Christine Adamski spent 8 years of her childhood in Puerto Rico, and her family has always been passionate when it comes to authentic Puerto Rican cooking. Not only do they prepare these dishes for their large family gatherings, but the whole family pitches in to share their love of cooking with our International Food Festival!
Christine offered to represent Puerto Rico at our second festival and has drawn a following of repeat customers ever since! Her husband Mark is Polish, but that doesn’t stop him from working in the booth, along with her sisters, daughter and several faithful friends. This year her dad, a Puerto Rican native, will be here to help at the festival. He still does a lot of cooking–Christine credits him with teaching her how to make those traditional Puerto Rican dishes that draw such rave reviews!
The secret to this type of cooking? Well, it’s not really a “secret”…Christine uses sofrito in just about everything but white rice! This is a “master spice” that’s the base for her dishes. The festival’s menu includes a new addition, Alcapuria, a dish made with green bananas stuffed with seasoned beef. They will also offer the traditional crowd favorites Enpanadas (meat pies) and Pasteles (similar to a tamale), which she makes up ahead of the festival. She tells us the Arroz con Gandules (yellow rice and pigeon peas) and Pernil Asado (roasted pork) are made that day. Not only does she roast a pork shoulder overnight in her oven, but her sisters and friend each take a roast home to cook!
Make sure you stop by and enjoy a taste of Puerto Rico!!
