Bake a red pepper in a large pot with a little bit of olive oil, 1/2 a cup of water and 1 sliced onion on a bed of white rice.

The onion will caramelize after 10 minutes of cooking. You're essentially steaming the red pepper if you cover the pot. Once the pepper becomes tender and the onions have caramelized they're ready to serve on top of the rice. This is a great quick meal packed full of vitamins and nutrients.

Fun Fact: A red pepper has more Vitamin C than an Orange. :)

Enjoy!

Swordfish a la Plancha®

As I get older, I'm starting to shy away from red meats and head toward the white meat and fish categories. They're leaner and don't make you feel so heavy after you eat it. I love feeling that buzz in my brain when eating items chucked full of omega-3s . It makes you feel clean inside.

Ok enough with the queer stuff ;). Let's get down to cooking. "A la plancha" in Spanish means grilled. To grill Swordfish, or any item for that matter, you just need to skirt you pan with a slight amount of olive oil but not too much. You don't want to fry it; you just don't want it to stick to the pan. Let's start with the side items since they take longer to cook. I prepared the Swordfish meal with sauteéd green bell peppers, onions and garlic white rice. Here's a trick on how to cook rice the right way.

Cooking Rice:

Sauteé a mince onion and 3 chopped garlic gloves in a pot with olive oil. Simultaneously you should be boiling twice the amount of water to rice that will be needed, separately on a different burner. Let is cook for about 4 to 5 minutes and then add all the other ingredients you would like the rice to carry, be it, tomatoes, red peppers, onions, what have you.... Once you have sauteéd the ingredients long enough you will want to add the dry rice to the pot. Do NOT add water yet.

Once you've added the rice, start stirring all the items together. Stir for about 3 minutes. Now we have the boiled water ready to add to the pot. Cover the pot after mixing several times and bring the heat to a medium low. Leave for about 15 minutes or until you see the water evaporate.

You should have tasty, fluffy rice with all the trimmings!

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Back to the Swordish. I create an oragnic Irish butter rub for the Swordfish but you can easily just add rock salt and drizzle olive oil onto the fish before placing it onto the pan. I like the taste of Irish Oganic Butter for Swordfish so I added this rub onto the fish beforing cooking.

This is a super easy fish to cook. Just turn it twice on the pan and after 5 to 8 minutes it should be cooked.

KEY TO COOKING FISH: DO NOT OVER COOK. Do NOT let it stick to the pan.

Enjoy!

Farfalle with Fresh Tomatoes in a Cheesy Red Sauce & Chorizo

Everyone loves FARFALLE!!! First thing, it's just a fun word to say...Farfalllllleeeeee! Hee hee. Bowtie pasta, as it's more commonly known is great prepared al dente (not thoroughly cooked.) I prepared this yummy dish by boiling the Farfalle for just 5 minutes (this time is crucial in order for it to come out al dente), by adding a teaspoon of olive oil, salt and galic powder to the boiling water.

Simultaneously, I started on cooking the sauce from scratch. This red cheesy sauce consists of fresh boiled tomatoes, manchego (or any semi-soft cow cheese), parsley, oregano, salt, ground black pepper, 2 cayena peppers (crushed), fresh Spanish cured chorizo.

Start with the "Spanish basics." Sauteé garlic and onions in a pot and add parsley, oregano, black pepper, & 2 crushed cayena peppers. In a separate pot boil the tomatoes. Once they have boiled and the skin appears to be coming off; cool them down and once cooled, add them to the main cooking pot. Now you'll have the tomatoes with the olive oil, garlic, onions and spices all joining forces in filling your kitchen with a great aroma.

After a while (3 minutes usually), add the Spanish chorizo to the mix. Stir constantly. Now you're ready to add the tomato sauce with a splash of water. After bringing the sauce to a slight boil, it's time for the KEY ingredient.....CHEESE. You want to add the cheese at the end since it melts pretty quickly and could get stuck to the bottom of the sauce pan. After adding the cheese, you will need to stir, stir and stir for about 10 minutes on medium low heat.

You should periodically taste the sauce to make sure it's to your liking. Add spices as needed. Once the sauce is done, marry the pasta and sauce together and after it simmers down.....it's time to eat!!

Enjoy!

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Ingredients:

1 cup of Farfalle Pasta (Barilla is the best brand)

1 can of tomato sauce

300 grams of Spanish cured chorizo

2 fresh tomatoes (boil them and peel skin off)

1 large onion

5 cloves of garlic

5 tablespoons of olive oil

2 small Cayena peppers (crush in mortar)

200 grams of cow's cheese

1 teaspoon of :

a. salt

b. fresh ground black pepper

c. oregano

d. parsley

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Lentil Bean Soup (Lentejas Castellanas)

This is an old recipe from my mom and grandma on how to make lentil bean soup. It's a great mid day meal especially during the cold months of the year. It's full of iron and gives you great energy for the rest of your day.

Lentejas, as I will call them from now on in this posting are easy to make but take at least 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the added ingredients you wish to include.

I always start with a deep pot. In this pot I lay down the Spanish basics: garlic, onions, olive oil, parsley, oregano, and salt. I let these items gather steam for about 8 minutes until I start seeing the onions caramelize a bit. Then I add about 1/2 a liter of water and bring it to a boil. Once the water is hot I add the lentil beans along with the cooked potatoes, carrots, and boiled tomatoes. I let it boiled for about 5 minutes. After the boiling process I bring the heat down to a minimum. Cover the pot and cook on minimum heat for about 45 minutes. Stir and most importantly, taste frequently. Add salt, ground black pepper or parsley as needed to extract the taste you desire.

One note: I boiled the potatoes, tomatoes and carrots separately so that they would be tender at the moment of slow cooking when combined with the lentil beans.

Enjoy!

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Ingredients:

400 grams of lentil beans

1 liter of water

5 tablespoons of olive oil

1 large potato

1 large onioin (minced)

4 cloves of garlic

2 carrots

2-3 tomatoes (depending on their size)

1 teaspoon of:

a. salt

b. black ground pepper

c. parsley

d. oregano

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