Growing up in the coastal city of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, about 50 miles west of San Juan, Belsie Gonzalez remembers Easter dinners as a chance to be with her immediate family – mother, brother and sister – celebrating the day and marking the end of the solemn Lenten season.
The family’s Easter dinner would feature very traditional Puerto Rican dishes like Bacalao a la Vizcaina and mofongo, a pairing that reflects Puerto Rico’s two strongest culinary influences.
“The plantains come to us from African culture and the bacalao from Spain. What I suspect is that the Spaniards, traveling in boats for a long, long time cured their meat in order to make it last. We use a lot of salted pork and bacalao in our traditional dishes,” said Gonzalez.
And there’d be no rushing from the table. “When we eat, we stay at the table a long time, talking and talking,” she said.
Gonzalez didn’t learn to cook until she was ready to go to college. “My mom is a really good cook, but she didn’t want us in the kitchen. She told us, ‘Go study so you’ll have a better life,’ just as her mom said to her, “she said.
When she did try her hand in the kitchen, she started with flan and she remembers burning herself with the caramel. “I didn’t make it again for years,” she said.
Living in the United States for almost two decades, she doesn’t cook every day, but when she does cook, it’s the dishes of her homeland. “Arroz con Pollo, Arroz y Habichuelas, yellow rice, chicken stews with raisins and prunes, Pollo en Escabeche - all the dishes I ate growing up,” said Gonzalez.
Sometimes she calls her mother for help with recipes, but often she refers to “Cocina Criolla” by Carmen Valldejuli (Pelican Publishing Company, $25.95). The book’s title translates to “Creole Cooking” and refers to the cuisine that resulted from the mix of European and Caribbean influences on Puerto Rican cooking style. “My mom gave it to me and I think you’ll find it in 90 percent of Puerto Rican kitchens,” she said.
When she sets the table for her Easter dinner this year, Gonzalez will bring out a crocheted tablecloth. “This is very typical, very traditional. It makes me feel at home. And I love my crocheted doilies, made for me by my neighbors. They were like aunts to me,” said Gonzalez.
Birds of paradise as a centerpiece will also remind Gonzalez of home. “My godparents lived on one side of us and had two children close in age to me. I would go there to play pretty much every day. On the side of their porch they grew birds of paradise. Those were the flowers that greeted me every time I would go to the house,” she said.
She also remembers huge avocados growing in neighboring yards, with fruit so large they had to be shared across the fence because no one family could finish one before it turned brown.
Now Gonzalez does the cooking when her mother comes to visit. The biggest difference between her cooking and that of her mother? Gonzalez always serves dessert. “We didn’t have dessert at home. I learned to eat dessert from my godmother. Now I feel I haven’t finished eating unless I have something sweet afterwards, even just a piece of chocolate,” she said.
Topper: Mix and match these traditional dishes for your own Puerto Rican-style meal.
Arroz y Habichuelas (Rice and Beans)
Hands on: 15 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes
Serves: 8
Every Latin American and Caribbean culture serves a version of rice and beans. It could be black beans in Cuba, or rice and pigeon peas in Jamaica. In Puerto Rico, rice and pigeon peas are traditional for Christmas, but red beans and rice are the everyday side dish. In Gonzalez’ family, pink beans have taken the place of red beans because they prefer the flavor and texture.
Fresh pink beans are widely available in Puerto Rico. “I remember my mother picking the fresh beans and shelling them,” said Gonzalez. Here in the States, pink beans are a specialty item available at Hispanic groceries or the Buford Highway Farmers Market in both canned and dried versions. You can substitute light red kidney beans if you prefer.
2 cups short or medium length rice, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided
4 cups water
6 cloves garlic, divided
1 teaspoon salt, plus more for beans
1 small onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 (15.5-ounce) cans pink beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup tomato sauce
3/4 cup water
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Pepper
In a medium saucepan, combine rice and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add water, 2 cloves garlic, cut into large pieces, and salt. Stir. Turn heat to medium-high and bring water to a boil. Stir. Let rice return to a boil and cook until water reduces to the level of the rice, about 5 minutes. Cover, reduce heat and simmer on low for 35 minutes or until rice is tender. Serve immediately.
While rice is cooking, heat remaining teaspoon olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion, green pepper and cilantro. Mince the remaining 4 cloves of garlic and add them to the pot. Saute 2 minutes, then add beans, tomato sauce, water, potatoes, bay leaves, oregano and cumin. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Remove bay leaves before serving.
Adapted from a recipe provided by Belsie Gonzalez.
Per serving: 405 calories (percent of calories from fat, 7), 15 grams protein, 80 grams carbohydrates, 8 grams fiber, 3 grams fat (1 gram saturated), no cholesterol, 462 milligrams sodium.
Bacalao a la Vizcaina (Codfish Stew)
Hands on: 20 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4
This fish stew with its Basque origins reflects the Spanish influence on the cuisine of Puerto Rico. Preserving fish with salt is a time-honored way of extending the shelf life of a very perishable food. You could substitute fresh fish, but salt cod is traditional. You’ll also find salted pollock sold as bacalao. Either will work here and both are available at the Buford Highway Farmers Market.
1 pound salted cod or pollock
4 medium Yukon gold potatoes, sliced 1/2-inch thick
2 onions, sliced 1/4-inch thick, separated into rings
4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced 1/4-inch thick, slices containing only egg whites discarded
2 teaspoons capers
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup pitted green olives
1/2 cup roasted red bell peppers, drained, cut into 1/4-inch strips
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 bay leaf
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for garnish.
1 cup water
1 cup white wine
Extra virgin olive oil, for garnish
The day before serving, in a large bowl, cover fish with water. Refrigerate. Over the next 24 hours, drain the fish and cover with fresh water. When ready to cook, drain and cut fish into 1-inch pieces or shred into bite-size pieces.
In a Dutch oven, layer half these ingredients in this order: potatoes, cod, onions, eggs, capers, garlic, olives, roasted red peppers and raisins. Top with 1 bay leaf.
In a 1-quart measuring cup, combine tomato sauce and olive oil. Pour half the tomato sauce mixture over the layers of fish. Repeat layering with remaining ingredients: potatoes, cod, onions, eggs, capers, garlic, olives, roasted red peppers and raisins. Pour the remaining tomato sauce mixture over layers. In same measuring cup, combine water and wine and pour over all. Do not stir the mixture.
Put Dutch oven over medium heat, cover and bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately, discarding bay leaf, drizzling with olive oil if desired.
Adapted from a recipe provided by Belsie Gonzalez.
Per serving: 653 calories (percent of calories from fat, 57), 33 grams protein, 43 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 35 grams fat (6 grams saturated), 293 milligrams cholesterol, 684 milligrams sodium.
Mofongo (Mashed Plantains)
Hands on: 30 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Serves: 8
This is a recipe for green plantains, not the ripe yellow ones. The only difficult part is the mashing of the plantains, garlic and olive oil. The traditional tool for making mofongo is a pilon or wooden mortar and pestle.
Gonzalez would never prepare this dish with a food processor, although you will find recipes that suggest using one as a labor-saving device. It’s important that the plantains and garlic are not turned into a smooth mixture. The dish should have some texture to it, with both larger and smaller pieces.
Gonzalez suggests that the best way to peel a green plantain is to cut off both ends and then make two cuts down the length of the plantain, just through the peel, not cutting the fruit. Then she inserts a butter knife in the slits and pries the peel away from the fruit, a process she does under running water.
For a pretty presentation, she mashes enough plantains to fill up the pestle and then turns the contents upside down over a serving dish.
3 green plantains
Salt
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
Vegetable oil for frying
Peel the plantains and cut the fruit diagonally into 1/2-inch thick slices. Put slices in a large bowl and cover with lightly salted water. Soak for 15 minutes.
While slices are soaking, in a pestle, mash garlic and olive oil until well blended. Set garlic mixture aside.
When ready to serve, drain the plantains and dry the pieces. In a large skillet, add 1/4-inch of vegetable oil. Heat oil over medium-high heat and carefully add plantain slices. Do not crowd pan. Cook until light brown on all sides, about 12 minutes total. Do not allow them to become too crisp as that will make them difficult to mash. Remove from oil and drain well. Keep warm. Repeat with remaining slices.
While plantains are still warm, in a pestle, mash slices and add garlic mixture and salt to taste. Mash plantains in batches until all are mashed. The texture should not be too smooth, and there should be both large and small pieces remaining. Repeat until all plantains have been mashed.
Adapted from a recipe provided by Belsie Gonzalez.
Per serving: 219 calories (percent of calories from fat, 61), 1 gram protein, 22 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 16 grams fat (2 grams saturated), no cholesterol, 20 milligrams sodium.
Flan de Coco (Coconut Flan)
Hands on: 10 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes plus chilling time
Serves: 10
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 (15-ounce) can coconut cream
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12-ounce) cans evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium saucepan, stir together sugar and water. Turn heat to medium-high and cook sugar until water evaporates and sugar caramelizes, turning a golden brown, about 15 minutes. Immediately pour caramel into 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Set aside and allow to cool at least 5 minutes.
In the jar of a blender, combine coconut cream, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, eggs and vanilla. When well blended, pour over caramel. Set baking dish into a larger roasting pan and add boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the baking dish. Carefully place roasting pan in oven and cook flan for 1 hour. Turn off oven and leave flan in oven for 1 hour.
Carefully remove roasting pan from oven, remove baking dish from water and set aside to cool completely. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 4 hours before serving. To unmold, place serving platter on top of baking dish. Holding platter on top edge of baking dish, quickly reverse position so platter is on the bottom. In a minute or two, flan will release from baking dish.
Adapted from a recipe at www.elcolmadito.com.
Per serving: 414 calories (percent of calories from fat, 47), 9 grams protein, 48 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 22 grams fat (17 grams saturated), 87 milligrams cholesterol, 109 milligrams sodium.
Casquitos de Guayaba (Guava Shells)
Hands on: 45 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Makes: 28 shells
Guavas grow easily in Puerto Rico. “You can use the same idea, stewing fruit in sugar syrup, with other fruits like papaya. My godmother would prepare prunes this way,” said Gonzalez.
Guava shells are traditionally served with fresh white cheese. Gonzalez found Tropical’s Queso Blanco, from the Buford Highway Farmers Market, to be the closest match to the cheese she grew up eating in Puerto Rico.
Be certain to remove all the seeds from the guavas as they are very, very hard. A melon baller is the best tool for this purpose. There will be about a cup of syrup. After the shells are eaten, the remaining syrup can be used to flavor sparkling water or fruit salads.
2 pounds guavas, peeled, halved, seeds removed (about 14 guavas)
2 cups water, or enough to just cover guavas
2 cups granulated sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Queso blanco
In a large saucepan, cover guava halves with water and boil 10 minutes. Add sugar and lemon juice and continue cooking until guava shells turn pink and syrup thickens, about 45 minutes. Allow shells to cool in syrup and store in refrigerator for up to 1 month. Serve with queso blanco.
Adapted from a recipe provided by Belsie Gonzalez.
Per shell (without extra syrup): 34 calories (percent of calories from fat, 4), trace protein, 8 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, trace fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 1 milligram sodium.
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