GCC: Tamales filled with Carnitas in Pipian Sauce

September 25, 2011 by Monica in Cooking Club, Gutsy Cooks Club, Latin, Lesson, Main Courses, Pork

I have been itching to try my hand at making Tamales from scratch for a long time. The reason is simple – I love eating them. And like anything that I love, I like to learn to make it at home and teak it to my taste.

So, when we choose the Gutsy Menu up for September and Mexican ended as our theme, I could not help sneak in a Tamale recipe to finally force me to try this labor intensive recipe.

Dishes that take days to make, hours to compose and unifies family and friends together to create memories is the ultimate reason for why people cook in the first place. Tamales is a dishes that fulfill all of that. Ask anyone in Mexico, and they will tell you that Tamale making is a labor of love. They vary from region to region as does the process, ingredients and tools used. Almost as much as they do family to family. Recipes (and ingredients) are protected and protocols are followed. In many cases the person making the tamales keeps their secrets to themselves and those secrets are passed on from generations to generation.

Mediterranean Chicken [on the fly]

September 11, 2011 by Monica in Chicken, Dinner, Family, Family Cookbook, Main Courses, Savory

That is what I’m calling this last minute, “lets-see-what I have in the refrigerator to cook the chicken with”.

As I mentioned before, I’m supper gutsy when it comes to cooking savory recipes. I tend to go a bit off the beaten path and cook with my heart and with no set of rules.

Sort of like how my mother cooks - By the seat of our pants.

I cannot help myself from deviating as soon as I start any given recipe that I’m trying out. I blame the fact that I read tons of recipes – I have over 100 cookbooks, 5 different subscriptions to major food magazines and over 50 feeds to food blogs that I read daily in my reader. When I want to make a recipe with one single ingredient, I tap all of these motivation sources by pulling bits and pieces of every single thing that I read, saw or even tasted.

Insalata Russa [Russian Salad]

July 26, 2011 by Monica in Entertaining, Family, Family Cookbook, Main Courses, Salad, Vegetable

This is another recipe plucked right out my Nonna’s A cookbook. This salad was served in all of our family “special events”, so any birthday, baptism, party, Christmas, anything that involved a gathering of more than 20 people and this dish would make an appearance.

Since I been reminiscing my younger years in the last couple of weeks, I of course made this. This dish, as my grandmother use to tell me could be found in any “antipasto” offering in Italy. During my travels, I have found countless versions of this salad but I always go back to my grandmother’s italian version.

In Italy it’s mainly made with diced vegetables like potatoes, peas, carrots, green beans, and combined with homemade mayonnaise.