August 2011 Posts (19)

Pasta Frola: The Pasta That Isn’t

Although the name “pasta frola” no doubt conjures up images of fine strands of spaghetti or one of its fancifully-shaped relatives such as bow ties, pasta frola, in fact, has absolutely…

Serves 4



Ingredients:



2 pounds red potatoes, washed, cut into small cubes (leave skin on)

3 garlic cloves…

Like in the U.S., summer cookouts are popular in Spain too. However, rather than a “do your own,” residents and visitors head to the chiringuitos. These can be beach bars that serve food or open air picnic style areas with large pits preparing and serving BBQ style fish,…

From My Blog: Venezuelan Cooking



My mother-in-law makes the most delicious salsa I’ve ever had. Salsa is not really a Venezuelan tradition, and neither is spicy food, just for your information.…

So, one night my cousin tells me I have to try this “guasacaca,” and then she says it has no avocados. This is why I am telling you we Venezuelans call every green sauce “Guasacaca.” However, as I have explained before, this is not true. I have already given you the recipe for…

Potatoes are a staple of Spain’s diet. This Castilian dish is “important” enough to be a meal in itself. This recipe is dapted from Joyce Goldstein’s Savoring Spain and Portugal Cookbook.…

Along  with the millions of Europeans who settled in Argentina during the late 1800s and early 1900s with…

Escabeche is an ancient dish with Persian origins and arrived in Spain with the Moors, who made enormous contributions to Spanish cuisine and culture.

Today, it's a dish common in Mediterranean cuisine, but it's the Spaniards…

Como buena venezolana tengo la costumbre de comer Arroz con Pollo, un plato típico de Latino América el cual se adaptó de muchas maneras en nuestros países y que seguro tuvo su origen en España a manera de Paella. Esta receta que comparto hoy con ustedes podría decir que es una especie de fusión entre el asopado de España y el arroz con pollo criollo, donde además sustituí el popular arroz por cebada perlada para darle una opción más saludable a mis seres queridos que sufren de Diabetes y no…

Mushrooms in Spain are never ending; not only in recipes and in the wild, but what they are called as…

This is my own version of the Venezuelan Guasacaca, which I created by modifying my mom’s recipe a bit more to my liking. I don’t follow my own recipe every time, because I usually eyeball all the ingredients, or what we Venezuelans call “al ojo…

(Check out this recipe and much more on my Venezuelan Cooking Blog)



Arepas are very easy to prepare.   First, you will need a few basic things.

- Mixing Bowl…

I remember the first time I saw my Mom make this dish I ran. The way it’s made in Puerto Rico. The rice is grey and it is not very appealing. The squid comes in its own ink and it’s canned. Not as intense as it is prepared in Spain (from Catalonia and Andalusia) where you…

Sparkling Citrus Punch

by Sweet Life

by Vianney Rodriguez…

My Cuban mother-in-law taught me how to make flan this way. You need a clean coffee can and a pressure cooker deep enough for the coffee can.

Put about 1/2 C. sugar in the coffee can and caramelize over the stove burner until dark. Swirl the caramel up the sides and bottom of can and let cool.

Mix together:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can (equal to condensed milk can) milk

5 egg yolks

1 t. vanilla

Strain mixture into…

Photo by Marisa Zanganeh…

There’s a term that I really love here for describing spicy food. Let me qualify spicy first. The kind of delicious spicy that makes your taste…

When I grew up, nutrition was always as important to my mother as deliciousness. This is how my grandmother raised her and it’s the way I am raising my own kids.



Quinoa, an ancient grain native to Peru, is one of the most nutritious foods – there is a reason why it’s a staple in any health food store. We actually started having quinoa very young – when my siblings and I were babies, my mom used to give us quinoa…

Although Argentines possess a tremendous sweet tooth and love of baked goods, Argentina doesn’t have a strong baking tradition. Instead, when a craving for something sweet strikes, people here tend to run to the neighborhood bakery to get…