Every time I make pasteles, arroz con dulce, or empanadas from scratch, I think about my grandmother.
Not just because of the food itself, but because of everything that came with it. The sound of her in the kitchen. The way she taught me without making it feel like a lesson. The expectation that if you were going to make something, you made it well, with love, and you made it from scratch. No shortcuts.
That is what Hispanic Heritage Month brings back to me. While September 15 through October 15 gives us a time to celebrate Hispanic history, culture, and contributions, for me, heritage has never been something that lived on a calendar. It has always lived in the kitchen, around the table, and in the recipes and values passed from one generation to the next.
And when I think about the food I create today as a private chef in Tampa Bay, I realize how much of that little girl in my grandmother’s kitchen is still there.
Growing Up Nuyorican
I was born and raised in New York, and I describe myself as more Nuyorican. My family has roots that reach across Puerto Rico, Spain, the Caribbean, and Portugal, so my background has always felt like a beautiful combination of different cultures and influences.
But my Puerto Rican grandparents had a particularly profound influence on me.
They came to the United States from Puerto Rico in the 1950s looking for a better life. My grandfather came first because he needed to find work, and it took years before he was able to bring the rest of the family over. Their story was not one of arriving with everything figured out. They worked, sacrificed, built a life, and made sure their children and grandchildren had opportunities they did not necessarily have themselves.
Those values were part of how we were raised. Education mattered. Working hard mattered. Being honest mattered.
I remember hearing a story about my grandfather that says so much about the kind of man he was. A bank once gave him too much money, and instead of keeping it, he brought it back. That honesty was simply who he was.
They were humble people, but they were also incredibly proud of where they came from. They loved their family, they loved their culture, and they carried those things with them wherever they went.
For me, food was one of the ways that heritage stayed alive.
The Woman Behind So Many of My Food Memories
My grandmother’s name was Antonia, and she had an enormous influence on my life.
She was also the best cook, you could eat her food cold. That’s how flavorful and delicious it was.
Growing up with her meant being surrounded by food that was made at home, fresh and from scratch. She made things that many younger generations may not make anymore because they take time and patience. Pasteles which are similar to tamales but made from caribbean root vegetables; green bananas, yautia and pumpkin are a true “labor of love” and are considered GOLD in the Puerto Rican community. Coquito. Homemade sofrito. Empanadillas or Pastelillos (as my grandmother called them) were made with dough that we prepared ourselves.
I started making empanadas when I was very young. Back then, you couldn’t simply run to the store and pick up a package of prepared Goya discs the way you can today. We made the dough ourselves, and I remember making empanadas and even teaching the neighbors how to make them.
That memory has stayed with me because it represents something bigger than the recipes. My grandmother wasn’t simply teaching me how to make dough, pasteles, or traditional Puerto Rican cookery (aka cocina criolla) from scratch, she was teaching me what it meant to cook with love and purpose. For her, food was worth the time and effort because it was one of the ways she expressed love for the people who mattered most. I can still remember the joy she took in serving a plate of food and watching her guests savor the fruits of her labor. That lesson has stayed with me: food is more than something we serve–it’s how we nurture, connect, and show people they matter.
Today, when I make my own empanadas, pasteles, budin de pan, flans or any other recipe I learned from my grandmother, I want people to experience that same feeling. For instance, with the empanadas, they are flavorful and never dry, and I love serving them with things like chimichurri or a tamarind sauce. Tamarind was another flavor I grew up around, and it brings back memories of the Caribbean flavors that were part of our family life.
There is something special about taking a recipe that started in your grandmother’s kitchen and carrying it into a completely different chapter of your life.
Growing Up Nuyorican
Growing up Nuyorican taught me that food is never just food. It carries family, culture, memories, and a sense of home. The flavors I grew up with continue to shape the way I cook and the experiences I create for others today.
Some Flavors Take You Right Back Home
There are certain foods that do more than remind you of a place. They remind you of people.
Pasteles are one of those foods for me. So is coquito and, of course, sofrito made from scratch as it’s the foundation of all Puerto Rican Cookery! These are the kinds of foods or seasonings that carry memories inside them because they were part of preparation and dishes made for family gatherings, holidays, celebrations, and ordinary days at home.
I also grew up around something that might not be the first thing people think of when they hear “Puerto Rican food”: piraguas.
My parents had a piragua stand. If you’ve never had one, a piragua is Puerto Rican “snow cone”, usually covered with flavored syrup. It was such a normal part of my childhood that I didn’t necessarily think about how much it connected me to my culture at the time.
There were other little things, too. My grandmother made tamarind (tamarindo) and coconut ices called Limber. These weren’t elaborate restaurant desserts.. They were simple things made by people who knew how to take simple ingredients, time, and a little creativity and turn them into something a little sweet indulgence people remembered.
Looking back, I think those experiences taught me one of the most important things about food: it doesn’t have to be complicated to be meaningful.
Recipes:
Puerto Rican Yellow Rice with Pigeon Peas (Arroz con Gandules)
Ingredients
- 2 cups jasmine rice rinsed until water runs mostly clear
- 2-2½ tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
- 2-3 heaping tablespoons homemade sofrito
- 1 packet Sazón with achiote
- 1½ tablespoons tomato paste or ½ 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- 2 cups fresh pigeon peas gandules or 1 (15-ounce) can pigeon peas, drained and rinsed
- 2 teaspoons capers
- 2 teaspoons sliced Spanish stuffed olives
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 3 cups chicken broth preferred or water
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Rinse the jasmine rice under cold water until the water runs mostly clear. Drain well and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat.
- Sauté the sofrito for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
- Stir in the Sazón and tomato paste (or tomato sauce). Cook 1 minute.
- Add the capers, olives, bay leaf, oregano, and pigeon peas. Cook 1-2 minutes.
- Pour in the chicken broth (or water) and bring to a boil. Taste and adjust salt.
- Add the rice and stir once to evenly distribute.
- Cook uncovered until most liquid is absorbed and steam holes appear, about 8-10 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low, cover tightly, and cook 18-20 minutes without lifting the lid.
- Remove from heat and let rest, covered, for 10 minutes.
- Fluff with a fork and serve.
Flan de Queso
Ingredients
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 8 oz package cream cheese room temperature
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 12 oz can evaporated milk
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place the sugar in a small pan over medium-high heat and cook, stirring until melted and golden brown. This usually takes about 10 minutes and requires some patience.
- Don’t walk away or the caramel can scorch and become bitter. When the caramel is ready, pour immediately into a flanera pan (or an 8 inch round pan) and tip the pan to spread the caramel over the bottom and up on the sides of the pan.
- Allow the caramel to cool completely before adding the flan mixture. This may take up to 20 to 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, eggs and vanilla into the blender (or food processor), blending until smooth. Tap the blender on the counter a few times to pop the bubbles.
- Strain mix as you pour the flan mixture into the pan on top of the cooled caramel (melted sugar). Cover the pan tightly with foil.
- Place the pan inside a larger pan and pour water halfway up the pan.
- (This creates a water bath.) • Place the pans into the oven and bake for 1hr and 20 minutes, then check for doneness. Gently lift one side of the tinfoil, making sure not to burn yourself from the escaping steam. The flan will be set around the edges with a slight jiggle in the middle when it is done.
- Remove and allow to cool for an hour and then refrigerate for 2.5 hrs or up to overnight.
Why My Heritage Matters to Me as a Private Chef
That is something I carry with me when I cook for people today.
Being a private chef is different from simply preparing food in the background. When I enter someone’s home, I am not just bringing a menu with me. I am bringing my personality, my experiences, my understanding of hospitality, and all of the things that have shaped the way I think about food.
That is especially meaningful to me because so much of what I learned about cooking came through relationships.
My grandmother taught me. My family gathered around food. I grew up watching people connect through meals and celebrations. Food was never just something we ate because we were hungry. It was part of how we celebrated, welcomed people, showed love, and created memories.
That is the same feeling I want to create through private dining in Tampa Bay.
Whether I’m preparing an intimate dinner, cooking for a family gathering, or creating a customized experience for guests celebrating something special, I want the meal to feel personal. The food should be beautiful and delicious, but the experience around it matters just as much.
Bringing Those Flavors to the Tampa Bay Table
Moving through life has given me the opportunity to experience food and culture in different ways, and living and working in the Tampa Bay area has made that especially interesting.
Tampa Bay is home to so many different cultures and culinary traditions, including strong Caribbean and Latin influences. That diversity is one of the things I love about being a private chef here. There isn’t one definition of what a Hispanic or Latin-inspired meal has to look like, just as there isn’t one definition of Hispanic heritage.
My own story certainly isn’t limited to one country or one cuisine.
When I create a private chef menu, I can draw from those Puerto Rican and Caribbean influences while also building something around the people I’m cooking for. Sometimes that might mean bringing familiar flavors into an elevated dinner. Other times, it might mean creating something inspired by the tropical feeling of the region or incorporating flavors that remind someone of their own family.
That is one of the things I love most about private dining. The menu can tell a story.
Growing Up Nuyorican
Some of my favorite memories started in the kitchen.
Growing up Nuyorican taught me that food is about more than what’s on the plate. It’s family, culture, stories, and the people gathered around the table. Those are the same feelings I bring into the meals I create today.
Bring That Feeling to Your Table →Hispanic Heritage Is Bigger Than One Table
One of the most beautiful things about Hispanic Heritage Month is that it reminds us just how much diversity exists within Hispanic culture.
There are Puerto Rican traditions, Mexican traditions, Cuban traditions, Dominican traditions, Spanish traditions, Central American traditions, South American traditions, and countless regional and family traditions within all of them.
I’ve experienced that diversity personally. Even growing up in New York, I was surrounded by people from different backgrounds and cultures. Food was often one of the easiest ways to experience those differences.
You could go to a gathering and someone would bring a dish from their family. Someone else would bring something completely different. I remember Flan or Bread Pudding with a Caramel sauce being a familiar sight at parties because somebody always seemed to bring one.
That’s what food does so well. It gives us a way into someone else’s story.
You may not have grown up eating the same things, but you can sit down together, share a meal, ask questions, and find something familiar in the experience.
The Celebration Doesn’t End October 15
For me, Hispanic Heritage Month is a reminder to appreciate where I came from and the people who helped shape me.
I think about my grandparents coming from Puerto Rico and building a life in New York. I think about my grandfather’s work ethic, honesty, outgoing personality and friendliness, always talking to people he didn’t even know. I think about my grandmother Antonia standing in her kitchen wearing one of her colorful and stylish batas (a comfortable house dress) she wore throughout the day, cooking and filling the house with the aromas of Puerto Rican Cocina Criolla!
This was how she passed down traditions to me that could have easily been lost. Foods that were her signature like pasteles (Puerto Rican Tamales), arroz con dulce (Coconut rice pudding), Arroz con gandules (yellow rice with pigeon peas), Pernil (Roasted Pork Shoulder seasoned with an amazing garlic paste seasoning), Escabeche de Pescao (Pickled Fried Fish with onions and garlic) or Escabeche de guineitos (pickled green bananas in a garlic mojito), Ensalada de Bacalao (Salted Cod fish salad) and so many more.
And I think about that young girl making empanadas and teaching the neighbors how to make them.
I never could have known then how much those moments would influence the woman and chef I would become.
Today, I get to bring pieces of that story into other people’s homes. I get to create meals for families and guests in Tampa Bay, share food with people celebrating important moments, and build experiences around the table.
That is what Hispanic heritage means to me. It is the recipes, but it is also the people behind them. It is where we come from, what our families taught us, and what we choose to carry forward.
The celebration may have a place on the calendar, but the traditions continue every time we cook, gather, share a meal, and invite someone to the table.
Experience the Flavors of a Tampa Bay Private Chef
If you’re planning a private dinner, family gathering, celebration, or special evening in the Tampa Bay area, I’d love to create an experience that feels personal to you.
My private dining menus are designed around the people at the table, not just the occasion. And when it makes sense, I love incorporating the Puerto Rican, Caribbean, and Latin-inspired flavors that have been part of my own story for as long as I can remember.
Because at the end of the day, the best meals are about more than what is on the plate.
They’re about who you share them with, the stories you tell, and the memories you take with you when dinner is over.
From My Kitchen to Yours • Tampa Bay
I’d love to bring a little of that feeling to your table.
Food has always been one of the ways I connect with people, celebrate where I come from, and create something meaningful around the table. If you’d like to experience that through a personalized meal in your own home, I’d love to cook for you.
Let’s Plan Your Experience →
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