Oswald Rivera

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Author: Oswald Rivera (page 12 of 83)

SPINACH OMELET

November 2, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This is just your basic Spinach Omelet recipe. No cheese, no cream,  no ham, nothing from what is known as the French Canon (in terms of Continental cooking). Pair it with a crusty loaf of bread, some good light red wine (like a Beaujolais, Gamay or Bardolino), and it makes for a great brunch or dinner.

Note that you can use fresh spinach, if desired. This time around we couldn’t find it fresh, so we went with frozen and it was just as good.

SPINACH OMELET

Ingredients:

1 package (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 medium tomato, washed and chopped
1 tablespoon fresh minced parsley
4 eggs lightly beaten
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

  1. Cook spinach  in a medium-sized pan per package instructions.. Drain well, add 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, garlic, tomato and parsley. Heat, stirring constantly, over medium heat for 5 minutes.
  2.  Add eggs, salt and pepper, Stir to combine.
  3.  Heat, to a sizzling point, the reaming 3 tablespoons olive oil in a 9-inch skillet or frypan (we prefer cast iron, but a nonstick pan will do). Pour in omelet mixture, spreading evenly.
  4.  Cook, covered, over medium heat for 10 minutes. Mixture should be fairly firm when done.
  5.  While omelet is cooking, heat broiler. Place skillet under broiler for 1-2 minutes to set top of omelet. Cut into wedges and serve
    Yield: 4 servings.

BAKED CLAM DISH

October 31, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I like clams in any iteration I can find. This recipe is one of the simplest. It’s just minced clams mixed with milk, egg, butter; and baked with bread crumbs on top. Nothing could be easier. With a crusty loaf of bread, it hits the spot.

Note that the recipe is for 2 servings. You can double the quantity for 4 or more servings.

BAKED CLAM DISH

Ingredients:

1 cup warm milk
¼  cup butter
1 beaten egg
2 (6.5 oz.) minced clams
Shake of Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
¼ cup bread crumbs.

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2.  In a bowl, mix milk with butter and beaten egg.
  3.  Stir in other ingredients (except bread crumbs). Transfer to a baking dish or pan (we prefer cast iron), top with bread crumbs and bake for 30 minutes.
    Yield: 2 servings.

 

 

SYRIAN RICE

October 18, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This is a Syrian Rice recipe that I got from an acquaintance years ago. At the time, though I  was familiar with rice and all  its variations, be it steamed rice, Spanish yellow rice, fried rice, risotto, you name it, Syrian rice was something new to me. Then I discovered that in the Middle East rice is a common staple. Syrian rice uses Syrian noodles or Ma’ccarona, which you can find in any Middle Eastern store. You can also substitute angel hair pasta. I’ve also discovered that there is a Lebanese version which uses vermicelli.

This is a quick and easy dish to prepare. All you need is the noodles, rice (long grain is preferred) and butter) add a little salt and that’s it. Traditionally this rice is paired with lamb; but you can serve it with your favorite roast, steak or chicken dish or, as vegetarian meal in  itself (with some assorted vegetables).

SYRIAN RICE

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
1 cup Syrian noodles (can use vermicelli or angel hair), broken up into small pieces
¼ cup butter
Salt to taste
Water or chickens broth

Instructions:

  1. Wash rice under cold running water (in a sieve) until water runs clear.
  2.  Soak rice for 15 minutes in hot water.
  3.  In a pan or pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add noodles and cook, stirring constantly until pasta is light brown but NOT burned. If you burn it you’ll have to start over.
  4.  Stir in rice and cook for about 4 minutes.
  5.  Add water(or broth) and salt. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer on low heat until water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Turn off heat and let rice rest for an additional 15 minutes, then fluff it with a fork and serve.
    Yield: 4 servings.

MEAT/RICE BALLS IN SAUCE

October 11, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This is a unique meatball recipe that combines beef (or ground pork, turkey or chicken) with rice. You simply combine the meat with the rice, form it into meatballs and fry in a tomato sauce. It’s a quick and delicious no-frills meal.

MEAT/RICE BALLS IN SAUCE

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
½ cup raw rice
¼ cup chopped onion
Salt and ground black pepper to  taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 (8-oz.) cans tomato sauce
1 cup water
2 cloves garlic, peeled nd minced
¾ teaspoon dried oregano

Instructions:

  1. In a bowl, mix beef, onions, salt and pepper. Form into small balls
  2. Heat oil in a skillet or fry pan over medium-high heat. Add meat/rice balls and fry, turning frequently until light brown but not crusty on all sides.
  3. Add sauce, water, garlic and oregano. Mix well. Cover and simmer on low heat about 45 minutes.
    Yield: 4 servings.

HERBED SHRIMP

October 6, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I like to eat shrimp plain, unadorned, with no fancy sauce or ingredients; and the following recipe fits that bill. This is the way we prefer to prepare shrimp in our family. Normally, we serve the dish with rice. This time around we paired it with another Nuyorican favorite, tostones (fried green plantains). For a good recipe on how  to make tostones, see my post of 10/1016. It’s really easy to prepare these things, just like with this shrimp dish. As we say in our vernacular, disfrute (enjoy).

HERBED SHRIMP

Ingredients:

2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
¾ cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:

  1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
  2. Add shrimp and cook, stirring frequently, until opaque throughout, about 4 minutes.
  3. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute more.
  4. Season with salt, and pepper.  Stir in paprika and red wine vinegar.
  5.  Top with fresh parsley and serve.
    Yield: 6-8 servings.

BROCCOLI IN A LEMON-BUTTER SAUCE

October 3, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This is a great vegetarian dinner for any occasion. It’s full of flavor and healthy ingredients, a wonderful combination. As noted, all you need is fresh broccoli, a little bit of flour, butter, olive oil, onion, garlic and, as a  final touch, capers. Can’t get better than that. This time around, we served the dish over Spanish yellow rice. You Can also pair it with pasta or your favorite grain. You can’t go wrong with this one.

BORCCOLI  IN A LEMON-BUTTER SAUCE

Ingredients:

1 large head of broccoli, about 1 ¼ pounds
Flour
½ stick butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, peeled and cut into thin rounds
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
Salt (optional)
Ground black pepper to taste
Juice from one lemon
1 teaspoon capers
1¼ cup water

Instructions:

  1. Wash broccoli under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Cut florets into medium florets and chop stems into small pieces. Sprinkle lightly with flour
  2. Heat butter and olive oil in skillet or sauce pan over medium heat. Add broccoli and onion, and stir-fry until onion is soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Season with salt (optional) and pepper. Note that the next ingredient, lemon juice, is sometimes used as a substitute for salt. That’s why the salt is optional. If desired you can sprinkle a dash of salt over the broccoli or leave as is if you want the dish less salty.
  3. Stir in lemon juice and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
  4. Add water and stir until the liquid is thickened to your liking. Some like it very thick, some do not. Your choice. Stir in capers and cook until heated, about 2 minutes. Serve over rice, pasta or favorite grain (i.e. couscous, quinoa or farro).
    Yield: 4-6 servings.

PORK CHOPS WITH OLIVE SPREAD MIX

September 28, 2023 / / 0 Comments

In a prior posting of 08/29/23, I gave a recipe for Fettuccini with Olive Spread, Tomatoes and Zucchini. The recipe given today is a variation on the same theme of using an olive spread. Usually I prefer a Kalamata spread, which can be found in most supermarkets these days, or you can get a combination of olives and capers known as a ‘tapenade.’ The same principle applies except, this time, it’s with pork chops. Simply season the pork chops with salt and pepper then coat with a mix of olive spread, Dijon mustard and parsley. Then you broil the thing—and that’s it. A simple, nutritious dish that will have everyone clamoring for more. Serve  with your favorite vegetable and/or side dish, and you have a winner.

PORK CHOPS WITH  OLIVE SPREAD MIX

Ingredients:

4 pork chops (bone-in or boneless), ¾-inch thick, 6-8 ounces each
½ cup olive spread
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh parsley
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

  1. Hear broiler to high with rack in top position.
  2. Rinse pork chops and pat dry with paper towels.
  3. In a small bowl, combine olive spread, mustard and parsley. Lightly season pork chops with salt and pepper, and coat with olive spread mix.
  4.  Place in a greased baking dish or pan and broil until browned and cook through, about 6 minutes, flipping once during broiling.
    Yield: 4 servings

 

 

CHICKEN QUARTERS WITH BUTTER-VINEGAR DRESSING

September 22, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This is one of those recipes that I’ve created where terminology is left up to the individual. I call it Chicken Quarters with Butter-Vinegar Dressing. The dressing part is simple, just a mix of butter, cayenne pepper and red wine vinegar in which to coat the chicken. The chicken part is more complex. There are chicken thighs, chicken breasts and chicken drumsticks. We all know what they look like. But in my family, back on the block, we loved cooking chicken quarters. To us that was the part of the chicken that entail the drumstick and part of the chicken breast to which it was connected. What we did was cut these quarters from the chicken and cook them in various ways. Our favorite was having it baked and then sauced in the butter-vinegar mix. Yes, you can cook any chicken parts this way, but we enjoyed most the chicken quarters. Two chicken quarters can feed 4 people or, for big eaters, you can have four individual quarters. Now, as then, it’s an easy recipe to prepare with minimal ingredients and a taste that is scrumptious.

CHICKEN QUARTERS WITH BUTTER-VINEGAR DRESSING

Ingredients:

Chicken quarters as described above
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and black pepper to taste
3 tablespoons butter
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Instructions:

  1. Wash chicken quarters under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels.
  2. Place chicken in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and season thoroughly with  garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Let rest for 15 minutes for flavors to develop.
  3.  Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place chicken skin side up in a baking dish or pan. Cook 15 minutes. Then turn over and cook another 15 minutes or until chicken is golden and crisp.
  4.  In a small pot or pan, melt butter with cayenned pepper over medium heat. Whisk in vinegar and remove from heat. Drizzle chicken with butter-vinegar dressing and serve.
    Yield: 2-4 servings, depending on the diner’s appetite and how many chicken pieces you cook.

WHITE BEANS WITH SPINACH

August 31, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This is a marvelous vegetarian dinner that came about through sheer coincidence and necessity. Friends of ours gave us a whole bunch of fresh grown carrots. Some we cooked with maple syrup. And that was a good dish; but we still had a lot of carrots left. So, the idea came about: why not cook them with beans? In this case, white beans, which we keep in stock. Let me add, this dish was prepared with said dried beans. I guess you could do it with canned beans and, yes, it wouldn’t be as time consuming. But the natural taste would not be there. In the Rivera family, we still like beans made from scratch. You could call it a Nuyorican thing.

Now, cooking dried beans takes patience. The cooking time will depend on the size and type of bean. On the internet, it states that you can prepare white beans in 20-30 minutes.  In practice, this is not so. Beans take time to cook. It can be anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour or longer. The beans must be cooked till they are tender but not mushy. You  just have to keep on testing them until done. Vegetable, like carrots, take less time. What we did was cook the beans for 45 minutes. If, perchance, the beans are still too crunchy for your taste, then cook them  longer. Finally, we added the carrots and cook for 15 minutes more. Again, it may take longer, depending upon how tender you want the beans and/or the carrots. Just use common sense.

For seasoning of this dish, we stir-fried onions and garlic in olive oil. Then added salt, pepper, and oregano. Then we added the carrots to the beans with some tomato paste for more flavor. That’s it. Yes, it’s not a quicky meal. But the results, despite the time invested, will be heavenly. In Puerto Rican cuisine the usual partner to beans is rice. This time around we combined the beans with Spanish yellow rice, and it was perfect. In fact, you can also combine the beans with pasta, say spaghetti or linguini, and you’ll have a new take on pasta fazool.

WHITE BEANS WITH CARROTS

Ingredients:

1 cup dried white beans (cannellini or great northern)
2 cups carrots, peeled and cut into diagonal 1/4-inch thick pieces
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced into rings
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon fresh chopped oregano or ½ teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon tomato paste

Instructions:

  1. Rinse the dried beans in water and put them in a large bowl. Cover with water by at least 2 inches and leave to soak overnight.
  2. Drain and rinse the beans and put them into a pot with a heavy lid. Add just enough cold water to cover them. Bring the beans to a boil,  cover and simmer them gently for 45 minutes or until the beans are tender. The cooking time will depend on the size and age of the beans.
  3. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a skillet or frypan. Add onions and cook  until soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes more. Season with salt, pepper and oregano. Add to beans in pot along with the carrots. Cover and cook 15 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook about 2 minutes more. Serve over rice.
    Yield: 4-6 servings.

 

FETUCCINI WITH OLIVE SPREAD,TOMATOES AND ZUCCHINI

August 29, 2023 / / 0 Comments

One of my favorite meals is pasta with olive spread and assorted vegetables. In most cases, I prefer Kalamata olive spread, which you can find in the supermarket aisles with all the jarred olives, peppers and pickles; or in the refrigerated section. Some folks prefer green or black olive spread, or tapenade, a blend of black and green olives. Choose what your palate dictates. In terms of pasta, this time around we went with fettuccini, what I term a “hearty-man pasta,” just like bucatini or perciatelli. I like big, thick stringed pasta. If desired, you can substitute linguini or spaghetti. For the vegetables, I added two summer favorites: tomatoes and zucchini.

Ingredients:

1 pound package fettuccini
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for serving.
¾ pounds cherry tomatoes, halved
3 medium zucchini or 2 large ones
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons Kalamata spread
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
¾ cup feta cheese crumbled (about 1½ ounces)
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Instructions: 

  1. Cook pasta according to package directions, and drain.
  2. In same pot that you cooked pasta, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add tomatoes and zucchini, and cook, starring, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes,
  3.  Return pasta to pot. Stir in Kalamata spread and cook until heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among 4 large bowls, drizzle with additional olive oil, sprinkle with parsley and feta, and serve.
    Yield: 4 servings.

 

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