Sancocho!!

So, can I just tell you how nervous I was about cooking today? I'm usually excited about cooking ('cause I like eating), but the fact that I had a commitment to share it with others somehow made it much more serious.

Before I started, I needed to buy the ingredients. Many of the ingredients can be found at any local grocery store.  As for the plantains, culantro, yautia and ñame? Finding those could mean a trek to your nearest Latin-American specialty store.

Yautia Lila (it's not as scary as it looks!)

I have never bought yucca, yautia or ñame on my own before.  I felt really overwhelmed staring at them and trying to figure out which one to get and how to tell if they were "good".  I just picked whichever one seemed the smallest, since I had tons of veggies already and had no clue how I was going to fit all of them in my pot!

Once I got everything peeled, chopped and in the pot, it went pretty smoothly. I actually let it sit on the stove for an hour while I ran a quick errand.

Starting out...(I had to switch pots after this, cause it was getting packed!!)

An hour into the cooking process

I felt like a superstar when it was all done and I served it.  It was all delicious and hearty.  My favorite part was seeing all the colors. As a rule, I try to make sure that I eat as many colors as I can each day when it comes to fruits and veggies. It is an easy way to make sure that I am getting all the vitamins I need.  

All done! Served with a big ol' chunk of rye bread

Sancocho

(Caribbean Soup)

A-       3 quarts (12 cups) water

            1 tbsp. salt

            each of the following are coarsely chopped

1 onion, peeled

            2 tomatoes

            1 green pepper, seeded

            3 fresh culantro leaves

B-        All peeled and diced

½ lb. of yautia (I got purple, but you can get white or yellow, too)

            ½ a squash or pumpkin

            ½ lb. of potatoes

            ½ lb. of sweet potatoes

C-        Both peeled and quartered

1 large green plantain

            1 large ripe plantain

            3 chicken bouillon cubes

D-        1 tsp. salt

            ½ c. tomato sauce

1.     In a large kettle, combine ingredients included in A. Bring rapidly to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to moderate and cook for 1 hour.

2.     Wash vegetables in B and add to kettle.

3.     Rinse green plantain rapidly in salted water. Drain and add to kettle, together with ripe plantain.

4.     Add items in D. Cover and cook over moderate heat for 30 minutes.

5.     Uncover, remove pieces of green plantain, mash, turn into balls and add to kettle, boil rapidly for 1 minute.