Browsing Category LATIN DISHES
Anita’s Plantain Basket with Avocado and Shredded Beef
Ingredients
4 plantains, sliced
Vegetable Oil, for frying
2 avocados
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and pepper TT (to taste)
green onions, for garnish
Shredded Beef (see my site for recipe)
Preparation
- Peel ripe plantains. Cut into 1 – 1 1/2inch slices.
- Preheat oven to 375 grades Fahrenheit.
- In a deep pan with plenty of vegetable oil, fry plantains until golden brown on both sides.
- Press each plantain(using 2 or 3 slices per each basket) into the bottom of a large muffin tin pan.
Place into preheated oven for about 20 minutes to crisp up around the borders. Remove from oven, let them cool for 15 minutes before removing plantain basket with a spatula from pan.
Set aside over a platter. - In a bowl, mash avocados. Add pinch of salt, pepper and lemon juice. Set aside.
- To assemble: Place 2 Tablespoon of warm shredded beef in each plantain basket, top with cheese.
7. Then top with a dollop of avocado, sour cream, and a sprinkle of some green onions. Enjoy! 
Anita’s Easy Baked Tortilla Chips
Ingredients
6 large flour or corn tortilla
2 Tablespoon of canola oil
4 Tablespoon of white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cumin, ground
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon paprika
1/3 teaspoon chili powder
Preparation
- Preheat oven at 350 grades Fahrenheit.
- Pile 3 tortillas up and using a pizza cutter cut into 8 slices. Repeat same for the other 3 tortillas.
- Line a baking sheet pan with foil and arrange tortilla wedges in a single layer. Brush tortillas wedges with the mix of oil and vinegar.
4. Sprinkle tortillas with spices.
5. Bake chips for about 8 to 10 minutes or until chips are golden brown and crispy. 
Serve next to your favorite salsa or guacamole. Enjoy!
Anita’s best Venezuelan Arepas with Delicious Shredded Beef
Arepas Dough
Ingredients
2-3 cups Arepa Flour (White pre-cooked Corn Flour)
2-3 cups warm water
1 1/2 teaspoon salt, fine
2 Tablespoon vegetable oil, some extra for the griddle
Preparation
- Place into a large bowl arepa flour and salt. Mix it with your hands.
- Add warm water slowly, keep mixing as you add until no lumps.
- Incorporate vegetable oil. Mix in until dough is firm, well combined and smooth.
- Cover the bowl with a damp towel. Set aside and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
- Preheat and set on medium heat your electric griddle or cast iron griddle brushed with vegetable oil.
- Meanwhile form Arepas by dividing your dough into 12-15 pieces each of approximately 4 inches disc in diameter and 1/4 inch thick.
- Cook the arepas for about 2 minutes on each side until lightly charred.
- Remove from griddle.
Split arepas in half with a serrated knife nearly all the way and stuff. Ready to serve warm and delicious. Enjoy!
Shredded Beef Filling (see recipe on my site)
Arepas can also be fried or baked using same Dough recipe. They can be stored in the refrigerator up to 3-5 days, and best reheated in an oven at 350 grades Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes .
Anita’s Best Bundt Pan Rotisserie Chicken
Ingredients
3 large carrots, quartered
1 large onion, quartered
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4 large potatoes, quartered
1 cup butternut squash, quartered
2 Tablespoon dried basil
2 Tablespoon fresh sage leaves, chopped
2 Tablespoon dried oregano
juice of 2 lemons
4 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
2 Tablespoon balsamic glaze
1/4 cup white wine
2 Tablespoon Yellow mustard
1 Tablespoon butter
Preparation
- Cover the center hole of a large Bundt cake pan with foil and place Bundt cake pan over a large baking pan with foil.
- Preheat oven to 375 grades Fahrenheit.
- Put lemon juice, fresh garlic, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, pepper, mustard, dried herbs, and white wine in a re-sealable plastic bag. Shake all to combine and drop in chicken to coat evenly. Place in refrigerator for at least 4 to 5 hours or overnight.
- Arrange potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, onions and sage leaves in the bowl of a Bundt cake pan and place other half of veggies on the baking tray with foil around Bundt cake pan. Drizzle all onions, potatoes carrots and sage with olive oil. Seasoned with salt and pepper.
- Remove chicken from the fridge and place chicken in the center of the Bundt cake pan, breast side up. Pour juices from the marinade over vegetables all around inside Bundt cake pan.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper and rub butter over the skin. Place the chicken in the middle rack of the oven.
- Roast chicken for about 55 to 60 minutes uncovered.
- Higher the temperature of oven to 425 grades Fahrenheit.
- Remove chicken from oven and drizzle balsamic glaze over the skin. Roast chicken for another 30 to 35 minutes until skin is crispy, golden all around, veggies are fork tender and chicken is cooked through.
- Remove chicken from oven and let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes. Delicious, juicy, tender chicken with roasted vegetables to enjoy next to rice or salad. Don’t forget to use the drippings from the pan.Yum!
Anita’s Most Delicious Homemade Venezuelan Cachapas (Fresh Corn Pancakes)
Ingredients for two Cachapas
2 cups fresh yellow corn kernels
1/4 cup whole milk
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 cup cornmeal or harina pan venezolana (international aisles to find)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup fresh grated mozzarella cheese or (authentic queso mano)
Preparation
- Grind the yellow corn in a food processor or blender. Blend together yellow corn kernels, milk, sugar, cornmeal or harina pan, and butter until batter have thickened and well blended with a smooth consistency.
- Preheat a griddle or a cast iron pan over medium heat.
- Grease the griddle with a little butter (using a paper towel). Pour about a half cup measured or more of the batter creating a circle well even distributed.
- Cook Cachapas on one side for about 4 to 5 minutes. Flip and sprinkle mozzarella cheese over. Cook for another 2 to 4 minutes on the other side until cheese has melted completely and cachapa is golden brown. Fold in half and spread butter over the top. Yumm!
Note: You can have this delicious Homemade Fresh Corn Cachapa typically served next to a delicious doll of Venezuelan Nata or creamy Mexican Sour Cream and “queso de mano” which can be substitute with mozzarella cheese. Enjoy!
Anita’s best Chicken Tortilla Soup
Best ever soup…cook it once, you eat it twice and freeze it for months.
Ingredients
2 Tablespoon olive oil
2 (8 ounce)cans diced tomatoes
1 (15 ounce)can corn
1 (46 ounce) can chicken broth or make your own
1 (8 ounce)can tomato sauce
1 large onion, small diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 stalk of celery, small diced
3 carrots, round cut
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
3 tablespoon cilantro, minced
1 fresh juice of a lemon
4 cups cooked shredded chicken
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 Tablespoon cumin
1 Tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Garnish
Avocado slices, strips of tortilla, cilantro leaves and sour cream.
Preparation
- In a large pot, on a medium heat sate in olive oil onions, celery, carrots and garlic for about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, jalapenos, corn and shredded chicken. Stir all ingredients well.
- Place chicken broth on top of vegetables. Add tomato sauce. Season with salt, pepper, chili powder and cumin.
- Bring soup to a boil uncovered. Lower heat and simmer for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Pour lemon juice over soup. Add cilantro.
- When ready to serve, garnish with sour cream, extra cilantro leaves, and tortilla stripes. Enjoy!
Anita’s Most Tender Roasted Pork Shoulder
Tender Pork shoulder soaked in a citrusy marinade, a combination of oranges and lime. Cooked covered in an unglazed natural Clay Pot, that produces more steam and elevates the concentration of flavors.
Ingredients
4 pounds pork shoulder (Bone-in)
10 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups fresh orange juice
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1/2 cup springs fresh oregano leaves
1 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon cumin, ground
1 Tablespoon garlic, ground
1 Tablespoon Annato (achiote)spice
1 teaspoon cloves, ground
1 teaspoon parsley, dried
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Teaspoon black ground pepper
Preparation
- Using a mortar or using a food processor, smash garlic, cilantro, and mint leaves with a 1/3 teaspoon salt until it becomes a paste.
- In a plastic bag combine olive oil, orange juice, lime juice oregano, ground cloves, cumin, dried parsley, annatto, salt and pepper and mix it up. Add pork in.
- Place marinated pork over a dish into the refrigerator overnight.
- Meanwhile, soak your clay pot in cold water if it was used before for 20 to 30 minutes, otherwise it has to be soaked overnight if it wasn’t never used . (The use of a regular roasting pan can be used pre-heating your oven before as usual).
- Place pork with juices from the marinate into the clay pot. Insert into a cold oven in the middle rack .Set your oven to 385 grades Fahrenheit.
- Roast for 4 to 5 hours. Insert thermometer in the center and check for 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Pork should be fork tender.
- Remove heavy, clay pot from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes.
- The magic of cooking in a natural clay pot, is that meat becomes extremely tender, caramelized top with an exceptional juicy meat. Serve next to fried plantains(Maduros)see recipe below, black beans(see recipe on my site under Venezuelan Pabellon criollo), and white rice. Enjoy!
Fried Plantains (Maduros)
- Heat 1/2 cup of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Peel 2 ripe plantains in an angle, 3/4 inches thick.
- Brown plantains for about 2 minutes in both sides until golden brown.
- Remove and place over paper towel to drain oil excess.
- Serve warm, cold or at room temperature.
Anita’s Grilled Skirt Steak Quesadillas
Please visit my site for Grilled Skirt Steak Recipe. 🙂
Anita’s Mexican style Grilled Steak for Quesadillas or Burritos
Delicious spiced-rubbed tender skirt steak. Assemble carne asada (grilled steak) into a quesadilla, burrito or have on its own over salad. “No Worries”, you don’t feel like grilling? Use a cast iron pan instead. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 pound skirt steak, cut in long stripes
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon of Adobo seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup of vegetable oil (for grilling)
6 ( 10 inch) flour tortillas
Preparation for Marinating Steak
- Whisk together olive oil, vinegar. Add adobo, garlic, cayenne, chili powder, salt and pepper seasoning.
- Incorporate the steak into the marinate to coat thoroughly in a plastic bag. Place it into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Preparing the outdoor Grill
- Heat grill to 400 grades Fahrenheit. Rub the grate with vegetable oil using a grill brush.
- Place the steaks on the grill and cook until medium well or rare (optional), on one side until seared for about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn steak over and sear other side for about 2 minutes.
- Remove from the grill. Cover with foil paper to retain steak’s liquid. Let it rest for about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Slice steak across the grain of the meat, in long thin stripes.
Serving skirt steak (choices)
- Serve in warm Tortillas, quesadillas adding grated Monterrey jack cheese(optional). Place them into the grill until bottom of tortilla is crispy. Place another tortilla on top.
- Using a spatula, flip quesadilla over until grill marks have appear.
- Transfer quesadillas to a board and let them rest for two minutes. Cut and serve next to guacamole, radishes and fresh homemade pico de gallo salsa.(see recipes on my site) Enjoy!
Anita’s Mexican Style Shrimps
Ingredients:
1 Pound Shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 small Onion, diced
1-2 Jalapeno peppers, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Lemons, juiced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon crashed red pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chipotle powder
1 /2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup red wine
Preparation
- Preheat a large pan with 2 Tablespoon of olive oil. Add onion, garlic and jalapenos peppers. Cook at medium-high heat until soft and tender for about 10 to 12 minutes.
- Incorporate cleaned shrimps. Stir all well. Seasoned with salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, chipotle powder, and smoked paprika. Let shrimp cook for about 5 to 7 minutes or until shrimps turned pink.
- Add red wine and simmer for about 2 to 3 minutes lowering the heat. Add lemon juice and fresh cilantro. Toss to combine. Serve in tacos or next to rice with warm tortillas. Enjoy!
