Blog

From our Abuelas to you

At Café Ynez, we have always made our dishes from scratch, supporting our local producers and suppliers – just as our neighbors continue to support us. As a restaurant family largely composed of Latinos, we feel compelled to express our sadness about the recent comments from the CEO of Goya – a brand we sometimes use in our home cooking. Now, we believe we will be just fine without Goya products. Our recipes come from our “Abuelas”, and involve fresh foods; we are happy to share some of them with you!

Instead of purchasing seasoning packs or flavored oils, here are some tips to make them yourself. For instance, slicing garlic and leaving it in olive oil gives great flavor that can used in your cooking.

We know that many people ask about Adobo seasoning, well here is an adobo sauce that can be used as a marinade, baste, or braise for meats and vegetables (like our cauliflower al pastor!).

Chef Hilario’s Adobo for al Pastor 

• 6 guajillo chilies, dry and without seeds
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 of white onion
• 5 Bay leaves
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup cider vinegar
• 10 whole black pepper
• 3 cloves
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp ginger in powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp annatto

Saute onion, garlic, and the guajillo in vegetable oil. Add the vinegar and leave it for a couple minutes to boil.  Pour the hot mixture plus all the remaining ingredients into a blender, and blend until well ground. Put through the strainer.

More tips? Dried beans can take a while to cook, but an overnight soak in water will soften for faster cooking the next day. Black beans and pinto beans generally cook faster than do chickpeas (garbanzos). Also, always cook them with fresh garlic, onion, and salt to reduce the gasses.

One of General Manager Clara Olascoaga’s favorite summer salads is this bean salad, which she is happy to share!

Bean Salad

• 1 cup of cooked black beans
• 1 cup of cooked chickpeas
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 2 whole tomatoes
• 1 avocado
• Salt
• Olive oil
• Black pepper
• Jalapenos 

Chop the cilantro, jalapenos, tomato and the avocado and bring all the ingredients to a bowl add salt, pepper, olive oil and jalapeno as desired and serve cold with your favorite protein.

Of course, home cooking can be cumbersome and time-consuming, especially at the end of the work day. So, here are some other brands with canned-foods for faster cooking that we feel we can support: La Costena, Juanitas, Dona Maria, Embasa, Las Palmas, and La Moderna, and many more!

Want to read more about local Latinx chefs and cooks eschewing the brand? See here.