NC Road Trip Recipes and Pollo Tropical

The following recipes replicate two wonderful dishes we found at the Cúrate Tapas Bar in Asheville, NC.  If you're in the area, try to get in.  Reservations definitely required -- a week in advance if you can!!

Ajo Blanco

Warning! If you LOVE garlic, and almonds, you may find yourself addicted to this dish! 

This cold Spanish soup, called White Garlic, is the perfect meal for those hot summer nights. The basic recipe dates back to the 800s – the time of Charlemagne. Super simple. Serves 4 with dinner-size bowls of soup, or 8 with an appetizer/starter size bowl.

2+ cups ice-cold Water

1 cup blanched whole Almonds (see below)

2-3 cloves fresh Garlic, minced

1 (6-8 oz.) Baguette, preferably a day-old stale one, crusts removed, white innards torn into pieces

1/3 cup Olive Oil, plus more

3 Tbsp Sherry Vinegar

Kosher salt, to taste

White Pepper, to taste

16-20 Green Grapes

Quarter the grapes, mince the garlic, and reserve as separate items.

 

Ajo Blanco ready to pour and eat.

To Blanch Almonds:

The brown color of the almond skins would not be very attractive in this dish. Beside which, the skins impart a bitterness to the taste of the nut that is not wanted here. Getting the skins off is really easy, especially if you have an electric kettle to boil water quickly.

• Place the almonds in a bowl
• Pour boiling water to barely cover the nuts
• Let the almonds sit for 1 minute
  
• Drain, rinse under cold water, and drain again
• Pinch/rub the skins off of the wet nuts.
  
  

To Make and Serve the Ajo Blanco:

Combine 3/4 cup water, blanched almonds, and bread in a food processor and let them sit until bread is softened, 4–5 minutes. Purée until smooth. With the motor running, add the remaining water, the oil, and the vinegar. Continue to purée until the oil and water emulsify. Taste.  Adjust seasonings and vinegar as needed.  Chill the soup several hours. 

To serve, put a quarter of the minced garlic and a quarter of the sliced grapes in each bowl first. Then pour the cold liquid over all, as seen in the first photo.

You could probably make a “shortcut” version of this soup using unsweetened, unflavored Almond Milk instead of blanching and pureeing almonds, but the result might not be as creamy, and there's a textural element to the pureed nut that would be missing. ...

Mongetes

Mongetes, or fried white beans, are often served with a special Catalonian sausage, in a dish called Butifarra amb Mongetes.   It's easy to find recipes for refried beans but really difficult to find recipes for simple fried beans!  This side dish goes well with any red meat; even chicken breasts with the right seasoning profile. Start with

1/2 lb dried Great Northern or larger White Beans

1 order Spanish Salsa Verde (see below)

Cook the beans according to package directions until tender. Stir very little, to keep the skins intact. Drain and dry very thoroughly on paper towels. Reserve. Can be prepared the day before.

To Make Spanish Salsa Verde:

This, by American standards, is a pesto rather than a salsa. Who cares. It really makes this dish come alive!

3/4 cup de-stemmed Parsley (or just chop from the curly end, not the stem end of the bunch...)

1/3+ cup Olive Oil

1/4 cup croutons

2-3 cloves Garlic

Salt to taste

Combine the garlic and parsley with the croutons and oil in a blender or food processor. Whirrrr until the mixture is thin, slowly adding more oil if needed. Salt to taste. Makes about half a cup of salsa, which can be stored in a small jar in your fridge.

To Make Mongetes:

In a skillet, add a good splash of olive oil, and when it is smoking hot, add the cooked beans in a single layer. Sauté, turning gently, until crisp and starting to brown. Add 1-2 Tbsp of the Salsa Verde and stir gently to combine. Serve any way you want.

I served it with chicken breasts spiced with Ras al Hanut spice blend, making a Spanish-Moroccan themed dinner.

Indian Fried Okra

We discovered this dish at the Chai Pani Indian Street Food restaurant on our first trip to Asheville, two years ago, and I set out to duplicate the taste.  This trip we went back and had the dish again to see how close I had come.  Very close, it turns out, considering I don't deep fry, I cook mine on a grill...

1 lb fresh Okra

1 package Amchur Powder (dried green mango) from your local Indian market

1 Lime, juiced

Salt to taste

Trim the caps off the okra, and slice them in halves (or thirds if large) lengthwise.  

Heat a couple tablespoons of EVOO on a griddle or large skillet until smoking hot.  Add the okra in a single layer.  After a few minutes, add 1-2 Tbsp of the Amchur powder, sprinkling it evenly overall.  Fry until the okra has good deep color and getting crispy.  Remove to paper towels to drain, and sprinkle with salt and lime juice.

 

At this stage, add the Amchur powder and a bit of salt.

 

If you have a deep fryer, or want to put an inch of vegetable oil in a deep wide pot, deep-frying the okra will make an even better dish.  Sprinkle with lime, Amchur and salt after frying, while the okra drains on paper towels.

Pollo Tropicale

My Floribeño - flavored chicken breasts really rock as a main dish protein. Use one packet of Sazon Tropical spice blend (I prefer Badia tm brand, but the Goya tm is good too) per 2-4 breast halves.

Note that I use the Sazon Tropical con Annato y Achiote – the orange box and packets. Not the “ordinary” green box Sazon Tropical. It's the annato which gives the food (and your fingers) that vibrant golden color.

Dust both sides thoroughly and pan fry in a splash of oil. Start with the 'beauty' side down, and cook for 5-6 minutes without touching the meat. Then turn the breasts over, add a cup of water, lid the pan, and cook another 5-6 minutes. That gives you perfectly done, moist chicken, every time.

Serve with a variety of veggie and starch sides. To stay “tropical” you might want to serve the chicken with Yuca, Name or Boniato as the starch. Corn, fried okra, peas, or green beans with carrots are good veg choices.

 

Sartu di Riso, Birthday Trip Food

Sartu di Riso

As I mentioned in the last post, I cribbed this recipe from Giada De Laurentiis of Food Network. It's a timballo that is apparently native to Naples, Italy  #LucianoFuria  It's a long, but when broken into steps, not complicated recipe to assemble and cook. You be the judge if the ends justify the means. I'd do it again in a heartbeat,  but maybe only a couple times a year.

We had Sally's birthday dinner on Sunday, so her Mum could be here, and this is what my Sartu di Riso turned out like:

 

As you can see, it's a rice-crusted timbale or timballo stuffed with mini meatballs, thick marinara, mushrooms, frozen peas and pearl onions, and whatever else you might like, such as hardboiled eggs (which I did not include). It can be made in an ordinary deep open pan, but a fluted bundt pan makes a much nicer presentation.

You'll have some leftovers of the various stages. But that's a good thing. Freeze them, and later you can stir them all together and put in a pie shell to make another yummy dinner.  Here's what you need to make:

We'll take this one segment at a time.

Rice

1 pound Arborio or Valencio short-grained rice (2 1/3 cups)
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth or water and bouillion cubes
Salt to taste
3 cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
3 large eggs, at room temperature (see Making the Crust, below)

Combine the rice, broth and salt (if desired) in a large pot. Stir and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, stir once, cover, and simmer about 8 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.

Remove rice to a large bowl, stir in 2-1/2 cups of the Parmigiano. Reserve the rest for the Adding the Top phase of things.  Stir to combine well and let cool to room temperature.

Later on you'll also need a tablespoon or two of butter, and 1/4 cup of fine ground breadcrumbs to make the 'mold release' layer in the pan before you pack the rice into the walls and stem of the pan.

Marinara
24 oz jar Pasta Sauce of your choice

½ cup diced Onion

¼ cup diced Red Bell Pepper

additional Italian herbs and spices to taste

2 cloves Garlic, minced

1 lb 80/20 Ground Beef

Saute the garlic, onion and bell peppers until soft. Add the beef and cook until it's mostly browned. Now add the pasta sauce, stir to combine, and simmer to thicken (stiff, not sloppy). Reserve.

Need to thicken more or faster??? A couple tablespoons of Grits (polenta, cornmeal) will do the trick!

Meatballs

If you're a masochist, makes these from scratch! I took the easy route and bought a dozen Italian meatballs (a pound) from the meat department at my megamart. Throw a splash of oil in a skillet and let it heat. Cut each meatball in quarters, and re-roll between your palms to make grape-sized balls. Saute a few minutes until cooked through. Drain and reserve.

Mushrooms

Use the same pan and flavored oil from the meatballs.

8 oz whole small Crimini mushrooms

You don't really want any mushrooms as big as an inch in diameter. Quarter larger 'shrooms, and saute them all a few minutes until they reduce a bit in size and are cooked through. Drain on paper towels and reserve.

Peas and Pearl Onions

You'll want about two cups. I used a box of frozen pearl onions and two cups of frozen peas.

Mozarella

Traditional recipes call for cubes of fresh mozzarella. I just used an 8 oz bag of large shreds instead. Stir this into the marinara sauce, just before filling the timbale crust.

Lining The Pan

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter, and use your spice grinder to whirrrr a quarter cup of panko into really fine crumbs. Grease the inside of the pan and the stem very well, then dust the panko all around. Make sure everything is well coated with butter and crumbs and there are no 'bald' spots. A good layer of “mold release” is essential to making the final product look extra special. Reserve the breadcrumbs which don't stick.

IF you happen to have a non-stick bundt pan, like the one I borrowed, you can more or less skip this step. The butter and breadcrumbs just won't stick!

Making the Crust

Beat the three eggs, and mix them into the rice-cheese mixture.  Spoon about 2/3 of the rice mixture into the pan. Using wet hands, press an even layer into the bottom of the pan, up the fluted side, and all around the stem. The crust should stand nearly 3” up the side. If you have a non-stick pan, nothing will stick to the center stem either!

Filling the Crust

Spoon in a layer of the thick marinara sauce, then a layer of meat balls. Then add the mushrooms, followed by layers of peas and cheese. Repeat until the crust is full.

Adding the Top

Spoon the remaining rice mixture on top of the last layer of filling, and seal it well against the crust around the stem and side. Smooth it flat and dust with the reserved Parmigiano cheese.

Bake and Serve

You can keep the prepared but uncooked Sartu di Riso overnight in the fridge.  Bring it back to room temperature for a few hours the next day, before cooking.  

Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the assembled timbale 45 minutes. 

Then let the pan rest for at least 10 minutes before flipping the timbale upside down onto a plate. You may need a couple of sharp taps on the pan with a wooden spoon to get a good release.

Slice like a cake and serve wedges of goodness, with or without side dishes, crusty bread, etc.

Strawberry Shortcake
 Birthday dinner deserves a nice dessert, and what better for a June dessert than Strawberry Shortcake.  My Mom always used those store-bought spongecake things, but I make my Soda Biscuits which I've written about before.  I add a bit of sugar and to sweeten them up just a bit -- before baking, brush the tops of the biscuits with milk, and sprinkle then with sugar.

The big twist this time was that instead of Sour Cream with Bisquicktm and Ginger Ale, I used the same amount of Greek Yogurt.  Couldn't really tell any difference in the taste or texture. 

Birthday Week Food

The last two years, Sally and I went down to the Florida Keys for our birthday week excursion. This year we went to the mountains of North Carolina, and stayed at our friends' summer home up a mountain outside of Burnsville (an hour from Asheville). We arrived kinda late and had a reasonable dinner at Bubba's BBQ, then bought groceries in town before making our way up the mountain.    At our friends' house, I cooked and we ate our usual sorts of meals. Breakfasts were usually omelets, or apples and peanut butter. Lunches were coldcuts and cheese, again with apples and crackers. For dinners I made Stuffed Eggplant, Panko Cod, and Pollo Tropicale.

For my birthday we went into wonderful downtown Burnsville, to the Snap Dragon gastro pub. The town was named after Captain Otway Burns, a War of 1812 naval hero, and the pub is named after his ship. I had a trio of really nice lamb sliders with a sort of Greek salad on the side; while Sally had two excellent grouper tacos. We shared an order of nicely done NC-style Fried Pickles, dill spears dredged in a light tempura-style batter and deep fried, served with two dipping sauces.

Before flying back to Fort Myers, we stayed overnight at an AirBnb in downtown Asheville, right in the art district. For lunch we went back to one of our favorite restaurants, Chai Pani, an Indian Street Food restaurant. We had an order of their Okra Fries to see how the ones I've been making compared to the original. Then Sally had Aloo Tiki Challa – potato cakes on a bed of spiced garbanzos with a thick tomato sauce. My lunch was called a Sloppy Jai (Kheema Pav), which was a spiced lamb “hash” with tomato, ginger, and garnished with green onion, cilanto, green chutney and a dab of yogurt and served on nice buns. “The most awesome Sloppy Joe ever!” pretty much sums it up.

That night for dinner we went to a wonderful Tapas Bar called Cúrate, recommended by Sally's niece Ally, who drove over from Greenville, SC to spend a couple hours with us.  The restaurant is supposedly rated one of the top ten tapas bars in America.  It certainly was outstanding food, and popular.  The place was SRO at 6:30 on a Thursday evening!!  We shared Ajo Blanco, a garlic/grape/almond cold soup the recipe for which dates back to the 800s; Bocadillo Serrano, a special kind of ham sandwich, Espinacas al la Catalan, a warm spinach salad with diced apple, toasted pine nuts, and raisins; Butifarra con Mangetes, a unique pork sausage with fried white beans and Spanish Salsa Verde; and Esparragos Verdes, grilled green asparagus with Romesco sauce and a drizzle of EVOO.

Look for my versions of some of the above dishes in upcoming posts of Fooding Around With The Kilted Cook.

Timbale, Frango, Lentils and more...

Back to recipes again. At least for this week. Next week's post may be delayed, as Sally & I are going to the hills of North Carolina for our birthday week, and both wifi and cell phone service are sketchy at best up there. Anyway I've got some good stuff for you to try this week.

Timballo di Melanzana

Fancy name, huh? Timballo is an Italian word for “drum”, the root word for the large half-round orchestral drum called a timpani. Melanzana is Italian for “eggplant”. A timbale or timballo is a totally crust enclosed deep-dish filling of assorted meats, sausage, vegetables, shaped pasta, marinara, cheeses, etc. A huge timballo featured prominently in the 1996 dramatic comedy The Big Night. A must-see movie if you're a real foodie!

While Sally was in her conference last weekend, I caught an episode of Giada in Italy on the Food Network. She was making Sartu di Riso, a kind of Timbale with rice for the enclosing crust rather than pasta pastry.

One of my first successful “follow the chef” recipes was a vegetable timbale that I saw Jacques Pepin do on his PBS show maybe 40 years ago. That recipe used a loaf pan lined with de-crusted bread slices as the crust for a vegetable and egg filling – sort of a deep dish covered quiche.

One thing led to another – you know how Internet searches can be – and I found a timbale that I just knew Sally and I would love. Timballo di Melanzana – Eggplant Timbale. 

Don't care for eggplant? You could also make this dish using those giant forearm-sized zucchini that everyone keeps giving you Pick ones that are not too ripe, so the seedy center is still firm.

 In this dish, thin “planks” of eggplant are overlapped to form the crust, with pasta, tomato “gravy”, beef and pork sausage, peas and cheeses form the filling. This timbale is not as deep-dish as most – it's more of a snare drum than a bass drum. Everything fits inside a 9” springform pan.

3 medium or 2 very large Eggplant, long rather than fat

½ lb ground Beef

½ lb ground Pork

½ lb Ziti or Penne pasta

Spices to taste – garlic, oregano, sage, pepper, basil, Cavenders tm, etc. Or use generic Italian Seasoning.

2 cups Tomato Sauce or jarred Pasta Sauce (I used the inexpensive Hunts tm canned sauce)

4 oz. Mushrooms chopped

1 medium Onion, diced

1 cup frozen Green Peas

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup cubed Provolone or Mozzarella cheese

EVOO as needed

Panko or Breadcrumbs as needed

Slice the eggplant into 1/4” thick planks by trimming off the ends, standing the eggplant on end, and slicing downwards. If you've got a mandolin slicer that would work great too. Lay the planks out in a single layer on a baking sheet, drizzle with EVOO, and dust with spices (I used Cavenders). Broil the planks about 4 minutes per side until browned and softened (but not mushy). Repeat until all the eggplant is broiled. Reserve and let the eggplant cool.

While that's going on, bring a large deep pot of water to boil and cook the pasta al dente, according to package instructions. Drain and reserve.

In the same deep pot (saves on dishes), brown the meat, garlic, onion, mushrooms and spices. Add the tomato sauce and simmer a bit to combine flavors. Now add the drained pasta and stir to combine. Turn off the heat, and fold in the peas and cheeses. If the mixture is too thin, add a handful of Panko or other breadcrumbs to tighten it up. You don't want 'runny' sauce here.

Drape the longest eggplant planks from the bottom, over the edge of the springform, and hanging down outside.  Overlap the planks for complete coverage of the side of the pan. Make sure plenty of plank hangs over the edge (so it can be folded over the top later). Use additional pieces to finish lining the bottom of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Spoon the filling into the pan, packing it down well to make sure the corner gets filled. Fold the eggplant flaps over the top of the filled pan, and cover the rest of the top with the remaining eggplant.

Bake the timbale 45 minutes or more, until the top is nicely browned and the cheeses are melted. Cool on the counter 10 minutes before inverting the pan onto a platter. Unlatch and remove the springform pan, and dust the top of the timbale with some remaining Parmesan.

Slice like a cake, and serve.

Sally gave this a 9.5 rating, and declared it a definite Keeper recipe. It sure was tasty. Next time I'll add 2 cups of frozen peas and 8 oz of mushrooms. We had, between us, one quarter of the recipe for dinner, and another quarter for lunches the next day. Plus leftovers for two more dinners for two! That's good value for the time and effort you put into this dish. You can prepare the dish several hours in advance and let it rest uncooked in the refrigerator until just prior to baking. If you like white sauce pasta dishes, there's no reason you couldn't make this with handmade white sauce or a jar of Garlic Alfredo sauce rather than red gravy – a different flavor, but no doubt tasty as well.

In the near future, I'm going to try Giada's Sartu di Riso recipe as well, so stay tuned. Timbales are time consuming but the tasty rewards justify the effort!

Amazon Grill

Sally had a girl's night out with two friends on Saturday, so I was left on my own for dinner. I went to a nearby Brazilian place I'd heard about called The Amazon Grill, a Brazilian steak house and buffet. Nice place, although mostly empty on a Saturday night. I really wish them well. This is a real “mom & pop” kinda place. Mom is is the kitchen making comfort food for the buffet, or meals to order from the menu. Dad runs the grilled meat room where they do all sorts of meats and sausages. The son runs the front of house and his wife doubles both front and back.  Lots of interesting items on the menu that I hadn't seen before.  I make a couple of Brazilian dishes – notably Feijoado and Moqueca.  Now, after talking to Mom and her son, I have a couple of other dishes to add to my repertoire.

Frango com Quiabo (frang-o com kee-ah-boh)

Chicken with Okra is Brazilian comfort food. You know I'm not particularly fond of okra. But the way it's used in this dish takes away all the slime, and makes a great “gravy” – make sure to keep plenty of liquid; don't let it tighten up. This was one of the dishes I sampled, and it is really tasty. I'm surprised Southerners haven't adopted this dish!

2 Chicken Breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

Juice of 1 Lime

3 Tbsp White Vinegar

2 cloves Garlic, minced

Salt and Pepper

2-3 cups chopped fresh Okra

Vegetable Oil as needed

1 large Onion, diced

1 Green Bell Pepper, diced

1 Tomato, diced

1-2 cups Chicken Broth (low-sodium is best)

Cut the stem ends off, and cut the okra lengthwise into half-inch rounds. Place in a colander and salt generously, tossing to coat. Season with black pepper too. Let the okra drain for about an hour.

For the marinade, whisk together the lime juice, vinegar, 3 tablespoons of oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper to taste.

Put the chicken pieces in a zip top bag, and add the marinade, Remove the air and marinate the meat at least 30 minutes (or several hours to overnight in the fridge, which is what they do at the restaurant). 
 
Add 4 tablespoons of oil to a deep skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the okra and fry until pieces start to get slightly browned, but most is still bright green. Using a slotted spoon, remove okra to paper towels, and set aside to drain.

Add the chicken and marinade to the same skillet and cook until the meat is browned on all sides. Remove and reserve.

Add the onion, bell pepper, and tomato to the skillet. Cook until soft and fragrant, about 8-10 minutes.

Add the chicken back to skillet, and add broth until the chicken is about half covered. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through. Just before serving, add the reserved okra, and stir. Serves 4.

Frango com Quiabo is often served with a side of:

Angu

Angu is basically Brazilian polenta. Simple and easy.  Usually cooked until creamy, and served like mashed potatoes; it can also be cooked stiff and molded into an oiled ring for serving.

1-1/2 cups stone ground Yellow Corn Meal

Salt to taste

2 cups Chicken Broth

2 cups Water

2 Tbsp Butter

Bring water/broth to a boil. Slowly stir in the corn meal. Season with salt to taste. Cook at a low simmer, stirring very frequently, until cornmeal reaches desired consistency, adding more liquid if necessary. Remove from heat, stir in butter, and serve. 

 

Spiced Lentil Salad

Got this recipe by Dan Buettner off of the Splendid Table website. ST is a PBS radio program that we hear on Saturdays, hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, from American Public Media.

This recipe makes a vegetarian main course warm lentil salad. It pairs well with cooked greens or a tossed green salad, which is what I did for dinner last night.

1-1/2 cups green Lentils (or any other kind you fancy)

2 tablespoons EVOO

1 large White Onion, diced

Juice of 1 lemon

1 Tbsp minced peeled fresh Ginger

1/2 tsp Chili Powder (I used a mild Cajun spice blend)

1/2 tsp mild Paprika

1/2 tsp Salt

Put the lentils in a medium saucepan and add enough water so they’re submerged by 2 inches. Yep that's lots of water, but it's OK.  Bring to a simmer over high heat; then reduce heat to low and cook uncovered, until tender, about 20-25 minutes. Drain in a colander set over a bowl, and reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and cook until softened. Stir in the lentils, lemon juice, ginger, chili powder, paprika, and salt. Stir a minute or two, until fragrant. If the dish seems too dry, add the reserved cooking liquid a bit at a time until a the dish is a little saucy, but not soupy. Serve warm.  I paired it with a simple green salad which, as you can see above, included Romaine, yellow cherry tomatoes, diced red bell pepper, shredded carrot, and sunflower seed; served with a creamy ranch dressing.