"Guineitos en Escabeche" - Puerto Rican Recipe "Pickled Green Bananas"

This is a classic Christmas dish in Puerto Rico and always brings back childhood memories. Nothing transports you back in time like eating the foods from the place you where born.  I love eating this on Christmas or New Year's. Traditionally it's served with "arroz con gandules" (rice and green pigeon peas) and "pernil al horno" (pork shoulder). Believe me it's a classic combination for a reason, it's a super tasty meal, and you don't even need to wait for the holidays to make it! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as my family does!


Ingredients:

12 green bananas (guineitos verdes)
2 medium size onions
4-6 bay leaves
1 tablespoon of black whole peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon of ground black pepper
4 mashed garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of olives and capers
1 1/2 cups of olive oil
1 cup of white vinegar
salt to taste (I used 1 teaspoon)
1 adobo package


Procedure:

A- the Green bananas 

1. Peel the green bananas
2. Boil them in water, salt and milk.
3. Check them after 10 minutes. It's important that they are soft, but firm so that they won't fall apart.
4. Once done cut them in 1/2 inch slices and set apart.

B- Prep

1. Cut the 2 onions
2. Mash the 4 garlic cloves

C- The Brine (Escabeche)

1. Put he olive oil in a cast iron pot on low heat
2. Add the vinegar.
3. Add the Bat Leaves
4. Add the whole black peppercorns
5. Add the ground black pepper and salt.
6. Add the mashed cloves
7. Add the onions
8. Cook on low (2-3) until the onions are soft.
9. Add the cooked green bananas and mix well.

Peel and boil the green bananas with salt and milk. 

(The milk will keep the bananas from turning black)

Once done cut them in 1/2 inch wheels and set apart.

Cut the onions.

Mash the garlic cloves

Add the olive oil

Add the vinegar

Add the Bay leaves

Add the whole black peppercorns

Add the ground pepper and salt.

Add the mashed garlic cloves

Add the onions

Cook on a low heat until de onions are soft.

Once done, add the bananas.

Mix well.  You can eat them warm or refrigerate them and eat them cold. 

Serve with pork chop stewed rice or pork shoulder.

Enjoy!

Basic Seasoning for Meats

This is one of my favorite meat seasonings. We use it a lot here and it goes with any kind of meat. It's simple to make and very flavorfull. I used it in my past post of pork shoulder, but I figured it would be useful to have it in a separate post. Hope you guys enjoy making recipes with it!

Ingredients for the Adobo:

6 cloves of garlic 

6 black peppercorns (or ¼ tsp. of ground black pepper)

1 tsp. of dry oregano

1 ½ tbsp. of olive oil

1 ½ tbsp. of white vinegar

1 tsp. of salt per pound of meat

Crush the garlic cloves in the mortar.

Add the salt and continue mashing. 

Add the ground black pepper.

Add the dried oregano.

Add the olive oil

Add the white vinegar

 Lastly add the salt and combine everything. 

Pork Shoulder (Pernil al horno)

My husband loves pork shoulder, so every New Year's Eve I make him this traditional Puerto Rican dish. Despite the fact that I eat it every Christmas season, I was a little scared the first time I tried to make it at home, almost five years ago... That said, it really is a fairly easy, straightforward recipe so don't be afraid to try it yourself!

Also one piece of advise, as with pretty much any meat don't be afraid to really use your hands. For some people handling raw meat is a little icky. Well I'm here to tell you that your hands are your most valuable utensil in the kitchen so don't be afraid or grossed out. It's your food!

     

Procedure for the day before baking

Slice and remove the excess fat. 

Weight your remaining meat. Weighing your meat is vital as it determines how much seasoning you'll be employing.

Briefly rinse the meat under running water then immediately pat it dry with a paper towel. (Make sure to dry it well or else the meat won't brown properly.)

Place the meat in the cooking vessel, fat side up.

Score the meat. The cuts should be about an 1/8 of an inch deep and 1 1/2 inches apart.

Lastly rub the adobo all over the meat and then refrigerate overnight. (See the adobo recipe below)

Adobo Recipe

(The amounts used in this recipe produce enough adobo for a 4-5 pound pork shoulder.)

Ingredients for the Adobo:

6 cloves of garlic 

6 black peppercorns (or ¼ tsp. of ground black pepper)

1 tsp. of dry oregano

1 ½ tbsp. of olive oil

1 ½ tbsp. of white vinegar

1 tsp. of salt per pound of meat. (4 tsp. in this case)

Crush the garlic cloves in the mortar.

Add the salt and continue mashing. 

Add the ground black pepper.

Add the dried oregano.

Add the olive oil

Add the white vinegar

 Lastly add the salt and combine everything. 

Really rub the mixture into all of the pork shoulder. Then cover everything with aluminum foil and put it in the fridge.

Procedure for baking day

Remove the baking pan from the fridge and collect any liquid that the meat may have released. Drizzle any liquid over the meat.

Insert your meat thermometer into the meat (not just the fat). Be careful not to hit the bone when you do this.

Bake the pork shoulder for 35 min. per pound of meat or until the meat reaches 185 degrees F.

Enjoy!!

Guava Sauce

 

This past Sunday we decided to have our baby's first BBQ gathering at my parent's house, but the weather didn't let us. So we decided to cook inside. My brother is obsessed with my savory mango sauce, but even though I love it too I wanted to make a variety of sauces because my sister was going to bring chicken wings. So I made strawberry sauce and a guava sauce to dip the wings in. Obviously I had to make the savory mango sauce for my brother regardless. If I arrived at my parent's house without that sauce he would've banished me from his life! The whole purpose of the BBQ in the first place was the mango sauce! So, I brought it and two new sauces for the wings. I must say both sauces were incredible! This post will be for the guava sauce and my next one will be for the strawberry sauce.

A while back  I was looking for a guava sauce recipe to fall in love with, but after researching (and being disappointed by) several recipes I decided to make my own. This is an extremely simple recipe because I love to let the guava be the star so using the least amount of ingredients lets the guava flavor shine! I really loved the result. However what really made my day was being able to be in the kitchen experimenting once again with my hubby watching and tasting everything I was doing. I must confess I'm the kind of girl that loves to entertain and loves making other people happy with my food. So watching my husband eating what I make is the best gift ever!  (Honey if you read this... it doesn't mean I don't love when you buy me cooking books, pot, pans or kitchen tools! Those are amazing gifts too!! Don't stop! ;) ) Now back to the recipe... lol After making this sauce and tasting it, I will probably make a few variations of this basic sauce. So it's probable that you guys will see at least two or three more guava sauces. 

You can use this sweet, simple sauce in meats and even desserts! The sky is the limit! Enjoy!!

Until next time.

Ingredients:

Three triangles of guava paste
1/4 cup of water
1 Tablespoon of brown sugar
1 Teaspoon of white vinegar

Procedure:

This is the guava paste I use.

When you open it you will see it's divided into triangles. Cut three of them into little pieces.

Put the guava paste into a saucepan. Add the water. Mix it at a medium temperature 5-6. Then add the light brown sugar and the white vinegar.

After a few minutes it will have rich, thick consistency. If by any chance you want the sauce a bit more runny add a little water, or remove from the heat sooner. Enjoy!

Savory Mango Sauce

Today was the celebration of my 28th Birthday at my parent's house. The family got together and we made a BBQ. This Savory mango sauce was amazingly delicious. It's a keeper!! It's important that when you make not to let it boil for a long time because it will quickly burn. Believe me! I was paying more attention to the computer the first time I made it and... well I had to do it all over. Hope you guys enjoy it as much as my family and I did! I will be making more of this sauce pretty soon. (I'll post more complete photos when I repeat the recipe. I totally forgot to take pictures this time. Sorry.)

 Ingredients:

1 cup of chopped frozen mangoes

½ cup white vinegar

½ cup of white sugar

2 cloves of garlic

A pinch of salt

 Procedure:

Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth

Pour the mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil. 

Cook the sauce for 5 minutes at a simmer, stirring it until it thickens or become translucent. 

Remove from heat and let it cool.

Add the frozen mangoes.

Add the vinegar.

Add the white sugar.

Add the garlic cloves and salt.

Once you've processed it; it would look like baby food.

Pour the mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil. 

Cook the sauce for 5 minutes at a simmer, stirring it until it thickens or become translucent. 

Remove from heat and let it cool.