Ceviche with Sweet Plantains

Ingredients
1 pound tilapia fresh and cubed into small chunks
1/2 cup lime juice (juice from 4-6 limes)
1/2 cup lemon juice (juice from 2-3 lemons)
2 oranges, squeezed (preferably sour oranges) 3/4 cup sour orange
1 red onion - large and diced
2 tomatoes - diced
1 cucumber - peeled diced into 1/2-inch pieces
1 avocados - chopped
1 jalapeño or serano pepper - seeded and chopped, more to taste
3 yellow plantains
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup cilantro - chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. Cut fish into small pieces.
2. Squeeze lime halves over the fish pieces in a large bowl. (A hand juicer works nicely for this.) - a simple trick if you do not have a juicer take a fork and twist it in the lime till all the juice is squeezed.
3. Be sure all of the pieces are completely covered with citrus juice.
4. Bring 6 cups water and 1/4 cup juice to a boil in a Dutch oven. Add shrimp; cook 3 minutes or until done. (Over-cooking the shrimp will turn it rubbery.) Remove shrimp with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.
5. Drain the shrimp. Cut each piece of shrimp in half, or into inch-long pieces. Place shrimp in a glass or ceramic bowl. Mix in the lime and lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate for a half hour.
6. Cover with plastic wrap and set it in the refrigerator to marinate for 6 hours. Leaving it overnight will give it a better flavor.
Note: The acidity of the lime juice cooks, or cures, the tilapia.
7. Remove from the refrigerator, do not drain.
8. Chop onion, cilantro, tomatoes, avocado, jalapeños and add it into the marinated fish.
9. Mix in olive oil and salt
10. Mash plantains in a food processor and place in martini glass with tip of finger molding plantain in glass. Remove gently and re-fry for 3- 4 minutes so that the plantain fries in the form of the martini cup. Add ceviche and serve.

* Note- If you prefer it can also be eaten over white rice.

Fish and Chips with a Latin Twist

1 lb cod or other lean fish fillet
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vinegar
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup latin mojo marinade

Directions:

Cut fish filets into pieces and marinade with mojo for an hour or more. Pat dry with paper towels.

Mix flour and salt.

Mix baking soda and vinegar.

Stir vinegar mixture and water into flour mixture; beat until smooth.

Dip fish into batter, allowing excess batter to drip into bowl.

Fry 4 or 5 fish pieces at a time for about 3 to 4 minutes, turning fish once, until brown. Drain on paper towel

Note: I've used tilapia, shrimp, calamari, and even tofu.

Thai Influenced Peanut Chicken

Ingredients:
5 1/2 lbs chicken butterflied chicken breast
3 tbls. adobo seasoning
1 cup mojo
2 cans Red Thai curry
5 T. cilantro thinly minced
2 cans coconut milk
4 T. crushed garlic
1/2 cup peanut butter
4 tbls. olive oil


Direction:

1 Marinate chicken tenderloins with adobo, mojo, cilantro, garlic, curry, and minced olives let marinade.

2 In a separate skillet on medium heat add marinade broth from chicken and cook for 5 minutes then stir in coconut milk and peanut butter. Stir and bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer so sauce does not break.

3 In a large skillet on saute chicken tenderloins for 4 minutes in olive oil on high add 1 ladel of sauce and simmer for 1 minute to add color.

Garnish with cilantro

Camarones al Ajillo

Garlic Shrimp (Camarones al Ajillo)

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup puree Spanish olive oil or more to taste
4 to 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 pounds prawns or extra-large shrimp, cleaned and deveined
juice of 2 limes
salt to taste
pinch of dried oregano
Cayenne pepper powder
pinch of paprika
20 wooden skewers (soak skewers in water)

1 In a large flat skillet over low heat, heat the oil until it is fragrant, then cook the garlic, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes. Raise the heat to medium, add the shrimp, and cook, stirring, until they turn pink, 5 minutes. (If you prefer extra oil, add it along with shrimp.) Add the lime juice, salt, oregano, and paprika, and sprinkle with cayenne pepper powder.
2 Transfer to a heated serving platter and serve immediately,

Empanadas

2 pounds of ground turkey
2 red onions thinly diced
2 red peppers
2 green peppers
1/2 bunch cilantro (finely chopped)
4 T. minced garlic
4 pimento olives (finely chopped)
3 T. Adobo
3 Bay Leaves
1 T. Cumin
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup Olive Oil
* Note I have also used tofu, morning star veggie crumble, and fish for my empanadas. So I will tell you to experiment. It's a great way to use that left over meat from last nights dinner. Diced potatoes give it that heartiness when using veggie meat.

1 pkg empanada shells (it can be found in your local supermarket freezer in the latin section) but I also attached the simplest recipe that I have tried and it seems just as good.

Every empanada recipe starts with the dough. Here is a simple empanada dough made with flour, salt, water, egg, vinegar and shortening.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hours, 00 minutes
Ingredients:
3 cups flour (plus a little more for kneading)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water
1 egg
1 egg white
1 teaspoon vinegar
3 tablespoons shortening

Preparation:
1. In a bowl, beat the water, egg, egg white and vinegar together. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the 3 cups of flour and salt.
3. Cut the shortening into the flour mix with a pastry blender or two butter knives. Make a well in the center of the flour mix and pour the liquid ingredients from the first bowl into the center.
4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients with a fork until it becomes stiff.
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it just until all the flour is incorporated and the dough is smooth.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but never more than 24 hours.
Tip: If you want to keep the dough longer than 24 hours, you can freeze it.
Servings: Makes approximately 10 six-inch empanadas.
Filling Preparation:

1. In a large pot saute onions and peppers in olive oil.

2. Once become translucent add garlic cilantro and mojo and stir.

3. Add remainder of ingredients (except for raisins and dried cranberries) cook on medium high until liquid has somewhat dried.

4. Add dried cranberries and golden raisins the last couple of minutes before u turn off the heat.