Cuban Style Chicken Salad Recipe – Yummy!

One of my favorite salads is a Cuban Style Chicken Salad.  My grandmother made it best. I’ve tried to recreate hers.  Here is my version.  Enjoy!

Cuban Style Chicken Salad Recipe

 

Ingredients

2 lbs white chicken meat- fully cooked (You can use a rotisserie chicken)

1 cup tender canned sweet peas. Well drained.

1 cup chopped celery (finely chopped)

4  hard boiled eggs, chopped

12 Spanish olives stuffed with peppers, cut in halves

3/4 cup  salted almonds, chopped

1/2 tsp. vinegar

1 ¼ cups light  mayonnaise

3 granny smith apples, peeled & chopped

1 small can of sweet pimentos

salt

1 tbs. lemon juice

 

Instructions 

1.  First, sprinkle the chopped apples pieces with lemon juice.  (Set them aside or in the refrigerator)

2.  Chop up the chicken into small bite size pieces.

3.  Combine the following ingredients in a large bowl:

sweet peas, almonds, celery, eggs, olives vinegar, mayonnaise, apples and chicken

4. Add a dash of salt (to taste)

5.  Mix all of the ingredients together gently.

5.  Garnish the completed salad with red pimiento strips.

6. Refrigerate for a couple of hours.  This salad tastes best cold.

7.  Enjoy with soda crackers.

Enjoy!  

 

From My Kitchen ~ Shrimp Creole Recipe

By now, most of you know that I love to cook.  I also love the flavors of the Caribbean.  Today’s recipe is Shrimp Creole Cuban style.  This shrimp dish has Haitian and French influences too.  I serve it with white rice and my favorite vegetables.  When I made it last, I added fried plantains, another family favorite.  It is a quick and delicious dish to make.  Your family will love it!

Shrimp Creole (Cuban style)

Ingredients 

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped onion (I prefer yellow onions)

2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

a pinch of red pepper flakes (or more if you like it hot)

1 tablespoon freshly chopped flat leaf parsley

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 1/2 pounds medium raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 pound scallops

1/4 cup white wine

Directions

1.  In a large saute pan, melt the butter and the olive oil over low heat.

2.  Add the celery, onion, garlic, tomato, pepper flakes, parsley, sugar, salt and black pepper.

3.  Cover and raise the heat to medium low, simmer for 3-5 minutes or until the onion and the celery are tender.

4.  Add the scallops and stir, cover. Cook for about 2 minutes

5.  Add the shrimp, stir and cover.  Cook for about 3 more minutes.    (Shrimp cooks fast)

6.  Add the wine and stir until the liquid comes back to a simmer.

7.  Serve over white rice and with your favorite vegetable sides.

Enjoy!

¡Buen Provecho!

~Susi

Dinner for Prostitutes? Recipe for Cuban-Style Rice

Cuban-Style Rice Recipe

When I was growing up, my Cuban grandmother always referred to this simple meal of fried eggs and rice as dinner for prostitutes.  I guess what she meant was that this was their dinner since it was inexpensive and was what they could afford.   I always found her comment amusing and since I didn’t care to eat fried eggs and rice, I never thought much of it.  As an adult, I have heard several other people of Cuban descent call it the same.  I laugh each time and remember my grandmother.

Recently, I reviewed a cookbook filled with recipes from Spain.  While browsing the cookbook, I found the famous fried eggs and rice by another name, “Cuban Style Rice.” I learned that this recipe is actually popular in the Canary Islands and Catalonia.  My grandfather, her husband, was from the Canary Islands, funny, right?

Here is the recipe. It is actually a substantial supper dish popular in many cultures.

I made this recipe the other night for my family.  It was a bit different from the regular fried eggs and rice.  I smiled as I prepared this dish because I knew my grandmother was smiling back down on me.

Try it for yourself.  Enjoy!

~Susi

Ingredients

3 garlic cloves

1/2 cup of olive oil

1 1/2 cups of long grain rice

1 Tablespoon butter

4 large eggs

salt and paprika

Tomato Sauce (on the side)

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 onion chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 12 oz can of tomatoes

4 thyme or oregano sprigs

ground black pepper

Directions

1.  Make the tomato sauce first.  Heat the oil in the pan, add the onion and garlic and fry gently, stirring until soft.  Stir in the tomatoes and thyme and oregano.  Simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add the seasoning to taste.  Remove the herbs and keep warm.

2.  Cook your rice.  I used a rice cooker/steamer.  Follow your own rice guidelines.  Add the 2 whole garlic cloves to the rice.  Cook until rice is done and all liquid has been absorbed.

3.  Heat a pan with the olive oil and gently fry one chopped garlic clove,  Add the rice, stir, season well, then turn off the heat and cover the pan.

4.  Add 4 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and fry the eggs over a medium-high heat, until the edges turn golden.  Season to taste with salt and paprika.  Serve the rice surrounded by the tomato sauce and top with the fried egg.