Rabo de Toro a la Cordobesa (Cordoba style Oxtail)

  At my house when we cook oxtails it's a HUGE DEAL, my grandma, mom, dad, me, and little sister ALWAYS have to be present to cook this, we have to make sure everyone is at the house for dinner that day. Why? Well because it's our favorite cut of meat, it's rich, flavorful,moist, tender and produces a sauce that is out of this world.


     There are three ways we prepare oxtails in my family, one is in a type of Mexican soup we call "Caldo de Cola" which is simply the Mexican "Cocido de Res" (beef soup with a tons of vegetables) prepared with oxtails, the other is "Rabo Encendido Estilo Chino Cubano" it's one of my grandmother's creations I guess, it's braised in soy sauce & wine but with Cuban spices and sofrito....

    BUT and it's a BIG BUT lastly the way we ALMOST ALWAYS prepare it, for us the most delicious and favorite way is well the typical Cuban-Spanish "Rabo Encendido" in which the oxtails are browned and stewed in a Spanish/ creole tomato based sauce, that's almost always our go to recipe my grandmother taught me and my mother, but today I wanted something a little different (and honestly it's not so different that's why huge emphasis on "a little" I decided to prepare it "Cordoba" style, Cordoba is a city in Andalusia, Spain, it's practically the same as my grandmother's recipe, except the spice combination is a little different instead of using "cumin" it's replaced with sweet smoked spanish paprika & has the addition of cloves & saffron which is a nice little twist :)

Ingredients:
-4 1/2 lbs. oxtails (washed and rinsed twice, drain and pat dry with paper towels)

-extra-virgin olive oil (as needed to cook/ sautee the aromatics/ vegetables)
-4 carrots, peeled and cut into rounds
-2 onions finely chopped
-1 green bell pepper chopped
-1 red bell pepper chopped
-1 yellow bell pepper chopped
-8- 12 head of garlic minced
-4 large ripe tomatoes or 8 oz. of a thick prepared tomato sauce or 16 oz. of a regular one

-3 bay leaves
-1 tablespoon "Pimenton de la Vera" (sweet SMOKED Spanish paprika)
-8 cloves (I grind them to a powder to not risk anyone biting into one)
-1 tsp ground black pepper 

-SALT to taste (atleast 1 1/2 tsp.)


Optional Ingredients:
-1 teaspoon saffron or other coloring powder (turmeric would work here goes well with smoked paprika, in Spain they have a powder called "Colorante Alimentario" it's an edible coloring powder, Cubans use one called "Bijol" made of ground annato seeds, or packets of Goya's "Sazon" with saffron or achiote, your choice, if you leave it out it's not a big deal)
-6 potatoes (peeled cut into large chunks)

Directions:
(1) Heat a large deep pot over very very high heat, when it's real hot, to test it splash some water if the water turns to little pearls and bounces around before evaporating it's ready. Add your oxtail you'll hear a thundering sound sort of and a grilled smoked smell, stir oxtails occasionally and allow to brown all over (DO NOT ADD OIL) the oxtails will render some fat, this will take anywhere from 5- 10 minutes maybe longer.

(2) This creates a wonderful "fond" for de-glazing on the bottom of the pan and will add a smokey, meaty flavor. Now lower your heat, remove oxtials and set aside, in the same pan add carrots, onions, bell eppers, and garlic cook down for 5- 8 minutes until translucent scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.

(3) Add your tomato sauce, 3 bay leaves, and spices (smoked paprika, cloves, and pepper) stir about 3 minutes to reduce. Add your red wine, and allow to reduce by half (the wine unlocks some flavor in the tomato that's only soluble in alcohol)

(4) Now add your oxtails and stir/ coat everything well together. Add enough water to BARELY cover oxtails, bring to a rolling boil over high heat,

cover, and reduce heat to medium low to low. Allow to simmer covered 3-4 hours. After 3 hours check for tenderness if you want it more tender cook longer.

(5) Once tender to your liking, add saffron if your using and potatoes, allow to cook an additional 30- 40 minutes until potatoes are tender and flavors meld. (add more water as needed this stew is NOT a soup, so make sure the sauce is not too thin)

(6) Serve with steamed white rice, a salad, and any other sides you may like :)

Frijoles con Chile Guajillo (Pinto Beans with dried Guajillo peppers)

Beans and other type of legumes are a staple in my house along with rice (a day doesn't go by that I haven't eaten some type of bean dish and rice and I am damn proud of it because they are so healthy and good for you! Yup yup ;)

All three of my culinary backgrounds use beans in some way (from my Mexican side the humble pot of simple pot of boiled pinto beans, my Spanish and Cuban side the rich varied bean stews made with meats, sausages, and vegetables, or the Cuban staple of rice and black beans so yeah can't really avoid them hehe.

Anyways in Mexican Cuisine one of the staples is boiled pinto beans (usually just boiled with a few pieces of garlic, onion then salt to taste) however my friend Simon who's family is originally from Guadalajara, Mexico prepares the beans by boiling them with dried Guajillo peppers and a whole head of garlic. The guajillo peppers gives them a nice smokey earthy taste, and the whole head of garlic well the delicious flavor of garlic most are familiar with :) Thank Simon and his sister Liz for teaching me yet another way of enjoying beans :D


Ingredients:
-1 lbs. dried pinto beans, or peruano beans, or flor de mayo beans
-4 dried chile guajillos (stem removed and seeds shaken out) or you can substitute with dried "Chile Nuevo Mexico" or "Chile California"
-1 whole head garlic
-salt to taste (I use about 1 1/2 teaspoons or more to taste)

Directions:
(1) Put all ingredients EXCEPT the salt in pot (do not put the salt until the beans are tender because they will never be as tender as they should), cover with enough water to submerge them 2-3 inches in water.

 (2) Bring beans to a boil using high heat, then when they come to a rolling boil, cover and turn heat down to medium low. When beans are tender and salt to taste allow to boil an additional 5-10 minutes. Then turn off heat & discard/ throw away the chilies and onion (their flavor has already infused into the beans)

PLEASE NOTE:
(1) Don't get any bright ideas and puree the garlic after boiled and strain it into teh stock, the garlic boiled whole gives a nice mild taste, but if pureed and added back HELL NO! it'll be tooooo overpowering.

(2) My mother likes to throw away the garlic after it's boiled in there and the beans are done, but she blends the dried peppers and strains them back into the beans, it's her twist on my friends recipe and I love the taste it get's that way :)

Aliño de Teresita

What I present today is not a recipe for a side dish, or main course of anything like that, it's a condiment used to cook other food, and as a short cut in a lot of other recipes. Before I begin here's the background story :)

Teresita is a 92 year old lady that my mom is a care provider for. She is originally from Columbia, one of my mother's jobs is to cook for her and my since my mother has a love for the kitchen and learning new things, she was very quick to ask Teresita what she likes to eat, and how to recreate it.

One of the things essential in Teresitas kitchen is what she calls "Aliño", in her kitchen it's a very strong condiment  essentially a bunch of aromatics, herbs, as well as umami packing ingredients mixed together, simmered in generous olive oil, then bottled. used to flavor & cook other dishes, from stews, soups, sautee's, mixed into meatloafs, meat balls, etc. simply a tablespoon mixed into rice for flavor, or tossing shredded meats, steamed veggies etc. it's used as a base.

Ingredients:
-2 bell peppers (red or green) finely chopped
-1 large onion finely chopped
-8 scallions (washed, split in half, and then finely chopped)
-20 roma tomatoes chopped
-1 head of garlic minced
-1 large bunch of cilantro chopped 
-1/3 cup dried oregano
-1/3 cup dried thyme
-1/4 cup soy sauce
-3 tablespoons lemon pepper
-3 packets of "Sazon Goya Con Azafran" or "Sazon Goya Culantro Con Achiote" (maybe not everyone can get ahold of these, I would substitute it for ground achiote/ annatto seeds like 2 tablespoons, saffron, or maybe 1 tablespoon turmeric)
-salt to taste (use atleast 2 teaspoons)
-1 1/2 cups of a good quality extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:
(1) Mix all ingredients in a large pot or deep-pan (yes you heard right just throw EVERYTHING in the ingredient list in a pot or pan)

(2) Put it on the stove, mix well together with a spoon, and put on high heat, the tomato will start releasing it's juices, lower to medium high and allow mixture to cook for 10- 15 minutes.

(3) Allow to cool, and store in clean glass jars or containers, when fully cooled seal, and store in fridge (it can last up to 1 weeks in the fridge) if you want to store longer it can last for several months in the freezer. This recipe made about 4 jars, we store 2 in the fridge and 2 in the freezer.My family can go through a batch like this in like less than 2 weeks or so but it's because we are 4 people, and usually have guests and such, so we cook a lot :)

PLEASE NOTE
-In the future I will share some recipes using this condiment :) in the mean time if you decide to make it, feel free to be creative with it.
 -ALSO this is not meant to be eatin on it's on, or by the spoonfuls, it has a very strong flavor, and can be somewhat salty. So do not use it as a vegetable side or to eat on it's own.
-I don't have any specific recipes like I said before posted yet to share using this condiment but just some really brief uses you can: (1) Steam any vegetables and add a couple spoonfuls of it and toss them in that for flavoring, with maybe more salt to taste. (2) When you make a chicken soup, you can remove the chicken, shredd it, and toss it in some of this condiment, serve with rice, and the soup on the side. (3) Any meat can be boiled with just onion, garlic, oregano, then removed, shredded and tossed in some of the condiment (4) Mix about 1/2 cup of the mixture into 1 lbs or ground meat, 2 eggs, and fry the mixture like patties. etc. you guys get it :)
-Been using this condiment lately since I been pretty busy with school and it makes a lot of stuff quick to put together.