lunes, 13 de diciembre de 2010

Chocolate truffles


Week # 13 recipe # 12


Hey guys, so I made Chocolate truffles a couple of weeks ago on my live show, and now I'm gonna post the recipe, I'm sorry I haven't updated my blog in a while, I've been busy with exams. I love this recipe, It's so simple and it really impresses people when you hand them a nice little box or bag of pretty delicious homemade chocolate truffles.

What you will need:

- 1 and 1/4 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips.
- 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup of heavy cream.
- 1/4 of brandy
- Cocoa powder, powder sugar, and chopped nuts.

Ok so when you got everything ready, pour you heavy cream in a saucepan and heat it until it simmers just a little bit. Meanwhile grab your chocolate chips and butter and pop them in the microwave for about 30 sec then take out and mix it, put back in for another 30 sec and mix until everything is nice and melted. After that pour your hot cream over the melted chocolate and stir until everything is uniform and smooth. Then pour in your brandy and give it another stir until smooth. Put the mixture into the fridge for at least an hour ( overnight is way better).Next take out the chilled mixture and using a spoon take a little bit and but it in your clean hands and quickly form a little ball before it starts to melt, roll the little ball in either cocoa powder, powder sugar or chopped nuts. Repeat until you finish all the mixture (it's about 30 truffles)

Serve, or pack in little bags and boxes and give out as Christmas gifts.

Ok guys, so there you have it an incredibly simple recipe with awesome results, if you are a chocolate lover be sure to try this recipe. By the way Sunday Dec 19 I'm gonna film a Live show from the beach, to be exact from a place in Tamarindo Costa Rica called Hacienda Pinilla be sure to watch, it's my Xmas special show and it's gonna be awesome! As always at 11AM (GMT -6) CST, Central US ( Costa Rica time)




jueves, 25 de noviembre de 2010

Cuban sandwich made with thanksgiving turkey leftovers.

Week # 11 recipe # 11

Hey guys, so because lots of the people that read my blog live in the U.S, I was thinking about a recipe to post that had something to do with thanksgiving. On top of that my friend asked me to make something with a Latin influence for thanksgiving. So after giving it a little thought I got and idea. My idea was to make something with thanksgiving leftovers, because usually thanksgiving dinners are pretty traditional and I didn't want to mess with tradition. Then i was looking for a way to squeeze some Latin influence into the recipe for my friend, so i finally came up with this:

1- I wanted to make a sandwich ( you can make sandwiches with practically any leftovers)
2- I wanted some Latin influence in it.
3- I decided to give the old but famous Cuban sandwich a little twist.

The Cuban sandwich has always been a tradition in Cuban cafes, very famous in Miami. It's made with Cuban or French bread, thinly sliced ham and cheese, slow roasted pork, thinly sliced dill pickles and mustard. In my new version I'm going to change the roasted pork for roasted turkey. Here's how.

What you will need:

- A big loaf of good quality French bread, or as good as you can get.
- A few thin slices of ham ( it can be turkey ham or pork )
- One tablespoon of mustard, i like the French kind.
- A couple tablespoons of refried beans ( this is not traditional but i like the flavor it gives it)
- 2 slices of swiss cheese.
- A couple of thinly sliced dill pickles.
- Butter.

Ok guys, so when you got all your stuff ready, you want to cut a nice size piece of bread lengthwise, then simply spread the mustard on one side and the refried beans on the other side like it was a sauce. Grab your turkey meat and cut it into small pieces, if you have leftover gravy go ahead and get your turkey meat all full of it before putting it in the bread that will just give it more flavor, place it in the bread over the beans, add your dill pickles and the thinly sliced ham. Top it of with your cheese slices. Then close the sandwich with the other piece of bread. After you do that spread butter on the outside of your bread, on both sides. traditionally this sandwich is made in a sandwich press but if you don't have one just heat up a big pan and apply pressure on top of it with another pan or a spatula so it becomes compact and the bread gets crunchy.

Cut it in half diagonally and serve with some French fries or any other thanksgiving leftover.

Well there you have it guy's my Cuban sandwich with a thanksgiving twist, I hope you try and enjoy this simple recipe and remember Cooking keeps me sane.

miércoles, 24 de noviembre de 2010

Fresh tagliatelle in tomato & mussels sauce


Week # 11 recipe # 10

Hey guys, so this is the first picture recipe I'm gonna be doing so let me know if you like it, in my Facebook page. This a really good recipe and I hope it will open your eyes to see that making fresh pasta is incredibly easy and fast.


What you will need:

For the sauce:

- 4 or 5 big mussels per plate
-1 or 2 big ripe tomatoes
- One big onion choped into big pieces
- a piece of a hot chili pepper for spice.
- Some white wine.
- 2 garlic cloves
- olive oil.
- 1/4 cup of cream.
- A few leafs of fresh basil.
- Salt and pepper to taste.

For the pasta:

- 1 egg for every 100 grams of flour.


Ok guys, so when you got all your stuff ready do this:


1- Chop your tomatoes, almost all your onion ( save apiece for the end) garlic and hot chilli and put it in a sauce pan whit some olive oil over medium high heat until everything cooks for a little while. Let that cook and grab your flour make a little "volcano" and break an egg in the middle, then beat the egg with a fork.


2- Take your cooked vegetables and pour them in the blender until they become a thick liquid, Meanwhile start mixing your egg an flour to form a dough.
3- After that continue to kneed your dough until it becomes a ball like for about 5 minutes until it's smooth and has no bubles in the middle when u cut it in half.
4- Then it's simple guys, just roll out a sheet of pasta, try to do it as thin as you can. And then just fold add flor fold again and again till you get like a small little package.

5- then just cut the little package side to side thinly then use your hands to strech the tagliatelle pieces, make sure to add lots of flour so it doesn't stick. After you got your pasta made, heat up a pan pour some olive oil add some chopped onions and garlic and then add your mussels, cook for a few minutes. Then add the tomato sauce that you blended into the pan season with salt and pepper pour in some wine and let that simmer with the muscles over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile cook your pasta in salted boiling water. Take the sauce and muscles of the heat and pour just a splash of cream then the pasta and stir all together.

6- So there you have it guys, step by step to make delicious fresh tagliatelle. Give it a try at home it really deserves a chance. it's a cosy fresh and delicious meal, serve with some fresh basil if you want, and remember Cooking keeps me sane. recorded live show below.




Thai chicken curry

Week# 11 recipe # 9


Hey guys, so it's been a couple of weeks since I post a recipe. I just been very busy lately but I finally found some time so now I'm gonna post this very good chicken recipe I made in last week's live show. It's the way i like chicken curry, spicy well seasoned and juicy. Served over a bed of Jasmin rice to keep the Thai tradition. I's such a good meal and it's so simple to make. Here's how.

What you will need:

- 2 chicken breasts ( cut into strips )
- One can of coconut milk.
- Half a ginger root( peeled, half cut into little sticks and half grated )
- One large onion ( choped into squares )
- Half a really hot chili pepper. (chopped fine )
- About a tablespoon of red curry paste.
- One teaspoon of dry powder cumin, dry powder curry, dry coriander and turmeric.
- A couple cloves of garlic minced.
-salt and pepper to taste.

Ok guy so when you make sure you got all the stuff, get a nice large pan, pour some olive oil and throw in the chopped onion, the little ginger sticks and your hot chili, let everything cook over medium high heat for a couple of minutes till it gets soft. Meanwhile season you chicken strips with salt pepper and half of the other spices. When your onion and ginger are soft add your garlic and your chicken, cook your chicken until it becomes golden brown and delicious. After that, pour in you coconut milk and a little bit of water to create a sauce, lower your heat and add the rest of the spices and the curry paste, give everything a stir and simmer for about 5 minutes.Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper.

Serve over a bed of freshly made Jasmin rice, you can also chop some fresh chilies and put the on top as garnish.


Ok guys, so there you have it. An Asian recipe My way... ha. Below is the video of the live Show if you haven't seen it. And remember that Cooking keeps me sane.










sábado, 13 de noviembre de 2010

Tortilla Española BONUS recipe for my friend Jessica

week # 9 Bonus recipe


Hey guys, so the other day I was chatting with my friend, and she asked me to make a recipe with cheap ingredients and hopefully something with lots of eggs ( cause they are cheap... ha) so i'm including this recipe in my blog although it's not the recipe of the week. Tortilla Española, is a typical Spanish dish considered a " Tapa " it's delicious and very easy to make.

What you will need:

- 4 or 6 large eggs depending on how big your pan is.
- 1/2 a cup of milk.
- Lot's of olive oil. ( or vegetable oil )
- About 2 or 3 big potatoes( depending on how big your pan is) cut into thin slices.
- 1 big onion chopped finely and cooked till soft in a pan.
- a couple slices of bacon chopped finely. (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste.
-preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Ok so when you got all your ingredients ready, crack your eggs and beat them with the milk salt and pepper and put a side. After that grab a medium size pan ( hopefully one you can put in the oven) and pour enough olive oil to cover the surface of the pan, be generous but don't exaggerate when the oil starts to heat up add you potatoes, what you want to do is make a layer of potato slice in the pan, making sure almost all the slices touch the oil. Put the thicker slices closer to the oil, season with salt then add your cooked onions over the potatoes, wait about 5 min while the potatoes partially cook in medium heat on the pan, don't move or flip them remember we want a layer.
So after the potatoes have been chillin for a while in the pan add your egg mixture, the trick here is for the eggs to completely cover the potatoes, it should look like a huge pancake, if you can still see the potatoes then beat another egg and pour it in. Let it cook on the stove for a about 3 min or so, maybe 5 and then put it in the oven for about 15 min or until the egg mixture is completely cooked. Ok so the tricky part comes at the end, you have 2 choices you can either be brave and put a plate over the pan and flip the whole thing out, or you can be lazy and just eat it out of the pan. If you do decide taking it out of the pan it will look like a huge thick egg pancake with a layer of golden brown potatoes. Then just cut yourself a slice and eat hot or cold.

Ok guys, so there you have, it a traditional spanish dish that is extremely affordable. This one was for you jesse ;) haha.

By the way check out my LIVE show tomorrow at 11 AM Costa Rica time.







sábado, 6 de noviembre de 2010

French toast my way

week # 8 recipe # 8

Ok guys, so I was craving breakfast for supper the other night and thought it was time to reinvent something i've never been a big fan of, French toast! lots of people love it but i've never really found some French toast that really blows my mind, so I made my own, the way i like it. I hope you like it as much as i did the other night.

What you will need:

- About 6 or 8 big slices of stale round French bread.
- 3 eggs beaten
- About 2 cups of milk
- A teaspoon of vanilla
- 1/4 cup of orange liquor or Limoncello.
- 1/2 cup of sugar.
- A small pack of strawberries
- More sugar for the strawberry sauce cut in halfs.
- Ricotta cheese.
- Honey.
- Butter.


Ok guys, so when you make sure you have all your stuff ready grab a bowl and add your milk, eggs, vanilla, orange liquor and mix everything well, then place on a double boiler ( put a pot with some water over medium heat and put a bowl over the pot so the mixture is not over direct heat) beat everything constantly for about 5 minutes until it starts to get thick like a custard, remember we don't wan't it too thick so when it is just a little bit thick like a light pudding take it of the heat and pour it over the slices of bread so they get drenched with the creamy mixture, let them soak for 5 min adding more as needed. Be sure to not drench to much because we don't want the bread to get too soggy. After that heat up a big pan and add plenty of butter than take your slices of drenched bread and let them get golden brown and delicious. While you are cooking the bread, take a sauce pan add the strawberries a little bit of water, sugar and some orange liquor and cook for 5 min or until a light strawberry syrup forms then take off the heat.
When you have your bread slices golden brown on both sides, place on a plate and crumble some ricotta cheese, then pour the strawberries over everything and drizzle with honey.

Serve warm, with a little whipped cream if you like.

So there you have it guys, a delicious breakfast alternative, and if you don't have strawberries you can use blueberries, raspberries or peaches. Hey on Sunday I'm gonna have a live show at 11 AM Costarican time so be sure to watch