Creamed Plantain Soup w/Citrus Black Bean Salsa & Chorizo
Serves 4-6

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Takes about 1 ½- 2 hours
1 small onion or half a large, diced fine
1 carrot, scrubbed, trimmed, diced small
2 slender ribs of celery or 1 fat one, scrubbed, trimmed, diced small
2 cloves garlic, crushed, peeled, sliced
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp dried oregano
Healthy pinch or two of dried chili flakes, your taste depending
A few tablespoons grapeseed, canola or preferred vegetable oil
2 large green plantains, peeled and sliced in 1”

pieces

Zest of 1 orange & juice to taste
Sea salt & pepper
5 cups Vegetable stock
1 can coconut milk
A few tablespoons of aged rum, Bacardi Anejo or Select, or equivalent

How to make it:
-heat a stock pot or large soup pot over medium flame until you can feel heat with your palm open above the surface about 1-2”

-add a few tablespoons of cooking oil and tip pan to coat
-add the onions, celery & carrots, stir well, spread evenly over the bottom of the pan
-leave it alone for about 2-3 minutes, stir & spread across bottom evenly about every 30 seconds
-stir this way for about 5-10 minutes until vegetables are tender, add the plantains, stir to coat & increase heat slightly
-reduce heat to medium once you get a little sizzle, stir and distribute evenly, sauté 5 minutes
-add garlic, dried spices & citrus zest, stir well & toast about 30 seconds, season with salt & pepper to taste
-add vegetable stock to cover and bring to a light boil. Reduce heat to maintain an active simmer, stir occasionally, while simmering, be sure to stir carefully and scrape the bottom of the pan: green plantains are very starchy, a lot of those starches will settle in the bottom & try to burn
-simmer 45 minutes to an hour until plantain pieces slide easily from a paring knife inserted to the center (if you are making the black bean salsa, now is a good time to start)
-turn off heat & cool about 15 minutes, stir in coconut milk, rum and orange juice
-in a heavy duty blender, blend the soup in batches, do not fill the work bowl over half way, remove the inner plastic piece from the lid and cover with a folded kitchen towel to make room for steam build up
-puree until smooth, you may need to add water or vegetable stock to loosen
-put pureed soup into a cleaned soup pot & gently bring back to a simmer before serving, check for seasoning and texture, green plantain can get a little gummy, so add water as needed to loosen
-serve hot, garnished with black bean salsa, fried chorizo, or simply a few leaves of cilantro

Note: if serving with black beans & chorizo, you will want to prepare your salsa & chorizo while the soup simmers. For chorizo, simply sauté a couple links with cooking oil over medium heat & break up with the back of a spoon, don’

t be afraid to let it get crispy. Each bowl of soup can be garnished with a as much or as little beans & chorizo as suits your fancy

Warm Citrus Black Bean Salsa
Takes about 20 minutes
For plantain soup garnish:
1 ½ cups cooked black beans or a small can, rinsed
½ small yellow onion, fine dice
1 small carrot, fine dice
1 clove garlic, very fine dice
Cooking oil
Zest of one small orange
Small handful of cilantro leaves, chopped coarsely
Sea salt & fresh cracked pepper
Olive oil to finish

How to make it:
-heat a medium skillet over medium heat, add a couple tablespoons of cooking oil
-add the onion and stir, sauté until tender & translucent, about 5 minutes, add carrot, sauté to tender, about another 5 minutes
-add garlic, stir about 30 seconds, add beans & stir to coat, season to taste with salt & pepper
-stir in citrus zest, stir about 30 seconds
-remove from heat & stir in cilantro
-drizzle some olive oil to finish

Tres Leche Cafe Rumbano

makes a lot of cocktails

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Bottle of bacardi 8 yr (or other aged rum)
Generous amounts of cinnamon bark (2 cups?)
Infuse for at least 3 days. A week would be money.
Make coffee. Use equal parts coffee and raw cane sugar. 2 cups of each to make a sweet coffee syrup.
Warm 1 cup of cocunt milk, 1 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup half and half on the stove until slightly simmering. Add to the infused rum and coffee syrup mixture. Let sit covered in an airtight container overnight on the counter. Pass through a fine mesh strainer. Served shaken and straight up with a drizzle of coconut milk and a dusting of cinnamon.

Tres Leches Cake

makes 18 cubes of cake

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For the Cake:

1 1/2 cups plus 1 Tablespoon of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

5 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

For the Glaze:

1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup half and half

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 cinnamon stick

1 cardamom pod

3 Tablespoons aged rum

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil and flour a 13 by 9-inch metal pan and set aside.

Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.

Place the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until fluffy, approximately 1 minute. Decrease the speed to low and with the mixer still running, gradually add the sugar over 1 minute. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl, if necessary. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix to thoroughly combine.  It’s a lot of eggs and the mixture will appear soupy.  Add the vanilla and almond extract and mix to combine. Add the flour mixture to the batter in 3 batches and mix just until combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread evenly. This will appear to be a very small amount of batter. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cake is lightly golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the cake pan to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Slice the edges off the entire cake and portion into 18 cubes of cake.  Poke the top of each slice with a skewer or fork. Allow the cake to cool completely and then prepare the glaze.

Whisk together the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, half and half, coconut milk, cinnamon and cardamom in a saucepan over medium heat.  Allow to just warm, cover and place in the fridge for 2 hours.  Stir in the rum.  Arrange the tres leches cake in a dish with 1-inch sides.  Pour the milks over the cake slowly.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.  Most people like to leave the cakes to soak overnight…. but I don’t like overly soggy cake and find that four hours is juuuust fine.

Serve with slightly sweetened whipped cream.

Mocha Rum Cake

adapted from Gourmet, January 1994

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cocoa powder for dusting
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 pound fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup dark rum
1 1/3 cups strong brewed coffee
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, beaten lightly
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
confectioners’ sugar for dusting

lightly sweetened whipped cream

Preheat oven to 300°F. Butter a 4 1/2-inch-deep (12-cup) Kugelhupf or bundt pan and dust with cocoa powder, knocking out excess.

In a bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. Remove chocolate from heat and stir in rum, coffee, and granulated sugar. With an electric mixer beat in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down side, and beat in eggs and vanilla until batter is combined well.  The batter may seem very loose.  That’s perfect!  Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake cake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, about 1 hour and 50 minutes. Let cake cool completely in pan on a rack and turn it out onto rack. Cake may be made 3 days in advance and kept wrapped well and chilled.

Dust cake with confectioners’ sugar and serve with whipped cream.

I made a simple rum glaze with 2 cups powdered sugar and 2-3 Tablespoons of rum.