I grew up eating Dominican food, and I am excited to share some of those dishes - in an elevated version - during my upcoming Tasting Table on Tuesday, August 26. They are inspired by my late grandmother, who didn’t write down any of her recipes but let us grandkids watch, listen, and learn.
Ahead of this tasting, I was inspired by ingredients that I saw a ton of at family dinners and one that you’re probably familiar with but maybe don’t have a lot of experience cooking is: yuca (pronounced yoo-ka). Also known as cassava, this starchy root vegetable is often treated like a potato and is used a lot in Latin American and Caribbean cooking. Not to be confused with yucca (pronounced yu-cka), an evergreen shrub which is not often consumed. Yuca, however, is edible after preparation.
If you’ve ever seen one at the store, they can be up to a foot long, sometimes longer, so suffice to say, they are intimidating, tough tubers. Fear no more, I’ve got recipes to transform your yuca into three tasty sides.
A few notes on breaking down yuca:
- It is a tough vegetable, so be careful, make sure your knife is sharp, and keep your fingers safe.
- They are not edible raw; they need to be cooked to be consumed.
- You can use a regular peeler, but if that proves too difficult, just cut the pieces of outer skin off with a chef’s knife.
- The inner core, similar to a pineapple, is tough and fibrous, so when you cut the yuca in half down the middle lengthwise, angle your knife inward to remove the core so that what you have left are creamy, tender yuca pieces.
Roasted Garlic Mashed Yuca
Serves: 4
Start to finish: 30 minutes
1 lb of yuca, peeled, cored and cut into medium dice
3 tablespoons chicken or vegetable broth
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tablespoon of unsalted butter
4-6 roasted garlic cloves, mashed to a paste (See recipe below)
1. Place the diced yuca into a pot and cover with cold, salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender. Drain and put the pot back on the heat to drain any excess water.
2. With a potato masher, mash the yuca until nearly smooth.
3. While still warm, add the chicken or vegetable broth as well as chunks of butter until you’ve reached the desired consistency.
4. Fold in the mashed roasted garlic cloves.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Roasted Garlic
Yield: 1/4 cup
Active time: 5 minutes
Start to Finish: 50 minutes
1 head of garlic
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- To roast the garlic, cut the top off the head of garlic to expose all of the individual cloves and drizzle with the olive oil. Wrap in a ball of foil and roast in the oven until golden brown and very tender, about 45 minutes.
- Remove the roasted cloves from the skins and place in a bowl. Mash with the back of a fork and set aside.
Yuca Fries
Serves: 4
Start to finish: 30-45 minutes
1 lb of yuca, peeled, cored and cut into batonnet*
1 teaspoon salt
Coarse salt for sprinkling
Neutral oil for frying
1. Place the yuca in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Add 1 tsp of salt and let rest for at least 30 minutes. Drain the water and pat the yuca dry.
2. In a pot, heat neutral oil to 350 degrees. Fry the yuca until a light golden brown.
3. Place them on a paper towel to absorb excess oil and sprinkle with salt before serving.
Note: Serve with mayochup (half ketchup, half mayo) if you really want to get a glimpse into my childhood.
*A batonnet, also known as a french fry cut, is a special cut you can learn more about if you sign up for one of our Knife Skills classes these upcoming months. Check out the August and September calendars for upcoming dates!
Arañitas (Yuca Fritters)
Yields: 12
Start to finish: 1 hour
1 lb yuca, peeled and grated with a large coarse grater
1 teaspoon white sugar
1.5 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon anise seed or 1 tsp of ground anise
1 egg
Oil for frying
Salt for sprinkling
1. Grate the yuca and place in a large bowl with the sugar, salt, egg and anise. Mix the batter until well combined.
2. Using a scoop or your hands, form 12 fritters. Alternatively, you can form the fritters onto the spatula and lower them into the fryer as they are formed. Two or three should fit at a time.
3. In a large pot, add oil until at least an inch up the sides and heat to at least 350 degrees. Fry the yuca until golden brown. Flip and repeat.
4. Place on a paper towel to remove excess oil and season with salt.
Fun fact: Arañitas translates to spiders because of the way that they end up looking with their spidery threads sticking out. This is due to using a larger grater size, whereas if you used a slightly smaller one people would just call them arepitas.
Big fan of tubers? Check out Karen’s way to grill potatoes this summer. Speaking of grills, summer on the patio is still in full swing so check out our grilling classes!
Thanks for coming along with me on yet another journey to me childhood. Can you tell I miss being a kid? Hope to see you at my Tasting Table!
