When I think of shrimp scampi, I’m immediately transported to one of those very 90s Olive Garden commercials with shrimps are flying in the air, followed by slo-mo shots of squeezes of lemon. Obviously, those commercials always made me ask my mom if we could go. We would never go and instead she’d make like spaghetti with eggs or talkiness verde. It never lived up to that zesty shrimp-y craving I had!
Last week when I got back from Paris I was enjoying that jet lag life where I’d wake up at 4:30am and have nothing to do except lay in bed and drink coffee. Zero light outside doesn’t really inspire productivity. I turned to Facebook and fell down a deep hole of food videos. I watched this one on Bon Appetit Test Kitchen series and was like WOWW I WANT TO EAT THAT.
Pork noodles made with a sweet and spicy tomato sauce. They look so ridiculously delicious. Since we were having a bit of a heatwave in Los Angeles AND I love to vegetarian-ize everything, I replaced the pork with oyster mushrooms (of course, you could use button mushrooms, cremini or shiitakes). We diced them up and cooked them in super hot oil.
If you’ve never had a pastelito, I think it’s time!
I was blessed to live half of my childhood in South Florida. And while I will admit that Florida is wild (especially if you just watch the news), it is also a place where some of my favorite, most formative memories occurred. If you’re Latinx, South Florida can also be a really magical place. It’s a place where a lot of us feel like “home.” It’s one of the only places in the entire country where literally everyone looks like you. I really only appreciated it when I finally left. And whenever I go back, it still makes me happy all over again.
Pastelitos de guayaba con queso are super popular in Miami. Give me one of these and a cordadito and it’s feels like heaven.
I actually had never even thought to make them until I went to a Latino market in Pasadena the other day and saw all this guava and was like OHHHH.
This recipe could not be more simple. It leans HEAVILY on store-bought puff pastry, though if you’re in a mood, you could make your own. I used the Pepperidge Farm brand for these and found them to be the best.
The store-bought guava paste makes this so ridiculously simple. I made it a bit different by beating the cream cheese with some sugar, vanilla paste (because I’m fancy) and a pinch of salt. I added it to a piping bag and piped it onto the squares of puff pastry. Small slices of guava on top and that’s it!
