Love Begins in the Kitchen
Christmas festivities are special celebrations. Several recipes of typical dishes elaborated during Christmas season in the Caribbean are described below:
Lobster with Hot Gelatin, Sugar Cane Rum and Cauliflower. A typical dish prepared in Puerto Rico for celebrations.
Ingredients: (4 servings) Two lobsters with ½ kilogram each, 6 cauliflower heads, 4 tablespoons of oil, 75 g of whipped cream, two thin layers of gelatin (rectangular shape, measuring 10 g each) made of fish tail, salt, 200g of fresh pasta, 4 cl of sugar cane rum.
Elaboration: Put the water and salt in a pan to bring it to a boiling point, add the lobsters, after 10 minutes, remove it from the water and cool it with fresh water and ice to prevent it from continuing cooking. Use a thin layer of fresh pasta, made of wheat flour, egg and water, to be cut in the shape of a ravioli (4 to 8 cm). Heat the sugar cane rum and add gelatin and salt, leave it to cool to finish and present the dish. Once the lobsters are cold, sauté them in olive oil. Place the gelatin at the bottom of the dish and present it with cauliflowers.
Cuban buñuelos (doughnuts) are especially welcome by those who visit the island.
Ingredients: 100 ml of oil, cassava, taro and sweet potato, 5 g of whole aniseeds, sprig cinnamon, vanilla at a taste, 200 g of wheat flour, 1 egg, 300 g of refined sugar, white wine and salt at a taste, 150 ml water, 300 g of grated coconut sweet. Wash, peel and cook the root vegetable separately until tender, mash them all. Boil water with aniseed and cinnamon. On a table, mix the mashed root vegetables with eggs, flour and white wine. Add the aniseed and cinnamon tea. Knead the mass until it separates from the table.
Shape them like an 8 or double-ringed doughnuts and fry them in very hot oil. Soaked the buñuelos or doughnuts in a light syrup made of water, sugar and lemon when they are done, serve on top of grated sweet coconut. Sprinkle, if desired, with chocolate sauce.
Roast Turkey or Guanajo Embarazado (Pregnant Turkey) This is a dish, typical of Christmas season in many regions of the Caribbean.
Ingredients: A middle-size turkey, 1 ½ kilogram of ham, 2 cups of diced ripe pineapple, ½ cup of olives, ½ cup of raisins, ½ cup of chopped almonds, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of dried marjoram, 2 tablespoons of oil, 1 cup of bitter orange juice, salt at a taste, 2 eggs and ½ cup of ground bread.
Elaboration: Marinate the turkey overnight with a pickling sauce prepared with crushed garlic, marjoram, salt and bitter orange juice. Chop the ham in small pieces and mix it with the diced pineapple, olives and almonds and raisins until having a stuffing. Beat the eggs and blend it with the ground bread powder, oil and salt to make a mixture. Place the stuffing inside the turkey, filling it with the previous mixture in small portions while sewing. Place it in an oven at 200º while basting it frequently with the pickling sauce made of marjoram, garlic, salt and bitter orange while roasting. When the turkey is ready, serve accompanied by red wine cups.
Little Pork Broiled on Coal Beadings (Lechón asado al carbón) This is a typical dish of Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) or of New York's Eve. This dish is indispensable on many tables of the Caribbean regions like Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic among others:
Ingredients: A pork of 60 or 70 pounds, 150 g of garlic, marjoram, cumin and pepper at a taste, 3 bay leaves, 40 ml of oil, salt at a taste, 8 bitter oranges.
Elaboration: Once the pig is opened and closed, 4 cuts are made at the level of the belly, on both sides of the legs, around which some metal or wooden bars are introduced to roast the pork on a plate or tray at a moderate temperature for half-an-hour or done on a rack over a barbecue pit with coal beadings at a height of 60 cm from the ground. Turn the turkey 2 or 3 times to achieve a uniform roast at a peasant style. Other small cuts are made in the lower sides. Prepare a "mojo" (pickling sauce) with bitter orange and dried spices (previously heated) with crushed garlic and salt at a taste. Marinate overnight. Cover the roast meat with plantain leaves. It can be served with cassava slices and moros y cristianos (black beans with rice).
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