Semiserious Chefs

When living with Cystic Fibrosis the ideal care includes quarterly clinic visits. At at each of these appointments our son (currently 10) will be cared for by many different specialized medical staff members. His vitals are always taken by a Nurse at check-in, he always does a Pulmonary Function Test with a Respiratory Therapist, and […]

Most everyone has heard of taro chips. Even if you’ve never cooked with taro and just know them from those bags of multi colored chips, the idea is pretty basic; super thin slices of taro root deep fried, just like a potato chip. Since this idea is nothing new, I wanted to come up with […]

Taro is a starch used by nations all around the world, and in a lot of different ways. Having started with a Trinidad inspired dish involving coconut, it was only fitting to head to Asia, strongly believed to be the traditional home of the taro root, and create an entirely different dish that also uses […]

The idea for this dish is pretty straight forward. Perico means ‘Parrot,’ which the dish is supposedly named for it’s many colors. The most basic recipe for perico involves eggs, onions, and tomatoes, with salt and pepper. Many people like to substitute green onions for some or all of the onions, as I have done […]

This dish came about after my week-long exploration of Latin American mashed plantain breakfasts. Finally, after plenty of savory, I created a sweet dish. For my own tastes I like just a dash of cayenne pepper included in the dough, but you can always leave it out. This is an especially fun and easy dish […]

Apparently there is no question about the fact that Tiger Nut Sweets are pretty much as ancient as it comes. I just wish I could find a picture of this Egyptian clay or broke pot on which the possibly 6,000 year old recipe was found. The name has me a little dumbfounded, though. Tiger Nut […]

This mashed plantain dish hails from Peru. Amazonian Peru. This is a relatively important note, as different parts of Peru produce different staple foods. For instance, in the mountainous Andes regions (Sierra) you are more likely to see crop based dishes with potatoes or quinoa, and slow roasted meats, commonly guinea pig. Along the coastline, […]

Samboosa are Arabic fried triangle pastries. They are most often savory, so the title word here, halwah or ‘sweets’ gives us a clue that this is a fried triangular pastry sweet snack. The original recipe I played off called for cashews and walnuts, but I am really not a fan of walnuts. For my rendition […]

The plantain. Beloved by so many countries! And not the least of these, Puerto Rico. Mofongo (pronounce moe-phone-go) refers to a garlicy mashed plantain ball containing chicharrones, or fried pork rinds. (Bacon is an acceptable substitute.) What you choose to do with it after that offers creativity. Most often it is served with a sauce […]

I say, “A plantain a day, keeps the Cartel at bay.” …assuming The Little Guy is getting fair trade. Colombians have had a love hate relationship with bananas. They love to eat them and have a huge sense of national pride over dishes such as Cayeye, but there has also been trouble, involving the banana, […]