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.

Olla de Carne

Olla de Carne translates to "pot of meat" but I feel like there wasn't a lot of actual meat in this recipe. The recipe called for two pounds of beef and roughly four and a half pounds of vegetables. It reminded me of Caldo de Res, which is Mexican beef stew, but with more root veggies.

This was by far the easiest meal I've prepared so far. It was also one of the most boring.

Ingredients

I forgot to take a pic of the ingredients, which was probably the most interesting part.

8 cups water

1 lbs lean beef, cut into 3-4 in pieces

1 lbs lean beef short ribs, cut into 3-4 in pieces

1 cup diced potato

1 lb cassava, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces. Cassava is also known as yucca.

1 lb carrots, chopped

5 corn on the cobs, cut into 3 in pieces

1 lb taro root, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces. I couldn't find taro root so I excluded it.

1 lb sweet potato, cut into bite sized pieces

3 green plantains, peeled and cut into 3 in pieces.

S&P to taste

Heat the water and add salt and beef; cook for 20 minutes. Add carrots, corn, plantains, and cassava. Wait 5 minutes and add the potato, taro, and sweet potatoes. Cook for another 25 minutes until veggies are tender. Serve with white rice.

It even looks boring.

There was just no flavor! If I had to do it again, I would add some kind of seasoning because it was just boiled meat and potatoes, Boiled meat and potatoes is not interesting. It was filling but that's because you were eating like a pound of starch. James liked it a lot and the girls really liked the corn but that's about it. Maybe I just got a bad recipe but the one I used came from costarica.com. I'm pretty sure that's legit.

Maybe I should have thrown in some cilantro...

Arroz con Pollo

This week we are becoming honorary Ticos, an honor I have bestowed upon us by eating Costa Rican food. I'm pretty sure that's how you become an honorary citizen of a country. I don't need a government to recognize me, all I have to do is eat the food. Lawyered.

By the way, I'm very well aware that's not how it works. Just in case you were wondering if I'm that dense, I'm not.

Costa Rica holds a special place in our cold, dark hearts because it's where we went for our honeymoon six years ago. Six years ago we spent ten wonderful, HOT days in Costa Rica while the rest of Austin froze in a dumb winter storm. Austin was literally frozen and we were sitting on a beach, drinking alcohol out of fruit. It was the best!

When I think back on that trip, this is what comes to mind.

This was taken in Montezuma, a small village known for its artistic community. We were at a restaurant on the beach, eating paella and befriending locals. I want to go to there.

From what I remember about Tico food, it wasn't overly complicated but still extremely flavorful. My two favorite things! I was running short on time yesterday so I chose the easiest recipe I could find, Arroz con Pollo, which is Chicken with Rice.

Ingredients

For the chicken

Whole chicken. So this was a pain. Up until last night, I had never chopped up an entire chicken. Last time I was back home, I watched as my aunt cut one up in like two minutes and was in awe at her skills. It did not take me two minutes. I also had to watch a video to learn. Save yourself the time and buy the flippin pieces separately or just use some breast meat.

 2 tbsps veggie oil

1 celery stalk

2 garlic cloves

Oregano, cumin, and S&P to taste

Heat up the oil and cut up the chicken. Place all the ingredients in a pot and fry until until the chicken is golden brown. You'll want to move the chicken around a few times. I ended up pouring in a cup of veggie broth so I could cover it and do other things. I fried it for maybe ten minutes and then boiled it for another twenty.

For the rice

The recipe called for 1 lb of white rice. I used a cup and a half.

2 tbsps veggie oil

2 carrots, thinly sliced

1 tsp annatto. I read online that annato isn't used so much for flavor as it is for color and it was suggested that paprika or tumeric would be a good substitute. I used paprika.

Salt to taste

1 15 oz of peas, drained.

Heat the oil and then fry the rice until almost brown. Add the carrots and salt. If using the pound of rice, add 1 1/4 quart water. If using 1 1/2 cups like me, add 3 cups water. Bring to a boil and then cover. Lower the heat and simmer until the rice is done. Do not mess the rice while it's cooking.  Just don't do it. Once it's done, turn off the heat and let it sit for ten minutes.

For the sauce

1/2 cup onion, finely chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped

2 tbsps cilantro, finely chopped

1 tomato, diced

2 tsps Salsa Lizano. I didn't have this but I read that Worcestershire sauce is a good substitute so I used that.

1 15 oz can of tomato paste

Heat the oil and saute the onion, bell pepper, tomato, Lizano sauce, and salt. Add in the tomato paste and heat through.

Combine the chicken and sauce on low heat for two minutes. Stir in the rice and peas and cover for five minutes.

What this recipe failed to mention, but what pictures of Arroz con Pollo show, is that you're supposed to shred the meat. I didn't do that because I just learned that today.

D for presentation but A+ for taste! It was slightly reminiscent of the Arroz con Chancho from a couple of weeks back but not as rich. I was surprised by how juicy and tender the breast was because it takes a lot to get chicken breast to be juicy. The baby loved it but the three year old almost died when I gave her a spoonful of rice. She choose Goldfish crackers instead.

This is the second week I'm using an online recipe instead of a cookbook and I have to say, I prefer cookbooks. I feel like the online recipes are kinda rushed and I get it, you get tired of being so thorough when you've been typing for a while, but I wouldn't mind a bit more detail. It doesn't seem to be hurting my cooking so maybe that's just my Type A personality coming out.

Anyway, I'm excited about Costa Rica week. I need some alcohol in fruit!