Recipes: Aran~itas de Platano (Plantain Spiders.)

No, no, we don't eat actual spiders. We do like to eat plantains, though, and one of the ways of preparing them is by making them look like fried spiders. Very tasty.

My cousin Miriam is an expert at making "aran~itas" (spanish for "little spiders",) and so she shared this recipe with me.

Aran~itas de Platano:

Ingredients:

• 6 green plantains (the greener, the better.)
• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed
• salt
• 4 oz water

On a big bowl, grate the plaintains using a cheese grater (similar to grating cheddar cheese, for example.) On a separate, small bowl, mix the pressed garlic, salt (to taste - about a tablespoon), and the water until the salt dissolves. Pour the seasoning mix onto the grated plantains, and mix with your fingers. Try not to compact the plaintain dough; make sure the plaintain flakes stay nice and loose.

On a deep casserole (4-6 qt), bring cooking oil to 350F degrees. Once hot, pick a small handful of plaintain flakes and compact them somewhat (not too much), and place in the hot oil. You should see good bubbling action in the oil. Cook for about five minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oil, and drain in either paper towels or a draining pan.

Serve while hot/warm. This serves about 10 people. You may want to adjust the amount depending on how many folks you have eating these.

Variations:

- some folks like these things to be very garlicky. You may want to add more garlic if you are entrenched in this camp.

- if you compact the aran~itas before frying them, the inside will not cook as much and stay soft. Compacting them less will allow the insides to cook to a crisp (which I tend to prefer.) Try either method until you get the consistency you like.

That's it - fairly simple. And very tasty!

Recipes: Stuffed Yellow Peppers

My cousin OT (pronounced "Oh - tee") cooked some stuffed yellow peppers for us the other day. Here is the recipe, along with a picture of her preparing the peppers. (That's my mom in the background, preparing more food.)

Ingredients:

• A bag of multi-color mini sweet bell peppers.
  
• Manchego Cheese, cut into strips 1 inch wide.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cut a slit lengthwise through each pepper, and remove all the seeds. Stuff a strip of manchego cheese into each pepper. Place the peppers in a roasting pan, and brush them with olive oil. Add salt and ground pepper to taste. Roast in an oven at 375F degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until the peppers start turning brown/dark.

Let cool for a few minutes. Serve. Enjoy. Yum.

Bread

Aside from cars, my other true obsession is bread. Not the mass-produced, plastic bagged, soft, bland, "amogollao" stuff you get at the nearest grocery store (although I'll eat that any time,) but the kind done by hand, with a heavy crust you need to work your teeth into, with simple ingredients, but with complex flavor and aroma; bread worth packing and carrying four thousand miles just to share it with your family.

I find a good baguette, and I must eat it all at once (with oil and cheese, sometimes with just butter.) It truly is an addiction, and for me, that's bad news ("hello, rising sugar level.")

Here in Seattle there are a few bakeries that are as obsessed than I am about bread (probably, more so.) I found this article describing them:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2005-06-29/food/rising-amp-shining.php

Paraphrasing Ben Franklin, I think bread this good is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy...
(even more than beer...) :-)