June | 2010 | Eric Rivera's Cooking Blog

El Pilon (Seattle, WA)

June 30, 2010 by ericriveracooks

It’s nice to have a go-to restaurant that you can go to that feels like home. My parents live in Puerto Rico so the only chance I have to eat some good home-style cooking is El Pilon in Seattle. It’s not fancy, it’s not expensive, but it’s just great. Ms. Vega is my adoptive culinary mom and she cooks for me whenever I feel like some good home cooking at her restaurant, El Pilon Meat empanadas with a fantastic chili […]

Categories: Restaurants • Tags: Beans, Blog, Cooking Blog, El Pilon, Food, Fried Pork Chop, Restaurant, Rice, Seattle

Braised Plantain Maduros with Coconut Cilantro/Lime Rice and Avocado

June 30, 2010 by ericriveracooks

And it’s even served in a coconut shell. How cool! Eric

Categories: Puerto Rican Style, Rice • Tags: bacon, Blog, Cilantro, Coconut Rice, Cooking, Cooking Blog, Dinner, Lime, Plantain, recipe, Rice

Grand Central Bakery- Seattle, WA

June 30, 2010 by ericriveracooks

A week or so ago when I was walking around Pioneer Square I stumbled upon the Grand Central Bakeries’ building. I didn’t know what it was at first but I thought it was really nice so I took a picture of it and kept on walking. When I got home I looked at the picture again, zoomed in a bit, and noticed it was a bakery…..I have to go back! The other day I was walking around downtown and my […]

Categories: Restaurants • Tags: Bakery, Baking, Cooking Blog, ericriveracooks, Food, Grand Central Bakery, Pioneer Square, Seattle

Eat The Street: Eastsound- Orcas Island, WA

June 29, 2010 by ericriveracooks

Eastsound is a small town located on Orcas Island so I decided to lump together some of the spots I ate at on my last visit there. I will be heading up there again in September to finish this post so come on back real soon! Hello Eastsound! Allium Restaurant On my recent trip to Orcas Island I worked at the new Allium restaurant for a few days (you can see the complete post here). It’s new to the area […]

Categories: Eat The Street • Tags: Allium Restaurant, Cooking Blog, Eat the Street, ericriveracooks, Food, Orcas Island, Restaurant

Foodbuzz 24×24: My Stagiaire at Allium Restaurant on Orcas Island, WA

June 27, 2010 by ericriveracooks

Eric, what is a stagiaire?!?!?!??!!??!?! Well, it’s like an internship but it’s more of a tryout for a new person coming into a kitchen. It’s a great way for restaurants to see if that fancy resume of a new employee will hold up. Basically, you send your information to a restaurant….they look at it and say, “yeah, come on in for a day or two”. Then you walk in and show them what you’re capable of. Depending on the position […]

Categories: Events, Restaurants • Tags: Allium Restaurant, Cooking, Cooking Blog, Food, Orcas Island, Stagiaire

Getting ready for Blueacre. Butter Poached Gulf Shrimp and Crab Cakes

June 25, 2010 by ericriveracooks

I was in Anacortes the other day and I stopped into a seafood market called Blackrock Seafood. They had a great selection of fresh seafood so on my way home I called Mindy and gave her a quick grocery list so I could practice some of the menu items at Blueacre at home. I’m the type of person that strives for perfection and I know that it takes a lot of work and practice to get there and even after […]

Categories: Seafood • Tags: Blueacre Seafood, Cooking, Cooking Blog, Crab cake, ericriveracooks, Food, recipe, Seattle, shrimp

Blueacre Seafood

June 25, 2010 by ericriveracooks

My stagiaire work has paid off a few times over. A few weeks ago I was checking out craigslist to see if any restaurants were looking for line cooks around Seattle. I noticed two postings that immediately put me into a frenzy to send my resume over as quickly as possible….it was the middle of the night and I had nothing better to do. I have talked about the awesomeness of Chef Kevin Davis here a few times (click) […]

Categories: Random Rants • Tags: Blueacre Seafood, Chef, ericriveracooks, Kevin Davis, Restaurant, Seattle

I’ll be back shortly…..

June 21, 2010 by ericriveracooks

I’m off to Orcas Island for a few days so here are some pictures from a Mariners game my friend Sean took me to. I know, it’s not food but they’re still cool pictures. Go cook something!!!! Eric

Categories: Random Rants

Black Bean and Rice Soup

June 20, 2010 by ericriveracooks

This is a monster dish. It will never see the light of day in a restaurant but it’s one of my go-to at-home dishes. Ingredients: Sofrito sauce, sofrito relish, chicken stock, mangalitsa jowl bacon fat, black beans, rice, cumin, saffron, tomatoes, fresh bay leaves, mangalitsa lardons, shrimp, cilantro, culantro, adobo, black pepper. Eric

Categories: Seafood, Soup • Tags: Beans, Blog, Cooking Blog, eric rivera, Food, recipe, Rice, Soup

Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta with Fried Basil Leaves

June 20, 2010 by ericriveracooks

Fried basil….pretty cool stuff. Thyme, Basil, Chicken stock, Spicy Italian Sausage, Crushed red pepper, olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, cerignola olives, sweet onion, chardonnay, sel de mer, garlic, and mangalitsa fat. Eric

Categories: Chicken, Pasta • Tags: Cooking Blog, Dinner, Food, Pasta, Sausage

Seafood Stew Blanco

June 19, 2010 by ericriveracooks

This is a take on cioppino. It’s from a late-night cooking session at my house a few nights ago. I’ve been in the dark from the internet lately because there have been server problems with my ISP…..exciting. I like cioppino and seafood stews with tomatoes in them but I wanted something lighter so off to the stove I went. Obviously it could use a bit more variety in the seafood but it’s all I had available at the time. […]

Categories: Seafood • Tags: Blog, Celery Leaf, Cooking Blog, Dinner, Food, Scallops, Seafood, Seafood Stew, shrimp

Lobster Stock Risotto with Butter Poached Shrimp

June 17, 2010 by ericriveracooks

You want a killer dish? Here it is. Lobster stock, arborio rice, fresh oregano/thyme/basil, butter, white wine, sel de mer, Beecher’s cheese, shrimp, crushed red pepper, black pepper, micro greens. Eric

Categories: Rice, Seafood • Tags: Beecher's Cheese, Cooking Blog, Dinner, Food, Lobster, Lobster Stock, recipe, Risotto, shrimp

MindyRiveraFarms: Sprouts Everywhere!

June 16, 2010 by ericriveracooks

Enhance…. Pan right…………. Excellent. Lettuce is looking great. Let’s see what’s going on on the other side of the pot. This pot of full of gold!!!! Delicious, tasty, gold!!! Alright, let’s check out and see what Mindy has done with the other pots. Looks like I’m going to have to start thinking about more things to cook. This is exciting Eric

Categories: MindyRiveraFarms • Tags: Garden, Gardening, Herbs, Seeds

Stagiaire

June 16, 2010 by ericriveracooks

It translates to an internship but saying stagiaire sounds a lot cooler. I have three of them coming up in the next week starting today. I’m taking you with me on one of them. The restaurant is called Allium and I will be documenting my three day trip so you can see what’s it like to do this whole up-and-coming chef thing. Allium is on Orcas Island so I’ll be riding the ferry pictured above……it’s going to be awesome! I […]

Categories: Random Rants • Tags: Allium, Cooking Blog, Food, Stagiaire

Braised Mangalitsa Leg with Accompanying Homegrown Lettuce Wrap Party

June 16, 2010 by ericriveracooks

Mindy’s lettuce was ready to use so I decided to throw it a lettuce wrap party……it’s a wrap….get it?!?! No??? Ugh…I’ll be in the kitchen if anyone needs me. I pulled out my mangalitsa leg and proceeded to braise it up! Look at how much fat is on the outside edges!!!!! Awesome!! If you ever see a recipe that says, “trim off excess fat”, throw that crap away and come back to my blog and I will show you the […]

Categories: Pork, Vegetable • Tags: Blog, Braise, Cooking Blog, Food, Lettuce Wrap, Mangalitsa Pork, recipe, Relish, tostones

Eric Rivera's Cooking Blog

Food, because I just want an excuse to cook.

Monthly Archives: June 2010

El Pilon (Seattle, WA)

Braised Plantain Maduros with Coconut Cilantro/Lime Rice and Avocado

Grand Central Bakery- Seattle, WA

Eat The Street: Eastsound- Orcas Island, WA

Foodbuzz 24×24: My Stagiaire at Allium Restaurant on Orcas Island, WA

Getting ready for Blueacre. Butter Poached Gulf Shrimp and Crab Cakes

Blueacre Seafood

I’ll be back shortly…..

Black Bean and Rice Soup

Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta with Fried Basil Leaves

Seafood Stew Blanco

Lobster Stock Risotto with Butter Poached Shrimp

MindyRiveraFarms: Sprouts Everywhere!

Stagiaire

Braised Mangalitsa Leg with Accompanying Homegrown Lettuce Wrap Party

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