Castañeta (Palometa) Frita de Mi Madre (Mom's Fried Golden Pompano)

At home we eat fish occasionally Golden Pompano is one of my favorite fish, it is meaty, sturdy, moist (has enough fat), and best of all doesn't have a lot of bones, most of the bones are large and in the center body not embedded through-out it's flesh.

It is very similar to white Pomfret and Black Pomfret (which are also one of my favorite fish, when I want fish steaks, medallions, rounds, whole fried fish, or a fish that can hold it's own in stewing)

This is how my mother prepares it she simply puts generous salt, pepper, mashed garlic, and lime. Then flours and pan or deep-fries. The results, a slightly crisp exterior, moist interior, and garlicky, flavorful fried fish.

With my wrist broken and unable to cook much, I decided to take pictures of what my mom was cooking and share the recipe :)

Main Ingredients:
-2 Golden Pompano's (cut into steak rounds)
-6-8 cloves garlic, mashed to a paste
-juice of 1 lime or 1/2 lemon (she used a lemon)
-salt to taste (salt generously all over)
-ground black pepper to taste
-flour as needed to coat fish

Ingredients To fry the fish:
-enough oil to deep-fry fish, or almost completely submerge (2-3 cups?)
-3 whole garlic cloves, skin on, slightly bruised

Directions:
(1) Tell your fish market guy to cut it into steaks, wash the fish real well, rinsing in cold water several times and pat-dry, make slits on the steaks skin with a knife about 2 inches apart, sprinkle salt and pepper all over, rub garlic, and lemon or lime juice all over.
(2) Allow to marinade atleast 2 hours or over night
(3) After 2 hours or marinading longer, lightly flour all the fish pieces
Directions to fry:
(1) Heat your oil over medium high heat, add your bruised garlic cloves (this will help your house not smell like a bunch of fish) add your floured fish when hot, in batches fry 5-6 minutes without touching
then turn over and allow to continue frying.
(2) Drain and remove from oil, put on paper towels to drain further or o n whatever you'd like
(3) Do the same with the second batch :) When done it should look like this. We ate it with rice and salad :D
PLEASE NOTE:
(1) Notice the fish is a golden reddish, my mom used an oil she had previously infused with sweet smoked Spanish paprika, you can also just mix the flour with some paprika for the color.

(2) This recipe can work for Tilapia/ Mojarra, Catfish, Redsnapper, or Seabass. any fresh white fleshed whole fish, even fish fillets :)

(3) If you like this recipe you'll like my mother's Salmon, with generous garlic, pan-fried in butter and olive oil see post for "Salmon de mi Mama" or her "Mojarra Frita a la Mexicana" (Tilapia Mexican style)

(4) I have a feeling I have the wrong Spanish name... I think "Castañeta" or Palometa is actually referring to "Pomfret" though Pomfret and Pompano look so similar....

Guiso de Carne de Puerco (Cuban Pork and Potato Stew)

A simple, comforting, cuban tomato based stew of pork and potatoes hot n smokey from the cumin and pepper. I prepare it the same way as my grandmother's "Carne Con Papa" (beef n potato), a good way to switch it up when you don't feel like eating beef :)

Some Cubans will call this dish "Fricase de Puerco" (Pork Fricase) but when I make the pork fricasse, the pork meat is marinaded in sour orange, garlic, and salt and all this is planned ahead, etc. whatever you want to label it as it's damn delicious lol.

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 - 2 lbs pork meat I like like to use pork spareribs cut into chunks
-1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil or pork lard
-1 green bell pepper finely chopped
-1 onion finely chopped
-4 cloves garlic minced
-1 can 8 oz tomato sauce
-1/2 cup dry white wine
-1 cups water
-3 potatoes peeled, washed and halved
-salt to taste
-black pepper to taste
-1 tsp. ground cumin
-1/2 tsp. bijol or ground achiote (optional we do this at home when we want to give the potatoes a golden yellow color, and the meat a glossy orangish tinge)

Directions:
(1)Wash your pork well, pat dry and season with salt and pepper, anyways now heat olive oil or pork fat in a large deep pan or pot, over medium high heat, when hot add your pork meat seasoned with salt and pepper, allow meat to brown all over
(2) When pork is browned add onion and bell peppers cook down 5 minutes, add garlic and stir 1-2 minutes just until fragrant, then add tomato sauce when it bubbles add the wine and let it reduce
(3) Now add water, cumin, bijol, more salt n black pepper to taste, and potatoes.
Bring to a boil on high, give a good stir cover and lower heat to medium low for 40 minutes- 1 hour until meat is tender. When tender it's done turn off heat :)
(4) Serve with rice and any sides you'd like, my mother sauteed some delicious spinach with onion, garlic, olive oil, and lightly seasoned it with salt served with a lemon wedge

Potaje de Colorados #7 Con Malanga, Calabaza y Maiz (Cuban Red Bean Stew with Malanga, Calabaza, and Corn)

Ha ha yes sorry yet another red bean stew. Thing is I just love making hardy Cuban and Spanish bean stews (which are typically in my house made w/ meat, sometimes sausage, potatoes, and Calabaza married with a sofrito and spices) and since red beans weren't a family favorite I loved messing around with them and preparing them in different ways my family would enjoy them. Plus overtime just grew on me ha ha, now my family loves it when I cook a pot of red beans.

Ok so all that said and done this isn't your "typical" Cuban red bean stew with potatoes and calabaza. My grandmother (Tata) told me her step mother use to make bean stews using "Malanga" (a type of Caribbean taro) in combination with Calabaza back in Cuba. Also friends from "Oriente" (Eastern Cuba) makes Potajes with Malanga usually, and something that I found surprising was one of my readers Mamey told me he had a red bean stew with rounds of cobbed corn in Oriente. So pretty much from hearing all this I was like "Mmmm sounds yummy and a nice alternative to the typical Cuban bean stews. Ooooh have some cobs in the freezer... then I open the bottom drawer and some Malanga yummy all that was left was to buy some Calabaza" and that's how this recipe came to be :)

Try it, the results were silky smooth beans, a rich stock from the ham bone, and chunks of ham, hints of sweetness from the Calabaza and Corn, and everybody trying to find and gorge down those delicious chunks of Malanga, which are rich, starchy, and have a slight nutty taste. My Tata whom came to visit said it reminded her of Ajiaco (a rich stew/ soup made with meat and just about every tuber n delicious starchy veggies found in Cuban cooking something I will share in the future)

ok... ok... so before I begin I gotta tell you guys I recently broke my wrist and a small area below it when I went snowboarding... but yeah live n learn I guess. So I'm not able to cook as often or maneuver a bunch and was at the hospital most of my day. So I made this stew with the help of my mom, she chopped all the veggies for me and I did it "a la Crockpot" lol. but you can adjust the recipe to stove top. I'm going to need her when I make "Empanada Gallega" (a huge Galician meat pie) with chicken something I'll post later :)

Ingredients:
-1 lbs. small or large red beans (washed and drained twice, then cover with 2 inches water bring to a boil 20 minutes, then turn off and soak at least 4-6 hours or overnight)
-1 ham bone
-1 lbs. ham steak or chunk cubed
-5-6 small "aji cachucha" peppers minced
-1 green bell pepper chopped
-1 onion chopped
-6 cloves garlic chopped
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce (or fresh chopped tomato)
-1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-3 small or 2 medium or 1 large bay leaf
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1/2 teaspoon dried crumbled oregano
-6-7 freshly ground allspice berries or 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
-1 lbs. Calabaza cut into 1 inch pieces (butternut or kabucha squash are good alternatives since carribean squash isn't available here easily)
-2 medium malangas cut into 1 inch chunks (taro root)
-2 ears of corn sliced into 1 inch rounds
Directions ( now I'm going to include directions for both crockpot and stove top it's similar procedure for this recipe):
(1) Do not drain the red beans or you'll lose color, throw the already pre-soaked beans in a large pot on stove-top, or throw in crockpot, add ham bone, ham chunks, cachucha peppers, bell pepper, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, olive oil, bay leaves and corn, if using crockpot add calabaza and malanga if using stove- top don't add it yet. If using crockpot set on low for 8-12 hrs. or high for 6 hrs insuring you added enough water to cover all ingredients. If using stove top, bring to boil, cover and simmer about 1 1/2- 2 hours checking occasionally until beans are tender.

(2) When beans are tender add salt to taste about 2-3 tsp, the cumin, dried oregano, ground allspice if using crockpot allow to cook an additional 30 minutes with spices, if you made the stove-top version when beans are tender add salt, spices, and cubed malanga and calabaza to the stew and cook 30 minutes, add more water if necessary.
(3) When calabaza and malanga is tender remove one cup of calabaza and mash it to a paste, stir it back in, this will make the stew have a delicious sweet hint and thicken it. Turn off-heat, and serve over white rice :)
this was all that was leftover from that huge pot :)
P.S.
I'ma say it again... and again hehe if you'd like to help me out please vote for me to win a chance to have my own recording and be feautured on the cooking show Delicioso on "Univision" by voting for me in the below link. It is one of my dreams to be in something like that :)

http://cocina.univision.com/delicioso/episodios/article/2011-01-05/el-bloggero-delicioso