess salt from the bacalao.

* Take bacalao out of the pot, reserving the water. Rip out the meat of the bacalao removing bones and set aside.

* In a medium sized bowl mix; bacalao, 2 cups of white flour, chopped onion, parsley, goya seasoning mix and one egg.

* Add 1 and 1/2 cup of the reserved bacalao water to the mixture mixing well. The mixture should be very runny.

* Heat vegetable oil to high, add mix to HOT oil

* The frituritas should be thin, turn over in heat until browned.

* Remove from heat, and put on plate to cool with paper towel to remove excess oil.

* Enjoy!!

****For those of you looking for a less labor intensive process, frituritas de bacalao can also be made from the goya box mix of course with some additions and tweaks. That recipe is forthcoming. *****

Friturita de Malanga

Part 2: Friturita de Malanga

Ingredients:

2 Large Malangas

1 Large egg

Salt

Garlic Powder

Black Pepper

Directions:

Clean Malangas and peel off skin

Using a hand grater finely grate the malanga (it should be paste like)

Add an egg to the mix

Add about 2 teaspoons of salt

Add 1 teaspoon of pepper

Add 1 tablespoon of garlic powder.

Mix well.

Heat vegetable oil in a fryer until it is very hot. Using teaspoon, spoon the mixture into the hot oil. Cook until golden brown, turning in heat several times. Take frituritas out of heat and put on plate with paper towel to cool. Enjoy!!

The goods!

Mama

- Boliche

- Frijoles Colorado

- Garbanzos

- Congri

- Bacalao

- Black beans

- Mariquitas

- Harina

- Tamales

- Ajiaco

- Chicharrones

- Arroz con pollo

- Pollo en casuela

- Pernelle asado

- Chicken fricase

- Ropa Vieja

- Vaca frita

- Arroz con Leche

- Dulce de leche

Mima

- Chicharro

- Black Beans

- Croquettas

- Papitas

- Tamale en casuela

- Friturita de bacalao

- Friturita de malanga

- Caldo Gallego

- Picadillo

- Rabo Encendido

- Arroz con salchichas

- Yucca

- Trigo

- Bunuelos

- Flan

- Bread pudding

- Merengues

- Natilla

- Famous peanut butter shakes

** pardon the spelling infractions, I am sure there are many!

I am sure I am missing things so this list will no doubt be updated!

The beginning!

Welcome to my pet project for this summer! My Abuelitas Mama and Mima make some of the best food I have ever eaten and I really want to keep the recipes alive and make a cookbook of sorts with some of their very best recipes. Seeing as my Abuelas aren't getting any younger and I am getting married soon (well soon enough anyways) I came up with the idea for this blog a few months ago. I thought it would be selfish to keep all the goodies to myself and so I created this blog to share the recipes and tips with family who would also be interested. I have already gotten the go ahead from Mama and now just need Mima's okay (but how can she say no to me!). Right now I am just making a list of recipes to get so I can start documenting next week. Hopefully for the more difficult recipes I can get some video or pictures of the cooking process. Of course, I plan to make all the recipes and document the final product on this site. While, this isn't the best idea in terms of my diet, I really am excited to document this important piece of my family history. Later tonight, I hope to put the first list of recipes to make, but I know I will be missing things so please send me any special requests. :)

Without further ado, the stars of the show;

Abuela Elsa aka "Mima"

Abuela Marina aka "Mama"