Beef Asado San Fernando style

There are heirloom recipes that we always tuck away in the back of our heads and just prepare them every once in a rare while. Somehow that is what we pass on to our children and them to their own and somewhere along the way, it evolves into something else. Let me commit this one to this blog so that we can preserve this version of a classic from my grandmother to my mother and now to me.

300 gms. Flank steak whole trussed up

1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic

¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup vinegar
¼ cup red wine
1 ½ cup water
¼ cup olive oil (Pomace will do)

Bay leaf
Sprig of thyme
¼ tsp dried Rosemary
Black Pepper

1 small Sweet Potato
Peeled and sliced into ¼ in thick chips
1 cup sugar

100 gms string bean cut to ½ in lengths
100 gms carrots cut to ½ in x ¼ in lengths

1. Braise meat
Place pressure cooker over fire add ¼ cup olive oil
Brown meat lightly on all sides
Deglaze pan with red wine
Add onions and garlic
As it simmers and starts reducing add soy, vinegar and water
As this comes to a boil add Bay leaf, sprig of thyme and Rosemary
Baste meat several times over while it’s boiling for 5 minutes
Seal pressure cooker and cook for 20 minutes
Release pressure from cooker and remove meat set aside to rest
Make a slurry of ¼ tsp corn starch and ¼ tsp water and add to simmering stock to thicken

2. Prepare vegetables
Place sweet potatoes in a small stock pot
To this add sugar and 1 cup water
Set over flame and as it boils reduce fire to low
Set pan to flame and boil 1 cup water
Blanch carrots and string beans for 1 min each and shock in cold water to set color
Add melted butter to taste

As sweet potatoes are cooked and reduced in syrup set aside

3. Serve
Once meat has reasonably cooled
Cut strings
Slice ¼ in thick slice from the meat
Arrange on plate to sit on sauce. Drizzle a small quantity of sauce over the meat
Serve with Sweet Potato and carrots and beans on the side

Phew, that was a mouthful. Any red wine will do but a big red would be really really nice with this

Paella, it's about time

For years, my daughter has asked me about posting my paella recipe and for years, I've managed to skirt around the issue and ended up posting nothing. It's been a while since my last post but here it finally is. We've been cooking and eating paella for many years. There are about as many variations as there are cooks in the world. My belief is that paella is a technique rather than a dish. They would put all manner of meat from rabbit to probably squirrel. For us, we've learned to appreciate the flavor of meat and seafood in one dish. If you ask me, it's the ultimate surf and turf dish. You can cook this in almost any flat dish. The paellera in fact is nothing more than a flat frying pan anyway. So any frying pan with a tight fitting cover should do. I use a 10 inch pan for this one.

1 medium white onion chopped fine
3 cloves garlic crushed and chopped
2 medium or 1 large ripe red tomato diced

2-3 tbsp olive oil (Pomace will do)

1/2 chicken cut into 6 pcs. - Wing, Breast (2 parts), thigh, leg. back (hind): Season generously with paprika, salt and pepper
then rub with olive oil
4-5 shrimp/prawns
1 squid dressed and cut into rings (save the tentacles)
5-6 mussel
10-12 Manila clams
1 pc Spanish Chorizo. Commercially available but must be a dried red mildly spicy one sliced 1/4 inch circles.

2 cups short grain (arborio, shojihikari, bomba, milagrosa)
4 1/2 cups chicken broth
8 strands saffron steeped in 1/2 cup warm water OR 1 small packet Carmencita paella valencia

bell peppers julienne sliced for garnish
2 hard boiled eggs
1 lemon for garnish

1. Prepare the sofrito

Put the pan on the stove until wisps of smoke appear
Add your onions, garlic and tomatoes
Lower the flame to allow them to simmer
As they become translucent, take a potato riser and mash the mixture. What you're after is a smooth paste.
Set aside

2. Brown the meats


In the same pan, brown the chicken pcs. skin side down first. When browned set aside
return the sofrito onto a medium heat pan
Add the rice
Add the chorizo and mix constantly until the rice grains are all colored by the sofrito and paprika.
Add the saffron including the liquid, OR sprinkle the contents of the Carmencita packet and stir until you get an even orange/yellow color


3. Cook the rice

Now add the rest of the broth slowy, stirring slightly after each cup until the third cup.
Stir once, and never stir again. Turn the flame down to its lowest possible
Submerge the chicken pcs into the rice and then Cover
After 10 minutes, add the prawns ensuring they are sunk into the rice, decorate with the bell pepper slices
AFter 5 minutes more add the squid, and the shellfish, inserting into the rice with the hinges pointing upwards coveragain
Turn up the flame and count out 1 minute
Turn the flame down to its lowest and cook another 5 minutes. If you hear a crackling sound as if frying, add 1/4 cup of broth and cover
After 20 minutes, shut the flame and allow the paella to sit for 5 minutes.

Open and garnish with eggs and lemon wedges and serve

Spaghetti Sunday

As far back as I can remember, every Sunday was Spaghetti day. This goes all the way back to our times in the old house in Conrado Benitez but over the years, our own house version takes over. Today I made some exactly the way i wanted to and here it is.

1 medium onion
1 stalk large celery
half a medium carrot
1/4 kg ground beef
2 strips Bacon
1 pc Italian Sausage (or any pork sausage with sage)
1 tsp Tomato Paste
500 gms Tomato Sauce
1 medium green bell pepper
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
300 gms spaghetti

Of course it starts with bacon, diced small and fried in olive oil until almost crisp, set aside but leave the oil. Now do your mirepoix of onions, carrots and celery. As it sweats you can dice all the remaining vegetables and sausage. It's mostly assembly from this point on. Add your ground beef and fold in the mirepoix. Don't mix it around too much, you want the beef to brown. As this browns, sprinkle half a tsp of Italian seasoning and half a teaspoon of dry basil leaves. blend in. Add the diced bell peppers and crusehd garlic, and mix them in as well. Make a small well in the mixture and put the tomato paste in the center to let it fry in the oil until it starts getting fragrant. Fold it into the mixture. Now the tomatao sauce. I like to stir the mixture while pouring in the tomato sauce. Turn the flame down and let it come to a boil gently.



Come back to the mixture after 5 minutes and add in the Italian sausage and stir. Add in the vinegar and sugar and allow to simmer over the lowest possible flame. Stir often like every 5 minutes for about half an hour until the oil starts separating from the sauce and its ready.

All you need is pasta and grated parmesan cheese and you're on your way.

I like this with a Sangiovese (spaghetti wine of course!) or a nice Southern hemisphere Shiraz

Voila!