Main Dishes

Pernil

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 tbsp. minced fresh garlic

1 1/2 tsp. oregano leaves, crum­bled fine

1 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 large bak­ing pota­toes, scrubbed, cut length­wise, 1 large red onion cut into wedges 1 yel­low sum­mer squash, cut in 1 inch slices

Stir sea­son­ing mix­ture in a small bowl until blended.

Brush entire ham shank with sea­son­ing mix­ture. Let mar­i­nate in refrig­er­a­tor at least 4 hours or overnight. Place on rack in roast­ing pan and cover with plas­tic wrap. With sharp knife score dia­mond pat­tern in ham shank almost to meat.

Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Unwrap meat and roast 2 hours. Add pota­toes and onion wedges to roast­ing pan and brush with drip­pings. Roast 1 hour. Add squash, brush with drip­pings and con­tinue to roast 45 min­utes (meat should roast total of 35 min­utes per pound) or until done and veg­eta­bles are ten­der. Let meat stand 15 min­utes before slicing.

Paste­les

STUFFING
2 pounds diced pork
4 ajíces dul­ces (small sweet pep­pers)
1 small onion
2 table­soons recaito
4 cloves gar­lic
1 table­spoon adobo
1 table­spoons oregano (dry flakes)
1 bay leaf
MASA DOUGH
4 pounds yautía
6 green bananas
1 table­spoon of salt
achiote oil
WRAPPING
40 banana leaves (cut into approx. 10 in X 5 in rec­tan­gles)
20 Pieces parch­ment paper (cut into approx. 8 in X 4 in rec­tan­gles)
20 Pieces of kitchen string (Cut into 18 inch. lengths)

Prepa­ra­tion:
– MAKE THE STUFFING
1. Brown the pork pieces in a pan.
2. Add the rest of the stuff­ing ingre­di­ents.
3. Cook until the pork is no longer pink inside.
4. Set aside and let cool.
– MAKE THE MASA DOUGH
1. In a large bowl, peel and grate the yautía and the green bananas together.
2. Stir in the salt and enough achiote oil to moisten the dough and add a lit­tle color. You are now ready to assem­ble and wrap the paste­les.
– WRAP THE PASTELES
1. Set the dough aside and pre­pare a work sur­face to assem­ble and wrap the paste­les. If you have friends help­ing you, set up an assem­bly line.
2. Fol­low my step-by-step guide to assem­bling and wrap­ping paste­les.
3. Set aside the paste­les you are going to eat right away. You can freeze the rest.
PART 4 — COOK THE PASTELES
1. Bring a stock pot of salted water to a boil. There should be enough water to cover the paste­les.
2. Boil the paste­les for 1 hour.
3. Unwrap the paste­les before serving.

Arroz con Gandules

2 1/2 cups long grain white rice
5 cups water
3 table­spoons olive oil
4 table­spoons sofrito
2 table­spoons span­ish olives
1 can green or dry pigeon peans, drained
1 enve­lope sazon with annato
1/2 tea­spoon ground oregano
2 bay leaves
1/2 tea­spoon tomato paste
salt and black pep­per to taste

Start by heat­ing in a pot at high heat, the oil then add the water, then the peas, the olives, the tomato paste, and all the spices, includ­ing the enve­lope of sazon.

At that point, add salt and pep­per to taste. Bring this up to a boil then stir in rice.

Once it has began to boil again, lower heat and stir 1 more time, then cover.

Let this cook for about 30 – 40 min­utes on a low heat set­ting, stir­ring occa­sion­ally (every 10 min­utes) until the rice is tender.

Desserts

Arroz con dulce

Arroz con dulce (Sweet Rice pud­ding) puer­tor­ri­can style

Step 1

For best results, soak rice in water for about two hours prior to cook­ing. Drain
Step 2
Add the salt, cloves and gin­ger to three cups of water in a deep
sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Sieve through a colan­der to remove the
rem­nants of the spices.
Step 3
Bring to a boil once again. Add the coconut
cream and milk, rice, sugar and oil. Cook cov­ered over medium-low heat for about
twenty min­utes. Add the raisins and the evap­o­rated milk and blend in.
Step 4
Con­tinue to cook, uncov­ered,
until the rice has absorbed all the water (about fif­teen more min­utes).
Cook­ing times vary depend­ing on your cli­mate and ele­va­tion from sea level.
Don’t worry: this recipe is very for­giv­ing of cook­ing lapses. Just don’t over­cook!
Step 5
Pour into a square or rec­tan­gu­lar dish about one inch high and allow to
cool. Sprin­kle ground cin­na­mon or cin­na­mon sugar on the pud­ding and cut in
two-inch squares for your din­ers. It is equally enjoy­able after
refrig­er­a­tion. It will keep for sev­eral days, well cov­ered in the
refrigerator.

Flan

PUERTO RICAN FLAN

8 eggs
2 (14 oz.) cans con­densed milk, undi­luted
3 1/2 cups water
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup sugar (to caramelize pan)

Pre­heat oven to 350 degrees. Caramelize a pan by melt­ing 1 cup of sugar slowly, melt to a light gold and swirl so that the sides are coated.

In large bowl, mix ingre­di­ents strain. Pour strained mix­ture into caramelized pan.

Set pan in a large shal­low bak­ing pan con­tain­ing 1 inch of hot water. Bake for 1 hour, or until set and golden. Check cen­ter with tooth­pick, must come up clean.

Remove pan from water bath. Allow to cool on wire rack. Cover, and set in refrig­er­a­tor. When ready to serve, turn Flan onto a platter.

Tem­bleque

Tem­bleque (Puerto Rican Style Coconut Pudding)

*   7 ounces cream of coconut (approx 1/2 can)

* 2 1/2 cups milk

* 1/2 cup cornstarch

* 4 table­spoons sugar (or to taste)

* 1 tea­spoon vanilla

Top­ping

* ground cin­na­mon, and or flaked coconut

Direc­tions

In a saucepan com­bine milk and cream of coconut,corn starch,vanilla and sugar mix very well.

Stir con­stantly on medium high until mix­ture begins to boil and gets thick.

Let boil a cou­ple more min­utes still keep stir­ring, then you can either pour into    indi­vid­ual dessert cups or a mold.

Let cool on table­top, then refrigerate.

Top with garnish.

Rum Cake

PUERTO RICAN RUM CAKE

1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 pkg. yel­low cake mix
1 pkg. instant vanilla pud­ding
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup veg­etable oil
1/2 cup Gold Puerto Rican Rum

Pre­heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour pan. Sprin­kle pecans over bot­tom of pan.Mix all cake ingre­di­ents together. Pour bat­ter over pecans in pan. Bake One hour. place on counter top to cool. Invert on serv­ing plate. Prick the top, and brush glaze evenly over top.

GLAZE:

1/4 lb. but­ter
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup gran­u­lated sugar
1/2 cup Puerto Rican Rum

Drinks

COQUITO

(PUERTO RICAN TRADITION)

1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk

1 can (13.5oz) coconut cream

1 can (12oz) evap­o­rated milk

1 bot­tle (10 oz) white rum (Bac­ardi or Don Q Brands)

½ tsp cinnamon

1/4 tea­spoon Nutmeg

Mix the ingre­di­ents in the blender. When fin­ished put in a large glass.

Refrig­er­ate and serve cold.

This is our Christ­mas, New Year and The 3 Kings tra­di­tional drink in Puerto Rico.

EggNog

(Puerto Rican Egg Nog )

8 egg yolks
2 cans (12 oz.) evap­o­rated milk
1 can sweet­ened con­densed milk
1 bot­tle rum
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix all the ingre­di­ents together, then chill overnight.