Warm spinach salad with shrimp

This is a quick improvised salad that I made yesterday. This is inspired by the traditional bacon spinach salad. I didn't have bacon but did have about a pound of shrimp in the refrigerator so I just improvised. The result is not bad :-)

First I marinate the shrimp with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, some parsley and chopped some garlic

Then I put 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and heat it at low heat. Cook the garlic until fragrant, then add the shrimps,  you may need to do this in two batches. turn the heat to high and cook it for 2 minutes. These are small shrimps so it doesn't take long. Don't over cook the shrimp. You can undertook a bit since even after you remove it from the pan the residual heat will continue the cooking process.

Put about 8 oz of spinach in a big mixing ball, then add 8 sliced mushrooms, some sliced black olive. Add 2 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of vinegar (I use my passion fruit sauce that I made the other day), some muster and mix a dressing. Toss the salad with the shrimp and serve. The warm shrimp will wilt the spinach a little. I served with some avocado.

PS. After cooking the shrimp there is quite a bit of liquid in the pan. I save it to make shrimp rice. 1 lb was too much shrimp for Fernando so I use half of the shrimp for the rice. To make the rice, I put 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the same pan, then I add about 1 once of chopped prosciutto, or any cured ham (Sometimes Central Market sell ends of prosciutto for at half of the price, we I see them, i buy a few and use them for cooking) then I add 2 tablespoon of sofrito and 1 cup of rice. Then I add the liquid from cooking the shrimp and complete the rest with chicken broth so I had 1 and 3/4 cup of liquid. I add the liquid to the rice, let it boil, covered and cooked for 10 minute at medium low heat, then mix the rice, turn the heat to the lowest setting for another 10 minutes. When the rice is done. I add in the shrimps and mix it well.

Celebration meal Puerto Rican serenata de bacalao

I have been strategically waiting for today after the weight in to make this delicious Puerto Rican dish :). Since I got such surprisingly good result last week, I felt no guilt to eat my portion of Serenata. This salad full of tropical root veggies dried cod is either low carb nor low calorie but its damn good.

Dry cod should be soaked in plenty of water over night changing the water 2 or 3 times to drain out the salt so its not overly salty. This salad could serve 5 -6 as part of the meal, or 4 for large entree. You will need:
1 lb of bacalao or salted cod (buy the one from Canada or USA if you can, not the ones from China)
1 small yuca root
1 lb of taro (4 small taros)
2 medium green plantain
1/2 onion
1 avocado
2 eggs,
1 tomato
8 green stuffed olives
4 Tablespoons of olive oil
Salt pepper

Peel the plantin, taro and yuca. You must use gloves for this endeavour. or else you will end up with itchy hands.

Yuca, plantain and taro each has different cooking time. So it is best to cook them separately or add them to the same pot at different times. Boil water in another pot for the bacalao. That pot should not have added salt. Once the water boils, add the bacalao and simmer for 4 minutes. Take it out and let it cool.
Add a pinch of salt in a pot with water for boiling the veggies.. Plantain takes the longest about 20 minutes (even if you cut it in 1 inch disks as shown above), Yuca takes 17 minutes, and taro (don't need to cut, just the whole thing) takes 15 minutes. At the last 5 minutes of cooking time add 2 eggs. Once time is up promptly remove the veggies and put the egg in a ice bath. Then peel. It should give you a semi running egg yolk.

While the veggies are boiling you can prepare the salad. I had some left over iceberg lettuce from last time (when I made lamb kafta) so i slice it and put it in the salad. Slice the avocado and tomatoes.

Add the egg, yuca, diced taro, and plantains. Add the bacalao and olive oil. You can add a little of vinegar and adjust salt and pepper. I served myself 65 grams of yuca, 65 grams of taro, 65 gram of plantain, 1/4 avocado, 1/4 tomato, 2 olive, 3 oz of bacalao and 1/2 a egg. The nutritional breakdown is:
592 calories,67 g carb, 25 g of fat, 29 g of protein and 11 g of sugar.

Jose says Serenata de Bacaloa is one of his favorite puerto rican food.

PS: 10 minutes after I finished I feel really sleepy :P i think my body is not used to such carb overdose. I have to watch out tonight. This is not something we can eat regularly for sure. lol

Beet and grapefruit salad

There is nothing more refreshing then a fresh beet/grapefruit salad in the winter. Beets are plentiful in the winter so is e grapefruit. They go together very well, the sweetness in the beets is balanced with the tangyness of the grapefruit I got 3 kinds of beets (purple, golden and a white one with pretty red swirls pattern inside) and a bunch of radish from the local farmers market on Saturday. I was able to assemble the salad in 20 minutes because I had roasted them the day before. To roast them just wrap them in parchment paper and them wrap that in aluminum foil (don't wrap any food directly with aluminum foil because aluminum is linked to risk of Alzheimer's disease.) put it in a 400 degree oven. If the beets are small they should cook in 25 min. If its medium size it may take 40 minutes. Try not to over cook them, it should be soft with slight bite to it and not mushy. Remove the skin after the beets are cooked and cooled. Then store. You can roasted all of the beets and you will have them for salad through out the week. Beet salad looks really pretty with rainbow colors and can be great serve to guests. I think it could be an elegant first course for Sunday brunch

1) put some spinach or spring mix in the plates ( this will make 5-6 servings)

2) slice about 6 small beets 1/4 inch thickness of different colors (today I only had purple and white left because we ate all the golden ones yesterday) evenly distribute it to the plates

3) slice one avocado and evenly distribute to all the plates

4) slice 4 or 5 radishes and distribute to all the plates

5)peel the 2 grapefruit and cut out the flesh and distribute the, to the plates. Squeeze all the remaining juice out of the grapefruit for the dressing. You should end up with about 1/3 cup of juice

6) add to the grapefruit juice 2 table of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of mustard and 1 tablespoon of shallots, salt and pepper. Spoon 1 tablespoon of dressing in each plate.

This recipe will serve 6 people for appetizer size salad. It has 128 calories, 12 g of carbs, 9 g of fat, 2 g of protein, 8 g of sugar.

Kale salad with figs and goat cheese and steak with Gorgonzola

Today lunch I made kale salad with dry figs and goat cheese. Some people like to use cranberry for this salad, I personally don't like cranberry because inevitably they are always sweetened to balance it's natural tartness. However if you don't have figs you can replace it with cranberry, raisin, or dry cherry.

You can also add an chopped apple or pear to the salad, i think it will taste good. This an easy salad that takes 10-20 minutes to prepare.

Kale salad

1) remove the hard steam of the kale and discard. Measure 4 cups tightly packed (8oz) Wash the kale carefully and dry. Add a small pinch of salt and massage the kale until it wilt a bit. The color will darken just a bit. Set aside

2) chop about 50 grams of figs (1/2 cup) toast 1/2 cult of walnut in oven at 350 or low heat on the stove. After it cool, chop it. Chop the apple. Thinly sliced a few radish if you have them. Add all ingredients to the kale.



3) make the dressing. Mix 3 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or any kind of vinegar, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 1 &1/2 teaspoon of raw honey, black pepper

4) mix the dressing with the salad and add 2 oz of goat cheese. Serves 4-5

When serving 5 people, each serving has the following nutritional value: 242 calories, 16 g of carb, 19 g of fat, 6 g of protein 7 g of sugar.

Gorgonzola sauce for steak

1) sauté one shallot in a tablespoon of butter

2) add 1 cup of heavy cream and let it boil and reduce by 1/3 or even half. After the cream is reduced and 1/4 lb of Gorgonzola or blue cheese and let it melt. Serving size is 1 tablespoon. If you have leftover keep it covered in the refrigerator and when you need for your veggies like broccoli or steak take out the amount you need and heat it in the microwave for 30 sec at 80% power. It is delicious.