Salmon a la Vizcaina (Salmon in Vizcaina Sauce)

I got the idea to make this from one of my readers whom calls himself "Mamey" (his name is Omar) he was kind enough to comment my "Boniatillo" and share a recipe he made of Salmon in a Vizcaina type sauce. It sounded delicious, he pan-fried the salmon and added it to a delicous tomato based sauce served over sliced "Boniato" (a type of white sweet potato).

So today I made it, I kind of just followed my instincts and tried to imagine how it was done, and made the type of sauce my grandmother would use for "Bacalao a la Vizcaina" and just replaced the Bacalao with a well seasoned, pan-fried salmon it was wonderful try it you won't regret.

Oh I forgot I had a wonderful Boniato in my kitchen but half of it spoiled as I forgot about it and it was a couple weeks old (ooops) so I used regular brown potatoes instead.

Ingredients for Salmon:
-1 1/2 pounds salmon filets cut into medium large serving pieces
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1 teaspoon paprika (sweet smoked I like)
-1 teaspoon ground black pepper
-1 teaspoon of sea salt (more or less to taste)
-4 cloves of fresh garlic mashed to a paste (more to taste)
Ingredients for Sauce:
-1 small green bell pepper finely minced
-1 small red bell pepper finely minced
-1 medium onion cut into thin rings
-5-6 cloves garlic mashed to a paste (garlic press or mortar and pestle)
-1 cup crushed tomatoes
-1 cup tomato sauce
-1/2 cup dry white wine
-1 cup water
-2 bay leaves
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
-sea salt to taste

Ingredients for "bed":
-2 large Boniatos (white sweet potatoes) or in it's place substitute it for 4 potatoes (boiled, peeled, cut into thin rounds)
Directions:
(1)In a mortar mash garlic to a paste with sea salt, cumin, paprika, and pepper. Rub it all over the fish filets.

(2)Heat some olive oil on medium high in a pan, brown the salmon filets on both sides. Set aside.

(3)In the same pan let's start making the sauce, sautee onions and minced bell peppers for 5 minutes, add garlic sautee another 2 minutes, add cumin, oregano, bay leaf sautee 1 minute, now add crushed tomato, stir until it mixes well and higher heat, now add tomato sauce, stir and bring to boil, add 1 cup water, and 1/2 cup dry white wine, sea salt to taste bring to a boil and and simmer on medium low for atleast 10 minutes.

(4)Add salmon filets in carefully along with drippings, in a big dish make a bed with peeled sliced into thin rounds potatoes or boniatos and carefully place the salmon filets in the sauce over this bed with the rest of the sauce.

(5)Served it with rice and a wonderful salad my mom made marinaded in white wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic and salt. (It was delicious it has orange cauliflower, broccoflower, red onion, aspuragus, and minced cilantro)

"Mamey" (aka Omar) served it with "Harina de Maiz" (Polenta I'm assuming it was simply cornmeal, salted, and boiled with water but even though it sounds simple it goes well with most stuff atleast these types of food, I would've made it but I was tired and had leftover cold rice which I decided to make a "Garlic Fried Rice" with which was simply rice sauteed with minced garlic and salt I learned it from a Filipino friend, simple and delicious), and a watercress, tomato, avocado salad (I think)

NOTE:
-You can skip the whole "bed of potatoes" and or "boniato" and simply throw the over the salmon and sauce. Or you can while making the sauce when you cover it to boil let it cook 15- 20 minutes with chunks of potatoes or boniato and then when done you add the salmon in for a more "home-style" approach I guess.

-Some other time I will show my families way of preparing the "Bacalao" (salted dry cod) with this sauce.

-Don't worry if you don't have sea salt just use regular salt it will still be good.

Frituritas de Camote (Sweet Potato Fritters)

This is not a traditional "Cuban" recipe, but my grandmother makes these beautiful tasty sinful fritters made of "Sweet Potato" I think this would make a nice addition to a "Thanksgiving" meal here in America (or Canada)

Main Ingredients:
-3 medium fat sweet potatoes
-2 large eggs
-1/2 cup white flour
-1 tablespoon baking powder
-sugar to taste (also optional but see note below)
-1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (optional)
-oil to deep fry
Directions:
(1)Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees, get sweet potatoes and lightly rub them with oil, put in a baking dish uncovered to bake about 40 minutes- 1 hour.

(2)Let cool, peel and mash to a paste (don't be picky just mash it it doesn't have to be super smooth or anything)


(3)Add beaten eggs, flour, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar to taste. Mix batter it should be a thick batter than you can scoop and it can sorta hold it shape like "gloppy"

(4)Let batter rest for 1 hour. Now heat oil on medium high heat enough to pan-fry/ deep-fry. When ready drop the batter by the spoonfuls and and brown on each side, set aside on a plate with paper towels.


NOTE!:
If you wish you can skip the cinnamon and sugar BUT you will need to make a heavy syrup to drizzle over the fritters when they are done. My grandmother for this makes a syrup with equal dark brown sugar to water with 1 cinnamon stick to flavor it. She brings it to a boil, when it reaches desired consistency it's ready to use.

ALSO do not try to steam or boil it to make the batter, it will make the batter to loose and watery, the reason the sweet potatoes are baked uncovered is so that they release a lot of their liquid and are nice and starchy for the batter.

LASTLY VERY IMPORTANT don't try to be healthy and make these " sugar free" or any of that may I say "crap" or they'll taste NASTY, if you wanna do that just steam, bake, or boil the sweet potato and eat it by itself :)

Ensalada de Papa (My Grandmas Potato Salad)

My grandmother from my fathers side (Spanish/ Cuban) whom I call "Tata" makes a wonderful potato salad. It has very Spanish flavors she dresses it in a "Alioli" a type of garlic mayonnaise popular in Spain (don't worry you won't have to make it from scratch she never did and I'm keeping this recipe true to how she made it) and some Spanish or Black olives which is what makes it special.

In my household this use to be prepared once a week and everyone loved it, I hope you love it just as much to, though I must warn you if you dislike garlic and olives you won't like this one.

Main Ingredients:
-10 medium russet potatoes
-4 hard boiled eggs
-1 red onion finely minced
-4 celery stalks julienned then finely minced
-1 bunch of parsley or cilantro washed, and very finely minced
-1/2-1 cup Spanish Pimiento stuffed olives or Black Olives sliced (whatever you have on hand)
Ingredients for dressing (alioli)
-2 cups prepared regular premium Mayonnaise
-4 cloves garlic
-1 teaspoon salt
-1 tablespoon white vinegar
Directions for alioli:
(1)Mash garlic to a paste with salt in a mortar and pestle, in a medium bowl add mayonnaise, whisk garlic paste well into the mayonnaise with a fork, add tablespoon of white vinegar and whisk in, your done, there's your short cut for alioli.

Directions:
(1)Boil the potatoes until a fork or knife can go through them, when cooled, peel them by hand, cube them into medium sized chunks (your choice what size you want it) set aside.

(2)Meanwhile also boil the eggs until "hard boiled" run through cold water and carefully peel. Cut into cubes (by halving egg, then halving those halves and cutting those halves into 3 sections) set aside.

(3)Now get your potatoes, toss them with minced onion, parsley, celery, and sliced olives.

(4)Add the dressing, toss well, now gently fold in eggs. (You add them last so you don't crush them). Now your done, serve cold.



(5)In my house we serve it as we would any salad, or sometimes we will serve that, a cold leafy salad, some grilled meats, some homemade chilled fruit drinks and simple desserts (usually fruits in syrup paired with cream cheese, or custards)

NOTE:
(1)Feel free to make your own alioli from scratch, no need to for this, I learned to make one from scratch from Nikki's blog "Canary Girl" which I served her alioli with "Churros de Pescados" (she has the recipe on her blog I made a slightly adjusted version because I used "Bijol instead of saffron)

(2)In Spain they make a salad similar to this they call "Ensaladilla Rusa" which is similar but not really because "Ensaladilla Rusa" has tuna packed in olive oil drained added to it.