Category Archives: Puerto Rican Style

Fried Pork Chops (Mom Style with a few twists)

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This is one of my favorite things that my mom makes. I always request this when I visit my parents. I’m tinkering with the format of my recipes so I figured this would be a nice time to start making things easier to read.

Fried Pork Chops

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 7-10 minutes

Equipment Needed:

  • Mixing bowl
  • Whisk
  • Large Saute Pan
  • Tongs

Ingredients:

  • 4 bone in pork chops
  • 1 1/2 tbsp. Adobo, my own blend that I’m working on.   Otherwise use Goya’s Adobo
  • 1 tsp. oregano
  • 2 tbsp. Annatto Oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Clarified Butter

Procedure:

  1. Mix the adobo, oregano, annatto oil, and salt and pepper together in a mixing bowl
  2. Spread the mixture over the pork chops
  3. Pour clarified butter in saute pan and bring to high heat
  4. Place the pork chops in the saute pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until edges are crispy
  5. Once the pork chops are done place them on a towel to soak up excess grease for 1-2 minutes then serve

Enjoy,

Eric

IxaRiveraCooks: Feed Dad then Girls Night Out!

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IxaRiveraCooks

This is where I get it from. Mom knows how to keep things simple but always knows how to add flair to her food. Good stuff happens after this sentence.

“Here is what I fixed Dad before I went out.  Keep him happy with food, of course.

Menu

  • Chick peas yellow rice with sofrito.
  • Chicken breast with lots of garlic, onions, hot peppers, bell peppers and basil.  (hot peppers from the garden and also the basil)
  • Avocados bought from a house down the road for a $1.00
  • Wine-   Finca Del Mar-Tempranillo

Total cost for dinner?  Less than $7.00.  Any questions?  Now that Dad is fed, it’s girls night out.  Oh, I see that he is going for seconds!!!.  That’s Dad.

LYA,

Mom”

Thanks for sharing some more food Mom!

(The new format is officially in BETA)

Dungeness Crab Fritters

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Use this recipe sparingly, it’s an arterie clogger! Butter, crab, and deep frying………it doesn’t get much better than that.

Ingredients:

Clarified butter    (click here)
3/4 pound Dungeness Crab
3 cups flour
Annatto Oil w/ butter instead of olive oil (aka Achiote Oil)
1/4 cup corn meal
1 1/2 cups water
3 sweet peppers
3 garlic cloves
1 tbsp. adobo seasoning
Salt and pepper
Fresh oregano and fresh cilantro

In a bowl whisk the flour, oil, corn meal, and water. Stir the crab into the batter.  Place the sweet peppers, garlic, adobo, salt, pepper, oregano, and cilantro in a mortar and pestle and grind it all down then mix it into the batter. Heat up the clarified butter to 350F then scoop in about 3 tbsp. of batter into the butter to create a fritter. Cook each fritter for 2-3 minutes on each side then place on a paper towel and let some of that delicious butter drain into the towel…..Mmmmm butter. Serve!

Enjoy,

Eric

Bacalaitos Fritos (Cod Fish Fritters)

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My mom made these and sent the recipe and pictures over to me to post on here. International recipe blogging at its finest! I love cod fish fritters, they are one of my favorite things to eat and I haven’t posted a recipe for them on here because Mom makes them best, why try to duplicate it or change it?

Here is her recipe:

Yesterday I made some bacalaitos fritos and here is the recipe

1 lb dried salty cod fish
1 pound of flour
three small sweet peppers (aji dulces)
two garlic cloves
fresh oregano
fresh cilantro
achiote oil   (annatto oil)
salt and pepper to taste
all purpose seasoning (adobo seasoning)

Soak the salty cod fish until it is tender and not too salty.  Shred it and set it aside.
Mix the flour with water until you have a good batter consistency (like a pancake mix).
Smash the garlic, oregano, cilantro and sweet peppers in a pilon (mortar and pestle)  and add it to the mix.  Add salt, pepper and all purpose seasoning to the mix and taste the batter.  Add more seasoning if needed.  Add some achiote oil for color (not too much so it doesn’t make the batter to oily). Stir in the cod fish and let stand aside for about and refrigerate for an hour.  You can fix the batter the day before and place it in the refrigerator for the next day.

When ready to fry, just heat canola oil, take a scoop and fry the darn things.  Good and yummy.

Try it and write your own recipe.

Yesterday I gave some to my neighbors and they loved them.

Enjoy,

Ixa

Best Rice I’ve ever made (I say that a lot):

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I’m getting very close to finding the best combination of ingredients for this rice. I’ve made it a few times for this blog but I’m in a search for perfection (That line courtesy of Heston Blumenthal).  Rice like this is so hard to pull off because you can cook the rice too long and end up with soggy mess or you can throw the flavors off by not adding them in the correct manner. Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you my almost perfect yellow rice.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. annatto oil  (I’ll tell you how to do this in a separate post later this week)
1 strip bacon
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup diced onions
1/2 cup rice
2 sweet peppers, crushed (aji dulce)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 3/4 cups Juniper Rice
3 3/4 cups chicken broth)
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tbsp. coriander seed, ground
fresh oregano and cilantro

In a large sauce pan pour in the annatto seed then chop up the uncooked bacon into small pieces. Cook the bacon then add the tomato paste, diced onions, sweet peppers, corn and garlic cloves. Simmer for 5 minutes covered. Stir it then simmer for another 10 minutes. Add the chicken broth, and rice, dried oregano, and coriander seed then stir once and leave uncovered, remember to do this on medium-high heat. Bring the mixture up to a soft boil then cover once the water level is even with the rice then cover and cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes.  Serve with fresh oregano and cilantro over the top of the rice once you have placed it into a serving dish.

Enjoy,

Eric

I’m going to keep working on this until I get it the way I want it to be.

Linguiça and Black Bean Rice

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Linguiça is a Portuguese sausage that is seasoned with some of my favorite things, onions, garlic and paprika. It’s a cured meat that is soaked in wine and from what I have learned over my life, cured meat is awesome especially when it’s soaked in wine! I could eat this stuff with every meal and be totally happy. Blah blah blah try it for yourself and I’m sure you’ll like it!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. Linguiça Sausage
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tomato
1 Walla Walla Sweet Onion
3 garlic cloves
Pinch of fresh thyme, oregano, and thai basil
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 bay leaves
2 cups black beans, hydrated
1/2 cups cooked white rice  (I used Juniper Rice)

In a medium sauce pan heat up about 1 tbsp. olive oil then add the sausage and cook it for about 2 minutes on each side. Add the tomato, onion, and garlic cloves then cover and cook for 15 minutes on low heat.  After 15 minutes slowly stir in1/3 cup water (or chicken broth), then all the herbs and spices, cover again and cook for 5-7 minutes. Serve over white rice!

Enjoy,

Eric

Pernil (Eric’s Way)

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I’ve been receiving a few comments regarding the authenticity of my “Puerto Rican Recipes”. Let me just cut to the chase. I’m Puerto Rican…..these are my recipes……I don’t care if they’re traditional or not so stop bothering me about it. I cook things the way I want them to be and like I have said a thousand times, every Puerto Rican recipe is different from person to person. That’s one of the reasons why I love Puerto Rican food so much because it truly is a potpourri. You get Spanish, French, African, and influences from the other Caribbean islands in order to make some of my favorite meals that I label simply as Puerto Rican. Why do I do that? Because I grew up eating this stuff….my parents cooked it, my grandparents cooked it, and their grandparents did the same. I’m Puerto Rican……this is my blog….these are authentic Puerto Rican recipes. Enough!

Ingredients:

20 lb. pork shoulder or a “ham” cut

Dry rub:

1/4 cup cumin
1/2 salt
2 tbsp. cinnamon
1/8 cup paprika

Rub over pork then let rest overnight. I left the skin on so all I did was rub it under the skin. Don’t throw away the skin…..it’s the best part once it’s cooked

Annatto Oil

1 cup annatto seed
2 cups olive oil
3 tbsp. coriander seed, crushed
2 tbsp. salt
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tbsp. dried cilantro           (secret source)

Infuse the oil with the annatto seeds then stir in the coriander, salt, cumin, and cilantro.  Use this to baste the pork every 30 minutes….it will create an awesome dark red skin.

Cook the pork in the oven at 295F for 4-5 hours.

Enjoy,

Eric

I’m grumpy and tired. :)

Ghost Chili Paste and Aji Dulce Hot Sauce

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The new camera is doing some good things already!

Both of these are a work in progress. The paste is using the hottest peppers in the world and the vinegar based aji dulce is using seasonal peppers found in Puerto Rico from my secret source. These two sauces are about as rare as they get! I’ll let you know how they turn out once they get a chance to set for a few days.

Ingredients:

Ghost Chili Paste

8 Ghost Chili’s Ground
Molasses
Tomato Sauce
Garlic Salt
Salt

Aji Dulce Hot Sauce

Distilled White Vinegar
11 aji dulce pods
Fresh Oregano
Fresh Cilantro
Fresh Garlic
Salt
1 lime, juiced

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!! I’m spicy!!

Eric

Puerto Rican Yellow Rice (Revisited)

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I’m not even going to tell you how I acquired some of the ingredients for this. They’re very important ingredients but I have a source……….one that I cannot say, but it’s a great source! (side note: I used Jasmine Rice instead of enriched long grain………stick with enriched long grain) The picture is of the rice before it is ready to cover…..I’m on camera B right now so not many options for cool shots.

Ingredients

2 strips bacon
1 sweet onion, diced
6 ounces tomato sauce
4 aji dulce pods, diced                  (secret source)
5 recao leaves, crushed            (secret source)
2 garlic gloves
2 tbsp. fresh oregano                (nomad garden!)
4 tbsp. fresh cilantro                      (nomad garden!)
2 bay leaves
1 cup garbanzo beans
1 cup yellow corn
4 tbsp. annatto oil
1 tbsp. coriander, ground
6 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups white rice

Cook the bacon in a large pot then add the onions and stir until the onions sweat out. Add the tomato sauce, aji dulce, recao leaves, garlic, oregano, cilantro, bay leaves, annatto oil, and coriander.  Cook on medium heat stirring frequently for about 5 minutes then add the garbanzo beans, yellow corn, broth, and rice. Stir once then cook with the cover off until you see the rise starting to rise then cover and cook for 15-20 minutes.  Serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

IxaRiveraCooks: Churrasco with a Light Garden Salad

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Ixa is my mom and she cooked something for this blog. She cooked this last night and sent me over the pictures and a sort of recipe. Here’s the thing, she doesn’t cook from recipes either so that’s something we share. I created this blog to start storing these recipes but there is a little room for a little extra this or that. My mom’s philosphy on cooking is just to cook to achieve a good flavor…..it’s something I agree with.  If it needs a little more pepper then dammit it’s getting more pepper whether yor recipe says so or not! I’ve never seen my mom cook from a recipe before and since I’ve started this blog I’ve only used a recipe once and it was to cook a pizza dough.  Thanks again mom for sending me a recipe to post, I needed it!

Churrasco:

2 lbs. flank steak

Marinade

3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 tbsp. lemon juice
Pinch of Fresh Oregano
1 tbsp. Olive oil
1/2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
pinch of sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients for marinade then pour over flank steak and cover and place in refrigerator overnight. Remove meat from refrigerator then let the meat get to room temperature then cook on BBQ to desired doneness.

Light Garden Salad:

Red and Yukon Gold Potatoes, Cooked….use about 1/2 lb. total
White onions
Yellow and Orange Bell Peppers
Cherry Tomatoes (from her garden)
Anise leaves  (from her garden)
Green Beans
Pinch of sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes
Fresh Basil           (from her garden)

Dressing

Olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar                    2:1 ratio of oil to vinegar
Few drops of Orange Juice
A little salt and pepper

That’s it!

For comparison here is how I make Churrasco (click) and here is how I make a light salad (click)

Enjoy the Rivera’s!

Eric

Crab and Plantain Sofrito Soup

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While I was at the Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali Show at the Paramount, Mario was asked, “How do you cook from the heart”? He responded, “Cook like mom”.  Here is a recipe inspired from my mom. She does almost the same soup with shrimp instead of crab.

Ingredients:

1.5 liters chicken broth
1 plantain, diced
1 cup fresh cilantro
2 tbsp. oregano                          (I used dried oregano from my mom’s backyard in Puerto Rico)
1/2 sweet onion, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 lb. crab meat
2 tbsp. sea salt
1 tbsp. coriander seed, freshly ground
1.5 cups Jasmine Rice

In a large stock pot bring the chicken broth to a soft boil then add all the ingredients except for the rice. Cover and cook for 20 minutes stirring twice. Add the rice then cook for another 7 minutes. Serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

p.s. Thanks Mom :)

Coconut Raspberry Glazed Chicken Pinchos (Kabobs)

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I was working at the Lake Forest Park Farmer’s Market this past weekend and I met Pericles Tarsinos. He is the owner of Four Seasons Gourmet Foods and he makes a Rosy Raspberry Vinegar. I was near his tent and he had me try his product, I loved it so much that I bought two bottles because I knew I was going to go through the first bottle way too fast!!! I asked him about how he makes it and after his explanation I was left in awe. He told me when the market finished he had to go home and pour another 1200 bottles, talk about dedication!!!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. chicken thighs, de-boned and skin removed
1 packet sazon seasoning
1 tsp. adobo seasoning
salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Cover and place in refrigerator for an hour.  (This is how mom does them)

Glaze

1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp. Rosy Raspberry Vinegar
1/2 chipotle pod, ground

I made these pinchos with orangle bell peppers, strawberry tomatoes, and sweet onions. Arrange the pieces on the stick however you want just make sure you soak the sticks in water before you cook them so they don’t burn off. Every 2 minutes brush the pinchos with the glaze mixture.  After 10 minutes in the BBQ the pinchos are done, let them rest about 2 minutes before serving. Serve!

Enjoy,

Eric

Biftec (Tenderized Tenderloin)

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This is one of the favorite things that my mom makes. She marinaded this then I took over and cooked it and added a few different things to the mix, it came out great! Nice teamwork!

Ingredients:

4 thinly sliced beef tenderloin steaks, tenderized
1 onion sliced into thick pieces
1 yellow bell pepper
1 tbsp. adobo seasoning
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, mashed
fresh oregano
salt and pepper
1 tomato, diced

Marinade the steak with the bell pepper, adobo, olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper for 35 minutes.  Remove the meat from marinade then dump the marinade mixture in a large skillet and saute for 2-3 minutes then add the meat and cook for 3 minutes on each side.  Once you are done cut place the tomato on the plate then add the onion, and bell pepper to the plate and place the meat on top. Serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

Deviled Ham Plantain Cups with a Mango Pineapple Sauce

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I made this on the final evening for my parents in Puerto Rico. Instead of using a green plantain I used a yellow plantain for a much sweeter taste. Also, I used the leftover meat from the pork pinchos recipe from the day before which turned out to be a perfect fit for this.

Ingredients:

2 ripe yellow plantains
1/2 lb cooked pork, ground in a food processor            (use my recipe)
Mango Pineapple Sauce    (use my recipe)

Slice the plantains about a 2 inches thick then fry for about 4 minutes. Remove from heat then place in tostonera (plantain cup maker), press then throw plantain back in the fryer for another 3-5 minutes.  Remove plantains from heat and place on a paper towel. Stuff the plantain cups with the deviled ham and finish with mango pineapple sauce. SERVE!

Enjoy,

Eric

Aji Dulce Aioli Garlic Bread

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Keep it simple or something like that.  If you don’t have aji dulce available to you then just use a bell peppers.

Ingredients:

French Bread

10 cloves garlic
2 tbsp. grape seed oil
2 aji dulce pods
Fresh oregano
Crumbled cheese    (I used a raw milk cheese finished with a little lime)

Combine the garlic, oil, pepper, and oregano in a mortar and pestle and grind it out. Pre-heat oven to 350F then place mixture from mortar and pestle over the bread then place crumbled cheese over the top. Cover the bread in foil then bake for 15 minutes.   Serve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy,

Eric