[Sca-cooks] garlicy and buttery yucca

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Stefan wrote:
>
>Urtatim mentioned:
>>Miami Spice (yes, it WAS the 1980s) on Venice Blvd. in Venice. It had
>>THE sandwich. Alas, it is gone. I wanted to go there last year when i
>>was in the area and get one. It was the only thing i ordered there,
>>well, besides the garlicy and buttery yucca.
>
>"garlicy and buttery yucca"? I thought that was a rather fibrous
>plant. What part of the yucca is eaten? The leaves? The roots?
>
>That is a desert plant. I hope it doesn't catch on as the latest,
>trendiest food and decimate the wild population. Desert plants tend
>to grow slowly and take a long time to recover. Yucca is only a New
>World plant, right?

I typo'd. That should be "yuca" - one "c" - pronounced YOO-kah (not 
yuck-ah). It's another one of those ubiquitous starchy root 
vegetables, white on the inside, with a brown skin, quite unlike 
potatoes, eaten the world 'round (even Japan has its own set of 
white-fleshed, brown-skinned starchy tubers).

Here's a photo of an uncut yuca/casava:
http://www.anapsid.org/images/yuca.jpg

Here's what another page had to say:
>Yuca (cassava) is a root vegetable available fresh or frozen. The 
>skin is brown and bark-like. Inside the flesh is white and dense.. 
>Fresh yuca may be peeled, cut in chunks and frozen. It may be 
>covered with cold water, and refrigerated up to one day before 
>cooking. It is usually boiled and used in soups, stews, cut into 
>strips and deep-fat fried or sauteed in a citrus dressing.

And here's a version of the recipe i mentioned

Yuca con Mojo
Cassava with Citrus-Garlic Dressing
serves 6

1 1/2 pounds yuca (3 small to 1 large root) or 1 pound frozen yuca
several slices of fresh lemon
1/2 tsp. salt

Mojo
1/3 cup excellent quality olive oil
2  to 6 peeled cloves garlic, to taste
1/3 cup sour (Seville) orange juice -or- juice of 2 large limes
1/2 tsp. salt

Peel fresh yuca to remove the outer brown skin.
Cut into half lengthwise and with point of knife, remove center string.
Cut white flesh into 1 inch chunks. Discard any bluish or greyish parts.
Place in a saucepan with lemon slices and cover with water.
Bring to a boil, then simmer gently until translucent and tender (15 
min to 1 hour)
[Cooking yuca at a hard boil can cause it to break apart]
Drain well. Discard any woody or stringy parts.

For frozen yuca, add lemon slices, cover with water and bring to a boil.
Reduce to simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes until tender.
Cut into bite size pieces as for fresh.

Meanwhile, prepare the Garlic Sauce, or Mojo Criollo:

Mash the garlic and salt into a paste.
Stir in the orange or lime juice.
In a saucepan, heat the oil just to a boiling point and remove it 
from the heat.
Whisk in the citrus juice mixture until well blended.

Put a skillet on a medium fire.
Toss yuca with citrus sauce and put into skillet.
Cook until barely browned, but not crisp.

Transfer the yucca to a serving bowl or platter.
Serve immediately.
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita