Daisy Cooks!

Also by Daisy Martinez

Daisy's Holiday Cooking

Daisy Morning, Noon, and Night

I admit it: I am obsessed with food. I think nothing of driving clear across Brooklyn for the best bagels in a twenty-mile radius, and I've walked from one side of a foreign city to the other in the middle of winter because I heard about a restaurant that serves fantabulous garlic soup. I have never met a dumpling—Chinese, Japanese, American, or other—that I didn't love. When a friend celebrates a birthday or marks a special occasion, I don't spend hours in the mall, I spend days in the kitchen, happily hoppin', poppin', and choppin'!

Of all the food I dream about, cook, sample, order in, or read about, none makes me as passionate as the food I grew up with. My mother and father were both born in Puerto Rico, and the food of that island is closest to my heart because it speaks to me in the same language my mother first taught me to say "I love you." But I have become friends with (and that means cooked with) people from all over Latin America. There are common threads that run through the area's regional cooking and things that make each country's food somewhat different. It is all good.

The palette of Latino food is as varied as the color of its people. We come in every color but share a common past. For most Latino Americans that past is made up of a beautiful blend of Spanish, African, and indigenous peoples. From my grandfather (with white-blond hair and blue eyes) to my grandmother's Tia Leo (who had coppery dark skin with hair as black as ink), the diversity within the same family paints a beautiful mosaic that only today is the world starting to recognize.

Our food has the same common roots and the same diversity. Latino Americans are the fastest growing minority group in the United States, and our numbers are predicted to increase by 35 percent within the next few years. Still, the rest of America has only scratched the surface of our regional cuisines. (Much the same thing has happened with other cuisines in this country. "French cooking" once meant coq au vin or pâté before Americans began traveling to France and French chefs started arriving on our shores in droves.) Today, almost anyone can tell you what paella or chorizo is, but words such as yautia, malanga, and morcilla are still bound to draw blank expressions. But the days when "Spanish" food meant tacos and refried beans are numbered.

I wrote this book largely to share these wonderful dishes with you but also in part to clear up any confusion that some of you, such as my childhood friend Rosanne, may have. After running into Roe recently, I invited her to my home for dinner so we could catch up on each other's lives. When I asked what she would like to eat, she was quick to reply, "Spanish food!" I made a beautiful meal of Spanish dishes for her that I was sure would knock her socks off: stuffed mussels (mejillones rellenos), chicken braised with figs (pollo con higos), and saffron rice. She looked at me, puzzled, and said, "I thought we were having Spanish food. You know, rice and beans and pork chops, like your mom used to make!"

Much of the allure for people discovering Latin cuisine is in what Latinos consider "soul food"—the simple, satisfying dishes that my friend remembered my mother cooking all those years ago. This book is loaded with those treasures—and not just from Puerto Rico and Spain but from Cuba, Santo Domingo, and Central and South America. Every country has its beloved family dishes, and it is my distinct pleasure to bring some of them to you and to show you the diversity in the cuisines of all these countries.

I see evidence of a growing fascination with Latin cuisine everywhere. It's no longer necessary for me to travel to the Essex Street Market on the Lower East Side of Manhattan or the larger market on 125th Street in el Barrio, as I did when I was a young girl. Like Latino culture and music, Latin food has exploded into the mainstream. You can walk into any modern supermarket and find many of the foods of my childhood. I believe you will have no problem locating the ingredients you need to cook the recipes in this book, but I offer substitutions whenever possible, just in case. Shopping via the Internet is also a possibility (see Sources).

I have spent my adult life sharing the happiness that food brings me with my friends, one barbecue, dinner party, picnic, or buffet at a time. Having an opportunity to share that excitement with many people through this book and the television show that accompanies it is beyond my wildest dreams.

There is everyday food here, and plenty of it. And I mean that literally—food you can prepare and enjoy every day. Take a look at the first few recipes in this book. They include a sofrito—a vegetable puree that brings life to much of my cooking—olive oil seasoned with annatto seeds, and the best damn yellow rice you will ever have. The first two take less than ten minutes (that includes washing out the food processor after you make the sofrito), and the rice takes thirty minutes, for twenty of which you can be reading or buffing your nails. I will tell you in all honesty that the simple act of making sofrito will change the way you cook forever: it will rock your world. With the exception of a few recipes, such as Root Vegetable and Meat Tamales (here), most of the dishes are ready in under an hour, and usually much less. If you can season, cook, and dress pork chops and serve them alongside fragrant yellow rice in less than thirty minutes, I can't imagine why you'd eat anything from a cardboard carton. Once you realize that you can master—and I mean master—making rice, chicken simmered with plump figs, empanadas stuffed with savory pork filling, and juicy roast pork with crackling-crisp skin will not be far behind.

There are also some recipes for special occasions or for those who are as passionate about good food as I am. These may require a little more time or an extra trip to the market for an unusual ingredient or two, but they are worth the effort.

A word of warning: To this day I have to differentiate between a Daisy serving and a regular serving. My Mami and Abuela would always say the same thing: You should always cook enough so that if someone rings the doorbell while you are eating, you won't have to hide your plates under the table. Instead, pull up a chair for them and make them feel at home. I guess that's the reason I'll never know how to cook for two!

I have organized this book to be as user-friendly as possible. Spend a little time in the kitchen with Daisy's Top Ten Hits (the first chapter). These are the dishes I turn people on to first. I believe you'll find the food so intriguing, delicious, and easy to make that you'll be working your way through the rest of the book in no time—whether it's chicken, seafood, or tamales. I've designed the recipes with busy people in mind; most of them end up on the table in less than thirty minutes. But your friends and family will think that you've been slaving over a stove for days.

Of all the words I can think of to describe myself, "shy" is not one of them. The very same can be said of my food. It's bold, it's sassy, it's colorful, it's full of spice and fun. My favorite way to describe it is that it's a party on your plate. Is it different? Very much so, but not because it relies on exotic or expensive ingredients. Just the opposite is true: I get full flavor out of spices, seasonings, and ingredients that you can find just about anywhere. A little kick here and there from hot chili peppers doesn't hurt, either. Recently my nine-year-old-daughter, Angela, said to me, "Mommy, I have to start building my 'spicy' tolerance!" The child is wise beyond her years! You can develop (or expand) a taste for heat and spice or not. The choice in each recipe is left to you.

Not counting the dance floor, there is no place where I feel as comfortable, as totally in my element, as the kitchen. Very often people ask me, "Daisy, where did you learn how to cook?" My answer is always the same: I went to the French Culinary Institute to learn classical technique, but I am primarily an alumna of the Conchita and Valentina Martinez Cooking Academy. In other words, I learned at my mother's and grandmother's sides. I was a very avid pupil, and my husband, Jerry, can attest to that. If his word isn't good enough, you can always ask any of my four children or any one of their numerous friends and cousins who pretty much camp out in my house every weekend partly, I think, for the food!

When I cook with Mami, I still defer to her expertise in the kitchen, although every once in a while she'll call and ask me a question about a certain dish or a recipe. I always answer her the same way: "Ma? Why are you asking me? You were the one who taught me to make it!" Be that as it may, it tickles me no end to have Mami ask me to make something for her. It's the greatest compliment a teacher can give her pupil.

It's a totally different story when I get into the kitchen with my brother, Peter, who is also a chef. When we go at it in the kitchen, there is salsa blaring on the radio, pots and pans clanging, no shortage of laughter and noise, and the results are glorious. We've both taken what our teachers have taught us and given it a very personal interpretation. We both have a blast when I visit Mami's house in Florida, because she invites all her friends and tons of family over and sets Peter and me loose in the kitchen. Papi mans the cleanup detail, and it always translates into a hell of a party! And that's what every trip to the kitchen should be—a big, colorful, and, above all else, flat-out fun party.

If you look at nothing else in this book, take a careful look at these ten dishes. They are simple, they don't taste like anything you've ever made before, and, most important, they are good enough for company and quick enough to make after you schlep home from work.

These are the recipes my girlfriends ask for and I happily give them. Whenever this happens, the response invariably is something along the lines of "I can't believe it's that simple."

I had a spare moment the other day (we can all agree on what a rare occurrence that is), and I marveled at how complicated life becomes when you're an adult woman. We all wear so many hats—on my hat rack are those of mother, wife, daughter, sister, and friend—it's no wonder I am always looking to simplify my life in any way I can. That being said, and given my love of good food, it shouldn't surprise anyone that while I don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen, I certainly do not want to sacrifice delicious meals. This leads me to Daisy's Top Ten Hits, a countdown of the dishes most requested by my family and friends.

These ten recipes are not all for finished dishes. A few of them are little "secrets" (well, not so secret anymore) that will help you get the most out of your time in the kitchen. Take a look at the first two recipes, Sofrito and Achiote Oil. They alone will do nothing short of change your life. Each takes less than ten minutes to make. In these two recipes you will most likely spot a few ingredients that are unfamiliar to you. Take another look and you will see that I have given substitutes here and throughout the book. In the case of the annatto seeds used to make the achiote oil, there really is no substitute, but I bet you will find them, labeled either "annatto seed" or "achiote seed," in the spice aisle of your supermarket.

Something as simple as a roast chicken can be made different in minutes by "daisifying" it—rubbing it with a mixture of spices made in minutes with ingredients you can find in any supermarket. As busy as I get, I am not ready to give up good food. If you try at least one of these recipes, I truly believe you will be inspired to move on to others.