Casado

Casado means "married" in Spanish. The story behind this meal is that it was traditionally eaten by newlyweds on their wedding night. Since they hadn't lived together before and didn't know what the other liked, the meal featured a little bit of everything so they could learn what the other did and didn't like. I've also read that it got its name from "marrying" a bunch of different flavors. I like the former explanation because it makes me laugh that people didn't talk about what foods they liked during courtship. I feel like that would be the easiest discussion to have.

"My favorite color is green and my favorite food is fried chicken."

"That's really interesting. I hate fried chicken. Date and possible marriage is over. Bye."

Maybe that's why they didn't talk about likes and dislikes during courtship...

Ingredients

4 pork chops

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 cup beef broth

2 plantains, peeled and sliced

1 small head of lettuce, chopped. I used iceberg.

1 sliced tomato

1 carrot, grated. I didn't do this because I didn't feel like grating a tiny carrot.

Vinaigrette, for salad

3 cups white rice, cooked

3 cups black beans, cooked

4 eggs, fried or hard boiled. I hard boiled 2.

1 cup queso fresco, sliced

Tortillas

Season the chops with salt, pepper, and crushed garlic; set aside. Heat veggie oil in a pan and cook the chops to your liking. Deglaze the pan with beef broth and let it boil. Reduce to 1/3 cup and set aside.

In a separate pan, fry the plantain slices in oil until golden brown.

Prepare the salad by seasoning the tomato and grated carrot with S&P and the vinaigrette. Set aside.

The recipe said to assemble the meal on a banana leaf but I didn't have banana leaves. The portions should all be served side by side.

I was expecting this meal to be really heavy with the fried chops, plantains, and egg but it wasn't. Everything melded together to create a really tasty, filling meal. I prepared the beans by boiling them with a bay leaf and cumin so they were a little more flavorful than usual but I don't think that made a huge difference overall. 

The girls ate everything but the plantains, which isn't surprising. They're not fond of bananas so I wasn't expecting them to be into the plantains.

Another fantastic, easy meal! Also, I'd like to point out that if I married a guy and then found out on our wedding night that he didn't like any of the components of this meal. I'd ask for a divorce.