This Dame Cooks A Collection of Recipes from Alaska to the South Pacific and Caribbean

Need a easy potluck dish.  This is it, spicy, filling and deliciously Tex-Mex.

This casserole is made with leftover Spanish rice and leftover roasted chicken.  Just mix 3 cups of cooked rice with 1 cup of  shredded chicken, add 1/4 cup pickled jalapeno pepper slices and 4 oz of Philadelphia cream cheese blended with 1/2 cup sour cream.  Place in a casserole dish and smooth top. Sprinkle top with 1 cup of Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese.  Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees F. until the top is nicely melted and bubbly.  Let set 10 minutes before serving.

Variations:

1. Add 1/2 cup of frozen sweet peas
2. Add pulled pork instead of shredded chicken
3. Use banana peppers instead of pickled jalapeno peppers
4. Cook rice with sofrito, sazon with achiote and chicken stock for a Puerto Rican twist

The world can thank Captain Cook for spreading breadfruit around the tropics.  It was one of many tropical fruits provisioned from Brazil that sustained the crew on their long voyages.  Though it grows on a tree its very similar to a starchy root when green and very sweet like a banana when ripe.  A green breadfruit when peeled and sliced makes excellent chips.  When boiled with coconut milk it’s a tasty side to fish, suckling pig or corned beef.  Boiled in salted water, breadfruit is the consistency of regular potatoes;  chopped in potato salad,  mashed with butter and milk, mashed and mixed with flour for gnocchi or these tasty little fried balls.

In Puerto Rico, fried potato balls can be found in every snack bar and most food trucks dotting the major highways from the Western side of the island to San Juan on the Eastern side.  Sometimes the potato balls are stuffed with a picadillo which is a savory meat sauce similar to taco meat.  Fried balls are also made from yuka (cassava) and yautia (taro).  They’re light and fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and about the size of a golf ball. Most of the time they’re served with a sauce of mayonaise and ketchup.  Though they’re tasty in their own right, they’re just a little bland for my palate so I’ve tweaked the general recipe to give the balls a bit more flavor using Puerto Rican sofrito.

Frozen green breadfruit is available in Asian and Latin markets.  Be sure to check out my sofrito recipe or you can find a number of sofritoes at Whole Foods or Latin markets in your area.  If you can’t find breadfruit by all means use Yukon Gold potatoes for best results.

This recipe makes 24 balls for hors d’oeuvres the size of cherry tomatoes.  The sauce is made of equal amounts of low fat yogurt, mayonnaise, and  1 Tbsp. capers which provides a bit of tang, saltiness and cool creamy texture.  Picante salsa or guacamole sauce will work too.

Ingredients:

• 2 lb breadfruit (fresh or frozen) or Yukon Gold potatoes
• 5 Tbsp sofrito with culantro and cilantro
• minced chili of choice (Serrano, jalapeno or hotter) to taste
• 1 Tbsp achiote oil (annatto seeds warmed in olive oil)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour for dredging
• Vegetable oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Cover breadfruit or potatoes with water, add 1 Tbsp salt, boil until fork tender. Drain and return to pot to dry and cool a bit.
2. Saute sofrito and chili if using in the achiote oil.
3. Mash breadfruit or potatoes with vegetable oil, salt and pepper until smooth.  Add sauteed sofrito and mix until mash can be formed into a ball of dough.
4. Roll mashed dough into balls the size desired.  Roll in flour and again in your hands to remove excess flour.
5. Chill balls thoroughly, about 20 minutes in the freezer.
6. In a small sauce pan, heat 2-inches of oil to 350 degrees or until the surface of the oil looks wavy.  Fry balls 4 or 5 at a time turning them so they brown all over.
7. Remove fried balls to drain on paper towels.  Sprinkle with salt and serve warm with sauce.

Lemongrass grows wild in the tropics so there’s always a supply for an afternoon cuppa or to flavor a yellow rice.   It has literally taken over my herb container here in Rincon, Puerto Rico.

Lemongrass with its pungent flavor is fairly common as a hot tea ingredient.  But if you add some wild flower honey and green tea leaves then ice it you’ll have a refreshing and healthy summer drink.

To make:  simply rinse 1 stock of lemongrass in cool water, fold the stock into a bundle which will bruise the stock and allow the aromatics to escape. Add the bundle to 1 quart of boiling water along with 3 bags of your favorite green tea. Stir in 1 tbsp of your local honey or a good squeeze from the “honey bear.”   Steep until tepid and pour over ice.
Nothing could be easier!

Variations:  Add a 1/2-inch knob of ginger or a couple allspice berries to the boiling water mix .

There’s a quaint little deli cafe called Anna’s in the resort town of Whitianga, located  in the Coromandel Islands north of Auckland, New Zealand.  One of their daily menu items was this quiche made with leftover chicken piccata, portobello mushrooms,  and Philadelphia cream cheese.  I’ve tweaked the recipe just a bit with a basil pesto and  pâte brisee  pastry.

Anna’s was my favorite place to eat when I had a day off  cooking at the Whitianga Hotel.  Another of my favorite quiches was a spinach quiche in phyllo dough with onion marmalade and gorgonzola cheese…too yummy!  The Kiwi’s and Aussies may be a world downunder but they truly know how to cook in the best tradition of a Crown Colony and in their own right.

Do enjoy this as a main-dish with a salad and glass of wine.

Ingredients:

• 1 unbaked pie crust
• 1 cup chicken sliced or shredded
• 1 portobello mushroom, sliced thin
• 1/2 small onion, sliced thin
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. basil pesto (homemade is best)
• 6 thin slices cream cheese (use dental floss to slice)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup half-and-half
• sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• pinch of nutmeg

Method:

1. Place pie crust in a 9-inch spring form cake pan with 2-inch sides.  Blind bake for 12 minutes at 400° F..
2. Reduce oven to 375° F.  Cool crust on a cake rack.
3. Sauté mushrooms in butter for 5 minutes, add onions and continue to cook until water dissipates.
4. Layer chicken over bottom of crust, spread mushrooms and onions over chicken, dot with basil pesto, and top with cream cheese slices.
5. Whisk eggs and half-and-half together with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.
6. Pour batter over filling, sprinkle with a pinch of nutmeg.
7. Bake 45-50 minutes until eggs are set.  Cool 15 minutes before slicing.

Pie Crust (modified pâte brisee)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup salted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 egg, whipped with 1 tsp cold water 

Method:

1. Cut butter into flour until its the consistency of cornmeal.
2. Make a well in center of the flour and pour in the egg.
3. Toss flour and egg together with a fork for 5 seconds and scoop up the whole bit onto a sheet of plastic wrap.  Pull the corners of the plastic wrap together and twist to form a ball.
4. Chill the ball of dough for 10 minutes.
5. Wipe your counter with a damp cloth, cover the damp area with plastic wrap, dust with a little flour, place ball of dough in center and flatten slightly, dust with a little flour, cover with another sheet of plastic wrap.  Roll out crust.
6. If you’re in a hurry, skip the chilling and rolling.  Just push the dough into your pie pan like playing with putty.  Once the dough is uniform in thickness throughout and sides are crimped, chill to set it.  Then blind bake as instructed above.

Bananas are not just for monkeys or desserts.  Since they take a good amount of time to ripen on the stalk from a starchy green to the more commonly recognized yellow fruit, its not too surprising that a lot of tropical cultures enjoy them in the green stage as a potato substitute.  Green bananas boil to fork-tender in about 15 to 20 minutes and they are a great canvas for infusing piquant and savory flavors.

My neighbors gave me half a hand of green bananas over the weekend so rather than make fried chips for a snack or boil them in coconut milk and eat with panfried grouper, I opted to make this vinaigrette marinated salad.  It will last a couple days or more and actually taste better the longer it marinates.  My lettuce patch is teaming with fresh baby greens and when added to this dish really made it a luscious salad.

In case you’re wondering how to peel those green bananas, check out this YouTube video…

How to peel green bananas

Try this the next time you have pea-pod green bananas or plantains and serve as a starter course or side dish.   

Ingredients:

• 5 or 6 green bananas (unripe)
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar (rice wine vinegar may substitute)
• juice of half lime
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper or small fresh chile of choice, minced (Scotch Bonnet or jalapeño if you like it hot)
• 1 onion, sliced in half-moon strips (red onion adds more color)
• 1/4 cup each red and green bell pepper strips
• 1 Tbsp capers
• 10 pimiento stuffed green olives, chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Method:

1. Scrub bananas under cold running water.  Remove ends from each banana.  With a pairing knife, score a line the full length of each banana skin just deep enough to cut through the skin.  Cover bananas with cold water and bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Cook for 15-18 minutes or until fork tender.  Drain.
2. Remove skins of bananas and slice into rounds 1/4-inch thick.  Place in a bowl and toss with lime juice, salt and pepper to taste.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, cayenne and garlic.
4. Add remaining ingredients to bowl of bananas and toss with oil/vinegar emulsion.
5. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.  Serve on a bed of baby greens and garnish as desired.  Cherry tomato, pickled beets, and carrot strips add color and texture.