Sol Food--San Rafael (Puerto Rican cuisine)

For Memorial Day, which also just happened to be my 2nd year anniversary with my boyfriend, we went to Sol Food for some Puerto Rican food. They actually have 3 locations within a block from each other, which is a testament to how good they actually are. They have a "small place", a "big place" and a "pick up place". The main "big place" is located at 901 Lincoln Avenue in San Rafael, with the pick-up place right next door. I tend to go to their "big place" location, although I have visited their "small place", located at 811 4th Street, and the food there is exactly the same but without as much hustle and bustle.

If you live in the area, orders can be placed online and they also deliver. Parking might be an issue as they are in downtown San Rafael, but if you don't mind walking a bit, there is a residential area a few blocks away with free street parking. Otherwise it's metered parking with a 2-hour max.

What I love about this place, besides the food, is how efficiently they run their business. There's usually a line out the door, but they have someone handing you a menu and also taking your order while you are still in line and give you a slip of paper with your order to give to the cashier. They also have another person helping you find a place to sit after you've paid for your order and received your number. Sometimes, if you don't mind, you sit with other people and get a chance to mingle and share your Sol Food experience with others. The food also comes out fairly quick.

For my beverage, I got their Limonada Fresca (homemade limeade). Most of the time I'm strictly a water drinker, but when I come to Sol Food, I have to have their limeade or their Ponche (a.k.a. Arnoldo Palmero: 1/2 mango ice tea & 1/2 limeade). These are some of the most refreshing non-alcoholic drinks I've had. Below is a picture of my limeade.

Next came our Cubano and Bistec sandwich appetizers (not really an appetizer but I love their sandwiches). All their sandwiches are made with fresh french bread that is toasted in a press so they are warm and crispy. For a gluten-free sandwich, you can substitute the bread with tostones (fried plantains).This the best Cubano sandwich I've tried anywhere. It has roasted pork, ham that isn't too salty and the usual mustard, mayo, pickles and swiss cheese that is normally in a Cubano sandwich. So scrumptious!

The Bistec sandwich, which is made with tender steak, sauteed onions, avocado, swiss cheese and mayo. Also delicious. 



For the entree, we shared their Chuletas Fritas (pork chops) with a super fresh side salad that's lightly coated with their mild and not too garlicky lemon-garlic dressing, rice and black beans, pickled pink onions and a piece of sweet plantain (tostones). You can choose black or pinto beans and sweet or savory plantain. This might be my favorite dish at Sol Food. I'm a pork lover, and they know their pork. The chops are thinly sliced and pan fried to perfection. Not too crispy and not dry or overcooked.

This place is the only reason I visit the city of San Rafael and drive the 45 minutes it takes to get there. It is definitely a destination!

Crab & artichoke dip (Recipe)

The other day I visited a newish local sandwich place nearby. It will remain unnamed because I didn't think it was that great. However, on their menu they listed a crab and artichoke dip that was served with tortilla chips. I didn't order it, but it inspired me to create my own version of this dish. I think I did pretty well, especially since I could barely remember to get a picture of it before my boyfriend and I gobbled it up. It tastes better than this picture makes it look...trust me.

I used half a can of real crab meat, about 6 ounces, picked through to get any shells out. Then I roughly chopped 9 pieces of jarred, marinated artichoke hearts and threw those together. I then shredded about 1/2 cup each of mozzarella and cheddar cheeses and mixed it all together with one packet of softened cream cheese, 1 tsp. Lowry's seasoning salt and 1 tsp. fresh pepper. After mixing all very thoroughly, I put it into a small oven-proof glass dish, topped it with shredded cheddar cheese and baked it, covered, at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until it was nice and bubbly. Definitely tortilla chip worthy.

Honey-mustard chicken wings (Recipe)

I just happen to have a gallon of mustard in my fridge. It was on sale at Smart & Final and it's great for this recipe. Plus it takes a long time for mustard to go bad, so I'm not worried. In an effort to find different ways to prepare chicken, I came up with this recipe. It's not that innovative, but I think it's good. Who doesn't like honey mustard?

For the wings, I usually buy packages of whole wings and cut them up myself. These are usually a bit cheaper and then you can use the small flap of the wing that most people don't eat to make chicken stock. For the marinade for 24 wings, I pour 1 1/2 cups of yellow mustard, 1/2 cup of Dijon mustard, 1 cup of honey, 1 tsp. of Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 tsp. of liquid smoke, 1 tbsp. of garlic powder and 1 tsp. of fresh pepper into a bowl. I then whisk until thoroughly combined. I usually taste it to make sure it's sweet enough. If not, I'll add more honey.

I then throw the chicken wings into the marinade and toss to coat. After refrigerating for about 5 hours up to overnight, I'll bake the wings on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes and serve with Ranch dressing. Scrumptious and simple.

Kadupul--Dublin (Sri Lankan cuisine)

The other night I visited my favorite Sri Lankan restaurant. It's actually the only Sri Lankan restaurant I've been to or know of in the Bay Area. The island of Sri Lanka is between India and Thailand, so their food is kind of a mix between both but still completely different from either one. They use lots of chilies and spices, they have rice and curries, but it's still different enough that I will make the trip out to Dublin rather than visit the numerous Indian or Thai restaurants in my area.

Located in a strip mall at 8939 San Ramon Road in Dublin, it's housed in a very nondescript location adjacent to a gas station and a condo complex. I accidentally found it one day while browsing restaurants online and thought it might be interesting...and indeed it was.

Do not be fooled by the mostly empty restaurant; this place has great food. It also starts getting packed after 8pm. The service is friendly and if you are open minded, let the waitstaff help you with what to order. They also have a lunch buffet, which I've never tried since I've only gone for dinner. But that may be a good option if you want to try a variety of dishes.

For starters, I ordered fish rolls (you can choose your filling) and stuffed banana peppers. They were served with a red sauce that is similar to ketchup, but with a bit of a kick. Delicious. One thing I look out for when it comes to fried food, is that it isn't fried in old oil. These are always fried in fresh oil and tastes light.

The owner, Robert, goes to Sri Lanka every year so he knows his stuff. Basically I go with what he recommends, and he's never steered me wrong. I may want one thing, and he may change it. During my first visit I thought this was a bit presumptuous of him but it worked out great. Now I just ask him what's for dinner and he fills in the blanks. My entree was a chili pork with yellow rice. The rice is not pictured. The pork was cooked well and even though there were about two dozen little peppers in this dish, it wasn't very spicy, but very flavorful.

My boyfriend got the mutton lamprais. Their lamprais is always a good choice since you can get it with your choice of meat and they will accommodate to your level of spiciness. It also comes with a hard-boiled egg that has then been fried. I love that egg, which is buried within the rice.

I've yet to try any of their desserts as I'm always too full to do so. One day I will though; I'm very curious as to Sri Lankan dessert offerings. So if you are in the area, try out Kadupul. You may be pleasantly surprised.

"Frozen" pizza (Recipe)

For Mother's Day I gave my mom a frozen pizza. Before you scoff at my choice of gifts, let me explain. It was a pizza that I made and then put it in the freezer. Hence, a pizza that was frozen, previously made with love. The toppings were pretty basic: tomato sauce, mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan cheeses, and some homemade meatballs. Actually the meatballs were leftover from when I made the won ton skin raviolis. I froze the leftover meat, defrosted them for the pizza, pan cooked it like you would ground beef, and sprinkled it over the pizza. Here's a picture. My mother loved it.

Pizza is pretty basic. I'd say the most complicated thing is making the dough and then forming it. But this is the easiest bread/pizza dough recipe as you can use this recipe to make regular bread, pizza dough, or use it as a base for whatever other bread creation you'd like to make. I may elaborate in a future posting. I'm also using the word "easy" loosely. If you have never made bread before and are up for the challenge, here is the recipe.

 

First I took 1 1/3 c. bottled or filtered water and heated it in the microwave for 1 minute 10 seconds. The amount of time needed will differ based on the microwave you have, but the goal is to get the water heated to about 100-110 degrees. If you don't have a thermometer, it feels like a warm bath. Then to the heated water I added about 1 teaspoon of sugar and then 1 tsp. or one packet of yeast. While the yeast mixture is blooming I prepared the dry ingredients.

In my standing mixer bowl, I added 2 1/2 c. white bread flour, 1/2 c. whole wheat flour, 1/2 c. of ground flax seed and 1 tsp. salt. I'm really into getting enough fiber in my diet so I do this to preserve the deliciousness of using white flour but still getting the benefits of whole wheat and fiber from the flax seeds. You won't taste any difference, trust me. Or if you want to keep it simple, just use 3 1/2 c. of white flour plus the salt. I mixed all the dry ingredients together and checked my yeast. If it's bubbly and foamy, the yeast is alive and ready to use.

I poured the water/yeast into the bowl of dry ingredients, attached my dough hook and let it go on low speed until all incorporated. If you don't have a standing mixer, you can mix with a spoon until the water is mostly incorporated into the flour, pour everything onto a clean flat surface and nead with your hands until a nice dough ball is formed.

Once the dough is a nice ball that's not too sticky or too hard, I let it rest in a bowl, covered with a towel after rubbing some olive oil all over. After the dough doubled in size (about 45 minutes), I then let it slowly fall out of the bowl onto a floured surface and flattened it with my palms. To shape it so it remains an even width throughout, I start in the middle and work my way out pressing and pulling until it's as flat as I like and as thin as I like. Then I added my toppings and stuck it in the freezer until frozen solid, then wrapped it in plastic until ready to use. To bake, I use a pizza stone preheated at 450 degrees and  bake the frozen pizza for 10 minutes. Voila!

Real chicken nuggets (Recipe)

Ok, I know real chickens don't really have real nuggets, just like that commercial said, but you know what I mean. Unless you prefer the fast food type of nugget that's processed and fried, don't try this recipe. But if you want a healthier and, in my opinion, more delicious real chicken/baked version, then continue reading.

I started by getting out my handy dandy food processor; one of my favorite kitchen tools. Actually, you might just say these nuggets were processed...har har. Eh-hem, so I processed 6 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese, 1 tbsp. dijon mustard, 1/2 tsp. Worchestershire sauce, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. onion powder, 1/2 tsp. dry parsley flakes, 1/2 tsp. paprika, 3/4 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper. I whirred everything together for 3 phases, with each phase being about 20 seconds. After each phase, I would uncover the food processor and scrape down the sides and the lid, just to make sure everything was evenly incorporated.

The next step was to turn that mashed up bowl of chicken-y goodness into nuggets. I did this by scrambling 1 egg and poured that into a shallow bowl. Then I used another shallow bowl for some flour and another for some bread crumbs. I used a small ice cream scoop to get somewhat evenly sized nuggets, smashed each scoop with my fingers until I achieved the desired size and shape, dipped it into the flour, shook off the excess, dipped it into the egg wash and then dipped it into the bread crumbs until thoroughly covered.

I then sprayed each piece front and back with some cooking spray and placed it on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet. After all nuggets were created, I placed all into a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. This recipe made about 14 nuggets that were each about the size of a golf ball. Here's a pic of the results.

After I consumed what I could, the next day I used the leftovers to make into wraps. Who needs fast food? Not me.