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Here are seven original recipes, once to correspond with each of the movements of “Sabor y
Memoria,” concocted by Musical Director, Composer, Guitarist and the Amador Family’s Master
Chef, Brian Amador. They are being used by some of the venues presenting Sabor y Memoria
for pre-performance food tasting and could be included in the program, turning the program book
into a recipe book. ¡Buen provecho! (Bon Appetit).
1. Fas fud (Fast Food)
Don’t talk to me about fast food.
don’t give me that garbage.
I want food made with love,
pride and tradition.
Tastiness and health
are not achieved in haste.
You have to take time to enjoy
food and conversation.
Scallops with Champagne-Tomato-Vanilla Sauce
1 lb. sea scallops
2 cloves garlic, minced
Toasted sesame oil
1-1/2 cups champagne (it’s okay if it’s flat)
2 medium or 4 small tomatoes, chopped
Salt and oregano to taste
1 tsp vanilla
Drain water from scallops. Coat the bottom of a skillet with oil and heat on high
heat. Sauté scallops until browned on both sides. Remove from skillet and
cover. Add a bit more oil if necessary and sauté garlic until it begins to release
its aroma. Add tomatoes and champagne and simmer until reduced by 2/3. Add
vanilla, return scallops to skillet, and cover. Cook covered for 3-5 minutes and
serve hot with rice.
Mango-Chipotle Salsa
4 mangos (preferably yellow, Ataulfo-type)
1 or 2 chipotle chiles in escabeche, finely chopped
1/4 – 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
Juice of 3 key limes
1/2 c. chopped cilantro
Preparing the mango:
Cutting parallel to the pit, cut the flesh off each side of the mango as close to the
pit as possible. On each piece, use a paring knife to cut parallel slashes in the
fruit approx. 1/4” apart, all the way to the skin, then make similar slashes
perpendicular to those, so you have a cross-hatched cut. Turn the skin inside
out, and you’ll have what looks like a mango porcupine! Then just cut the little
pieces away from the skin into a bowl.
To make the salsa, simply mix all the ingredients in a bowl. This is wonderful with
chicken, fish or seafood, or alone with chips.
2. Cosas verdes (Green Things) – Venezuelan Merengue
Rain, earth, sun, seed and sweat with time they produce
sustenance and taste.
Power, magic that produces the flower
and then the cucumber, tomato or bean.
Green things, very tasty and nutritious,
source of vitamins, minerals and flavor.
Green things, which aren’t always even so green,
and in addition to being good, they give a touch of color.
Repollo “Sonia” (Cabbage “Sonia”)
1 head red or green cabbage, preferably organic
1 large onion (or 2 small), chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 handful of raisins
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp white wine
Olive oil
Salt to taste
Coat bottom of a large, deep pot with olive oil and heat on medium-high heat.
Sauté onion until slightly caramelized. Add garlic and continue sautéing just until
it releases its aroma, then add cabbage. Cover, turn heat to low and cook,
stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cover again.
Cook until cabbage is as tender as you want it – I usually cook it for another 15
minutes or so. Add more balsamic vinegar or wine if necessary to keep it from
drying out on the bottom.
3. Olor a chiles (The Smell of Chiles) – Mexican Vals/Huapango
I was far from home, in a strange place
when a smell of chiles carried me to my home.
The years vanished, the miles rolled back,
again I saw my grandmother shaping tortillas.
Smell of chiles, smell of childhood so many years erased by nothing more than a fragrance.
Smell of chiles, smell of home –
made me forget how life passes by.
Chile colorado (Red chile sauce)
I large onion, chopped medium-fine
6 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
10-12 dried red chile pods* (can be any combination of New Mexico red, pasilla,
ancho, guajillo, with maybe a chipotle or two thrown in)
water
salt to taste
Remove the stems and most of the seeds from the chiles. Toast chiles in a dry,
hot iron skillet until slightly browned on both sides, then place them in a
saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Take them off the heat and let
soak for 10 minutes or until softened. Put them in a blender with some of the
soaking water and puree, adding more water as necessary to make a thick
sauce. Reserve any remaining soaking water. Strain chile puree into a large
bowl.
In a deep saucepan, sauté onions in olive oil until slightly caramelized, then add
garlic and cook about a minute more. Add chile puree and heat through, adding
salt to taste. Add more water if necessary for desired consistency. You can serve
this sauce over meats or eggs, with beans, or you can use it in the tamal recipe
below.
4. Alquimia (Alchemy) – Argentine Milonga
When I light my stove, it’s like a candle on the altar
where I prepare my offerings to friendship and love.
And when I put in the garlic, smell that intoxicating aroma,
I feel the presence of the ancestors
sharing across the years the enchantment of that smell.
What happiness it gives me to cook, what joy!
With a recipe or improvised, made up, it’s all the same –
what difference does it make?
If you know how to cook, you’re going to have fun
and you’re going to eat well.
Salsa Medibeña
1 lb. ground dark meat turkey
2 ripe plantains
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 large onion (or 2 small), chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 pinch white pepper
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. white wine
1 T. fresh rosemary
Salt to taste
Olive oil
Heat olive oil over medium heat and add onion. Cut ends off of plantains, make a
slit lengthwise in the skin, and peel. Quarter plantains lengthwise, then chop into
approx. 1/2” dice. When onion begins to brown, add plantains and cook 2-3
minutes more. Add turkey; when almost cooked through, add garlic, cook 1
minute more, and add the rest of the ingredients. Lower heat and simmer until
done, 10 minutes or more. Serve with pasta.
5. Hambre (Hunger) – Argentine Zamba
Excuse me…I want to know
why, with such abundance, are there people with nothing?
The table overflowing, an embarrassment of food,
the people gathered, the entire family.
For some, there’s veal, for others bread and cheese.
For some, not even that – they wait for crumbs.
It’s not a lack of production, but of will –
the reason there are people who have nothing to eat.
Arroz integral (Brown Rice)
Brown rice – short, medium or long grain (or jasmine or
basmati)
Water – almost twice as much as the amount of rice you’re
preparing. (For example, if you’re making 1 cup of rice,
you’ll need about 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 cups of water, a bit more
for short grain rice.
Olive or vegetable oil, enough to cover the bottom of the
saucepan
Salt to taste
Heat oil on medium-high heat in saucepan and add rice.
Cook, stirring often, for a few minutes until rice is
lightly toasted and begins to release a popcorn-like aroma.
Lower heat and add water, being careful to keep your body
parts out of the way of the steam that will arise as soon
as the water hits the hot pan! Add salt to taste (I use
about 1/2 tsp. per cup of rice), put heat on low, cover and
simmer until water is absorbed – with 1 cup of rice, this
will take around 20-25 minutes, more for more rice.
6. El tamal (The Tamal) – Peruvian landó
It began long ago in Mexico
with a cornhusk or a plantain leaf.
It occurred to someone
to wet it, fill it with masa, and stick it in the fire.
What a discovery! How exquisite!
You’re not going to believe how tasty this is.
You have to try this – I know you’ll like it.
Leaf wrapper holds a gift for the palate.
Tamales de puerco (Pork Tamales, New Mexico-style)
MASA:
5 lb. bag of prepared cornmeal masa flour (I like Masa Brosa)
1 lb. shortening or lard
pork broth from filling preparation
cornhusks
FILLING:
4 lbs. pork shoulder
6 cups water
2 cups chile colorado sauce
3 onions, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
oregano, cumin and salt to taste
olive or vegetable oil
PREPARING THE FILLING:
Boil pork in water until tender. Remove from broth, saving the broth. Separate
meat fibers with a fork and chop into small pieces. In a large saucepan, sauté
onions until slightly caramelized, add garlic and cook for about a minute more,
then add chile, pork, spices and salt. Cook until it’s just dry enough not to be
runny.
MAKING THE TAMALES:
Rinse the cornhusks and soak in water until pliable. Spread the center of each
cornhusk with 2 Tbsp. of the masa mixture, leaving a little well in the middle (if
the cornhusks are small, you may need to use 2 per tamal, overlapping them in
the middle). Top the masa with the filling, then fold the sides of the cornhusk in
toward the center, fold the top up and the bottom down, and tie with a thin strip of
cornhusk (you may need to tie two strips together.
You can freeze any tamales you’re not going to eat right away. To prepare the
tamales for eating, place on a steamer rack in a large pot and steam for
approximately 40 minutes.
7. Chocolate – Panamanian tamborito, Puerto Rican bomba
Oh! Chocolate, elixir of the Aztecs,
somewhat sweet, somewhat bitter,
black and with intense flavor.
Oh! Chocolate, delicious medicine,
full of antioxidants,
good for heartache.
Black chocolate, dark chocolate
sweet as a kiss, pure delirium.
S’Más
(A delicious Latin take on s’mores)
Graham crackers
Good dark chocolate
Dulce de leche
Divide graham crackers into squares spread some dulce de leche on each
square and place a piece of dark chocolate in the middle. Arrange on a metal
tray and put under broiler or in a toaster oven on broil. KEEP AN EYE ON THEM!
Depending on the intensity of the heat, they should be ready in a minute or so.
Remove them from the heat just as the edges of the chocolate begin to soften,
but before the chocolate becomes a puddle! Serve hot.