By now you should know that the way to Rob's heart is through food...and I pretty much scored major girlfriend points tonight. One of our favorite restaurants in California is
La Bodeguita del Medio so I thought I would try my hand at some similar Cuban recipes. I even made some pit stops on the way home and picked up "Cuban" cigars and the goods to make mojitos. I kind of made up the recipes as I went along so I'm not sure they are Cuban approved, but my family loved it! On the menu for tonight was shrimp ceviche and empanadas with coconut jalapeno cream sauce. Sounds amazing right?!? If you try these recipes at home, keep in mind I kind of just did my own thing and didn't use exact measurements so if you do try to attempt them, just customize it to the type of flavor you are looking for...you'll see what I mean when we get down to the coconut jalapeno cream sauce recipe :)
SHRIMP CEVICHE
The Cast
4 squeezed limes
4 teaspoons oregano
1 pound cooked salad shrimpettes (I bought the frozen pre-cooked)
1/2 bag of seasoned blend frozen onions and bell pepper OR cut up your own onions and bell pepper. My guess is that it would be about a 1/2 cup of each.
1 cubed tomato
6 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
Place the shrimpettes in the bottom of a casserole dish. Squeeze the limes until juice is covering all of the shrimpettes. Place in the fridge for 2 hours.
Drain most of the lime juice. Then throw in the rest of the ingredients and stir. Place in the fridge for 3 more hours.
When you're ready to indulge, give it a stir and garnish with some limes.
EMPANADAS
The Cast
Dough
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup warm water
Filling
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 bag of seasoned blend frozen onions and bell pepper OR cut up your own onions and bell pepper. Again, my guess is that it would be about a 1/2 cup of each.
1 small can of tomato paste
1 larger can of green chilies
A few bay leaves
Optional ingredients: diced garlic cloves, fresh cilantro, green or black olives (all of which I would have used if I had on hand)
Coconut Jalapeno Cream Sauce
1 can coconut milk
4 jalapenos
1/2 lime
1/2 tsp salt
And a few other added ingredients, but I'll get to that in a minute.....
I started with the filling so that it could simmer while preparing the dough.
Start by browning the ground beef alongside the frozen onions and bell peppers, and green chilies.
Add the tomato paste and bay leaves.
Set it on a low simmer.
The way I made my dough is probably a bakers nightmare. I didn't have any of the needed appliances on hand for mixing so my hands had to do all the magic.
In a medium bowl, add all your dry ingredients.
Sift around with your hand OR use a mixer.
Then mix in your wet ingredients.
Mix it all together (by hand or by mixer) for about 3 minutes until the dough is formed.
Knead the dough for another 3 minutes (I needed to add a little more flour)
Let the dough sit wrapped in plastic for about 15 minutes.
Take a sec to get your oil going for frying in a minute.
Divide the dough into 12 pieces, then roll into 4 inch circles.
Add the filling.
Fold over and pinch the sides shut. Then grab a fork and score the edge.
Drop in the fryer and allow to get golden brown.
Now for the coconut jalapeno cream sauce. Sounds simple right? Especially with only a few ingredients you would think so. That wasn't the case! But it was well worth it in the end...
Bring the coconut milk to a gentle simmer in a small pot. Stir it occasionally until it thickens a little and reduces. This took about 20 minutes.
In the meantime, place the jalapenos directly on the burner OR grill over high heat.
Roast the jalapenos for about 15 minutes until they are blackened all over.
Rub off the blacked skins.
Place the jalapenos, coconut milk, lime juice, and salt in a blender.
Blend on high until smooth and "creamy".
It wasn't as creamy as we would have a liked, nor did it have the sweetness we were looking for. So we added flour, sugar, and more salt until we achieved the taste we were looking for. Not without LOTS of frustration though....
Thankfully the finished product was well worth it!
I can't leave out the bloopers. These photos are compliments of Kenzie, our 4 year old aspiring photographer....
I've been meaning to post this since Sunday but things have been pretty hectic...I'll get to that at the end of this post. We had a great time last weekend with family and friends in Comanche and Early. Our favorites Barbara and James came by Mema's for a visit. I just love them!! Later that afternoon we got to celebrate a very special birthday girl. Adalyn's first birthday was a hot one but lots of fun and super cute. Afterwards we stopped by our friends Jody and Paula's...which ended up turning into a sleepover. I love that our girls are the same age and can grow up playing together! I was sad to leave but excited for the week in store. Excited because Rob and I found an apartment! Even better, we found our first HOME. Move in is August 10th and we are counting down the hours!
