Calabaza Con Piloncillo (Winter Squash in Cane Sugar Syrup)

Very simple only about 3-4 ingredients. Winter Squash simmered in cane sugar syrup, sweet, warm comforting, and you'll feel less guilty about the sweetness because the squash is healthy ha ha.

Ingredients:
-About 2 pounds winter squash (I used Castilla, Kabucha, Jamaican/ Carribean, or Butternut are good for this)
-1 cup water (no more because the squash releases liquid)
-2 cups dark brown sugar or "unrefined solid cane sugar"
-1-2 stick cinnamon

Directions:
(1)Place water, pumpkin, sugar, and cinnamon stick into pot, bring water to a screaching boil on high heat covered, now lower heat to medium or medium low simmer for 1 hour then go back, stab pumpkin with fork or knife if tender your done, if you want to make syrup thicker (because it's usaully just a very light syrup but you may make it heavier by letting it boil uncovered until it reduces to desired consistency.
(2)Ta-da simple right you can do this with sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin.
P.S. I'm labeling it as Mexican because Mexicans make these types of stuff often during winter months, but so do some Cubans and my grandmother but for navigation purposes I will label it as such.

I've done it in the rice cooker before using sweet potato you can check my post for that here:

Camote Con Piloncillo

Costillas de Cerdo Guisadas Con Patatas (Pork Rib Stew with Potatoes)

This recipe is from a Galician home cook known as "Pilar Lechuza" she has a cooking blog that is dedicated to the home style, traditional, simple Galician cooking. (La Cocina de Lechuza)

As I was surfing through her blog, I found this delicious, colorful Pork Rib Stew with Potatoes, it had great commentary and I realized that is seems to be a favorite among many Spaniards and some have slight variations of it.

It is delicous pork ribs in a very simple sauce flavorful sauce made from the browned ribs, combination of the delicious rendered fat from the ribs used to sautee the aromatics, dry white wine, a fresh grated to a puree tomato, seasoned with paprika, salt, and saffron. Sauce is made richer and thicker with potatoes! YUM, beautiful colors, wondeful smell, rich sauce, delicous meat I loved it.

I did change some things in it only like 2 things, one was that I went heavier on garlic because well I love garlic and so does my family, second I used bijol instead of saffron because I have no good saffron on hand, and I did some of the procedures a little different but almost identical, I went a little bit heavier on paprika because I like it but only a little heavier I used like 1/2 tsp. extra that's all. Umm and I also cut the ribs into smaller segments.

Ingredients:
-3 1/2 pounds pork ribs (I asked the butcher to cut the long ribs in half long way to make smaller ribs that are finger sized, but that's just my preference)
-6 cloves garlic (about 1/2 a head mashed to a paste with teaspoon of salt in a mortar)
-3 tablespoons Extra- Virgin Olive oil
-1 onion chopped
-1 green bell pepper chopped
-1 red bell pepper chopped
-1 carrot chopped
-1 big tomato (grated, to a puree, or you can blend in blender then strain DO NOT USE CANNED PLEASE UNLESS YOU HAVE NO CHOICE)
-1 cup dry white wine
-1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
-1 1/2 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
-saffron to give some more color (I used 1 1/2 teaspoon of "bijol" also called "annato seed powder)
-salt to taste
-3 or 4 potatoes cubed and peeled

Directions:
(1)Wash pork ribs well and clean, add garlic that's been mashed with salt in a mortar and rub all over, now cover well in a bowl or in a zip-lock bag, and let it marinade 1-2 hours.
(2)Now heat large deep pot on high heat for a little bit like 2-4 minutes, lower heat to medium high, add olive oil and add pork ribs in about 2 batches, fry them on each side until browned about 7-8 minutes each side do not move until browned on one side then flip. Again I did it in 2 batches. Now set aside. They will render some fat which will be great for the rest. REMEMBER to make your life easier while the ribs are browning you can chop everything your gonna use for this dish, and have stuff on hand.

(3)Now in same pot add onion, red and green bell peppers, carrot sautee 8-10 minutes until soft, add paprika and saffron (or bijol in my case) lower heat to medium and sautee 1 minute. Now add tomato, let tomato cook about 3-5 minutes. Add dry white wine, stir well bring to bubble on high then lower to medium high let it reduce a couple minutes. Add 1 cup water bring back to boil, add peas.
(4)Season with 1 teaspoon salt more or less to taste REMEMBER meat is already salted. Now add meat back along with any juices it released and peas. Coat well in sauce cover and simmer on medium low for 25-30 minutes. Add cubed potateos afterwards and cook another 10 minutes so potatoes can help thicken sauce. Taste for salt if it may need more now turn of heat. Your done.
(5)Serve with crusty bread or rice. Maybe a raw salad on the side.

"Bacán" (Green Plantain Tamales)

Bacan is the tamal made in Baracoa, Cuba. My grandmother calls them "Tamales del Oriente" because the eastern provinces of Cuba are known as "El Oriente" people from those area's have a different style of cooking and eating. They are more heavely African influenced, and native Taino influenced and influenced also a bit by Haitian cooking due to mass migration from Haiti during the Haitian Revolution. They have a type of flat bread made from Yuca which I have never tried in my life, they use allspice (I read that somewhere) and some things have coconut milk and are just different.

Cooking from Western Cuba is more Spanish influenced, by Catalan and Galician cooking as well as Canary Islands, with small hints of African, Chinese, French, Taino, etc. In it's core it's Spanish Cuisine adopted to use the ingredients available in the Island as well as using imports from Spain.

Atleast that's my opinion.

These Tamales are different from the typical Cuban tamale because the dough is made from green plantains, stuffed with pork, and wrapped in Banana Leaves then boiled. They have a strong perfume like scent, and a flavor that is unique on it's own.

Typical Cuban Tamales are made from a corn based dough, and the pork is mixed into the dough then wrapped in either corn husks or banana leaves.

I adapted this recipe that comes from a book called "Taste of Cuba" I altered it a bit because I found issues with a lot of the procedures, firstly the procedure I changed was the way they prepare the banana leaves because they boil it in water that will make the leaves sort of fall apart and not be to workable. I have made before Salvadorian Tamales that use Banana Leaves, the way to make them workable is to pass them through a flame and they turn maleable and dark green then wipe with a damp cloth. Then the other change was I added cumin to the stuffing because some Cuban things just need cumin. I also changed the measurements.

Ingredients for filling
-1 lbs. pork stew meat washed and chopped into really small pieces
-1/2 green bell pepper minced
-1/2 onion minced
-4 cloves garlic mashed to a paste
-1 tomato (seeded, and skinned then chopped, to do this boil tomato in water 1-2 minutes, then peel, cut in half and scoop out seeds)
-salt to taste
-1 teaspoon ground cumin


Ingredients for dough:
-8 green plantains
-4 cloves garlic mashed to paste
-1/2 tsp. bijol (annato/achiote seed powder)
-salt to taste
-1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
-1 1/2 cups coconut milk
-1 teaspoon- 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lime juice (about 1/2 small lime)

Needed for wrapping:
-1/2 pound banana leaves cut into 7 by 10 rectangle squares 12 pieces and other 12 into 8 by 10 (don't worry to much about exact proportion)
-string to tie them up

Directions for pork:
(1)Heat a pan on high heat till hot, then lower to medium high, add olive oil and heat a bit, then add pork in one layer season with some salt and don't touch until it starts browing and juices evaporate then stir and let it brown some more, about 10 minutes.
(2)Add a little more oil and sautee onion and bell pepper for 5 minutes, then add garlic and sautee 1 minute, add tomato stir well to deglaze and crush tomatoes and cumin with a wooden spoon, cook 5 minutes on medium low, then raise heat again to high to bring to a bubble then stir cover for 10 minutes. Remove from heat the filling is done.

Directions for dough:
(1)Peel green plantains carefully by making incesion with knide straight down then removing peel. Grate in the finest grater, mix with coconut milk, bijol, garlic, salt, and pepper then put in a food processor to get a very smooth dough. Set aside.

For wrapping:
(1)The cut plantain leaves should be through your burner on medium high heat, until it turns a deeper green. IT WILL NOT BURN! TRUST ME! Then set aside and wipe with a damp cloth.
(2)Cut string into long strings use your head. If you don't have string feel free to use aluminum foil to seal them tighter and more "water proof" (I didn't even if my mom insisted)

(3)Lay 2 leaves in shape of cross, add two HEAPING tablespoonsfuls of dough, flatten a bit into round shape, add 1 tablespoon of filling in a roundish line. Fold leaves over to form "rectangular shape" and tie with string.

(4)Add to a pot of boiling water to steam, cover and cook atleast 30 minutes, Drain well and ready to eat!
P.S.
You can also just mix the meat into the plantain dough, so the dough is flecked with pork pieces, you just add the pile of dough and wrap.