Dia de las Madres - May 10th - Mother's Day in Latin America

As we know Mother's Day is right around the corner..right after Cinco de Mayo and as I was looking at to see who had avocados on sale, I ran across a weekly ad from Kroger.  Flipping through the pages of the weekly specials I saw something I had never seen before in English... Kroger's ad read "Hispanic Mother's Day is May 10th" and I thought my eyes where seeing things... I had only had one cup of coffee at this point and was still a little groggy.

But the more I looked the more I saw it was for real and the ad included a "Tres Leches cake" for only $19.99 and it appears that Kroger has embraced our Latin American tradition whole heartily. Pues ya era tiempo!! 
I have included a link below so you can see for yourself.
 
http://krogersouthwest.mywebgrocer.com/Circular/KROGER-528/005181368/Weekly/2/7

 We should celebrate our moms everyday. But even if your mom may say "ohhh you shouldn't have" we know deep inside they are probably thinking that you can give them flowers anytime of the year. That's what my mom always said but it's just a small way to let her know....Mami te quiero mucho!! Un abrazo y Feliz Dia de las Madres. 

Holiday Recipes 2011

Chipotle Meatballs

2 lbs. Ground beef

½ onion, diced

4 oz. diced canned tomatoes

2 eggs

½ cup bread crumbs

2 chipotle peppers

1 Tbsp Garlic powder

¼ tsp cumin

2 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ground beef, tomatoes, onions and eggs in a large bowl. Mix spices and bread crumbs together, then blend chipotle peppers with 1/3 cup water and add to beef mixture.

Line a baking pan with foil then form meatballs and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes and serve with your favorite salsa or BBQ sauce.

Yields: 24 to 30 meatballs

Prep time: 15 minutes

Three Cheese Mushroom Dip

2 cups Mushrooms, diced

¼ cup onions, diced

2 garlic cloves, diced

4 oz cream cheese

½ cup milk

4oz Cojita cheese, crumbled

4 oz. Monterrey Jack cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Red Pepper flakes, optional

Sauté mushrooms, onions and garlic in a pan on medium high heat for about 5 minutes. Lower heat and cream cheese and stir in some of the milk until creamy.

Then add Cojita cheese and rest of the milk and stir well, finally add Monterrey Jack cheese and taste, then add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with corn chips or crustinis.

NOTES: Cojita cheese is salty cheese and can be substituted with Parmesan cheese. You can heat up leftover dip in a sauce pan with a little bit of milk, don’t use the microwave, your cheese dip will be lumpy.

Basic Crustini’s

1 loaf French bread, sliced

Non Stick Spray

2 TBSP Garlic powder

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix garlic, paprika and salt in a small bowl. Slice bread on bias and place on cookie sheet and spray on both sides. Then sprinkle with spice mix and bake for 12 to 15 minutes until light golden brown.

CHEFS NOTES: These crustini’s are fast and much healthier than the store bought ones. You can make them several days before and are great as croutons for soup or salads.

Chicken Skewers with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

2 lbs. Chicken Breast

1 TBSP Garlic Powder

1 tsp White Pepper

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut chicken into strips and add spices. Heat a large skillet add enough oil to coat the bottom, brown chicken on both sides and put in oven safe dish lined with foil paper.

Insert skewers and bake chicken for about 20 minutes.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

1 can – 14oz roasted red peppers, drained

½ small onion, rough chopped

2 garlic cloves, diced

1 jalapeño pepper, rough chopped

½ cup chicken broth

1 tsp cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

In a blender, add red peppers, onion, jalapeno, garlic cloves and chicken broth and blend for about 3 minutes. Pour into sauce pan on medium heat and let simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve as dip for Chicken Skewers.

Capirotada – Mexican Bread Pudding

1 loaf of French bread, cut into cubes

8 TBSP or 1 stick of butter, no salt

1 cup of milk

2 cups brown sugar

1 ½ cup water

1 tsp cinnamon

2 green apples, diced

½ cup raisins

½ cup sliced almonds

½ cup pecans, diced

1 can Dulce de Leche

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put cubed bread into baking pan, then melt butter with milk and pour over bread. Bake for 15 minutes in 350 degree oven.

In a bowl combine apples, raisins, almonds and pecans and set aside. In sauce pan heat water and add brown sugar with cinnamon and stir until brown sugar dissolves.

Pull bread out of oven and raise temperature to 400 degrees. Pour brown sugar over bread and add apple and raisin mixture. Bake for 15 more minutes at 400 degrees.

Top with Dulce de Leche and vanilla ice cream.

Getting the party started:

Set up a self serve drink area for your guest to enjoy when they first arrive. I would suggest several large pitchers of a signature drink is a perfect way to get your holiday party started.

The drinks that would complement my recipes are inspired flavors from our childhood that are a mix of sweet and sour combinations of candies. Today you can buy great fruit nectars such as tamarindo, guava, mango and of course Mexican chocolate at your local grocery store. Pick your favorites and go home and experiment with a little bit of vodka or tequila…que rico.

Basic Martini

3 oz Juice – Mango or tamarindo

1 ½ oz Vodka

Splash of diet Sprite or Club Soda

Limes

My personal preference is not to make the cocktails to syrupy sweet and I top them off with a little bit of Topo Chico (club soda) or diet Sprite for a little sparkle. And don’t forget the limes, they add a great tang to any cocktail!!

Mexican Chocolate Martini

2 disks of Mexican Chocolate

2 ½ cups water

Vodka

½ cup Sugar

Break chocolate disks apart and put in sauce pan with water on medium heat and stir until chocolate dissolves, let cool. Mix sugar and cinnamon and place on small plate, then rim the glass if you like.

This recipe makes the perfect holiday signature drink and you can make a full pitcher of Mexican Chocolate martinis. The formula is 2 parts chocolate mixture and 1 part vodka.

Mix 3 oz of chocolate with 1 ½ oz of vodka in a shaker. Salud!!

Holiday Star

Champagne

2 oz diet Sprite

Star Fruit for Garnish

Mix in tall glass and make sure diet Sprite is also

chilled.

Real Tropical

2 oz. Light Rum

3 oz. Pineapple Juice

Splash of diet Sprite

In a martini shaker, put rum and pineapple juice and shake. Pour over ice and top with a diet Sprite.

PARTY TIPS: Also set your table with a platter of fresh vegetables that your guest can munch on as your other appetizers are warming in the oven, this will help with carb overload. Don’t feel pressured that the entire table has to ready before a single guest arrives.

Here is a simple and colorful veggie tray and remember to use what’s in season.

Cucumbers

Baby carrots

Broccoli

Red peppers

1 red cabbage

Ranch dressing

Cut your vegetable into bite size pieces and core out the middle of the red cabbage and fill with dressing.

If you prefer, you make a tray of roasted vegetables that can be served at room temperature.

Just put vegetable in a bowl and add ¼ cup of olive oil, fresh rosemary, garlic powder, pepper and salt. Then place on cookie sheet and roast in a 450 degree oven for about 30 to 40 minutes. Remember to stir them occasionally and they can be done the day.

Roasted Vegetable Salad

3 Yellow Squash

3 Zucchini

2 Eggplants

2 Roasted Pepper Red Peppers, drained

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

2 Tablespoons Garlic powder

1 Tablespoon Salt

1 teaspoon Pepper

Non Stick spray

Mix garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Slice all vegetables about 1/4 inch slices and sprinkle with spice mixture. Spray baking pan with non-stick spray and place vegetables, then roast squash in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes and eggplant for 45 minutes. Rough chop all vegetables and add olive oil and lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste.

Calamato Olive and Onion Tapanade Dip

1 large purple onion

12 Calamato Olives, pitted, save 2 Tablespoon of olive juice

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 Garlic Cloves or 1tsp garlic powder

Salt

Heat pan and add 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. Rough chop onions and sauté on medium heat for 5 minutes, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes until they caramelized, stirring occasionally, let cool. In a food processor or blender, add all ingredients and blend for about 5 minutes. Add olive juice and a little more olive oil if needed.

Lydia’s Cooking Tip: Ratio is two parts onion and one part olives, so about 12 medium olives. If you really like olives then you can add more and make it a one to one ratio.

Spinach Gorgonzola Dip

1 – 8 oz. package cream cheese

¼ cup of milk

3 oz Gorgonzola

½ cup spinach, thawed and chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

2 celery bunches

Bring cream cheese to room temperature and cut into squares. In a sauce pan on low heat, add milk and cream cheese and stir until melted then add Gorgonzola. Add spinach and stir until all is blended together.

Taste before adding any additional salt and pepper. Dip can be served warm or cold.

Cut celery stalk into 3 inch pieces and serve with dip.

SALUD Y BUEN PROVECHO

Lydia Gonzalez Welch

Lydia@latinoculinary.com

http://www.facebook.com/Latino-Culinary-Institute