Costa Rican Casada

Casada is a traditional dish found in Costa Rica. Casada means "married" in Spanish and the dish reflects its namesake in that all the food appears married on the plate. A traditional casada consists of rice and beans, meat, cabbage salad and fried plantains (however, I never had a hard time finding a vegetarian casada while traveling in Costa Rica).

Aside from the very traditional rice and beans found on every casada plate, one can add what they like or in my case what is in the kitchen. Casada can usually be thrown together quickly especially when I combine fresh food with something quick and easy. Trader Joe's offers delicious vegetarian tamales that go great on a casada plate. Quesadillas always look good on a casada plate. Avocados are almost mandatory on my casada plate. The fun thing about casada is that no plate is really the same and casada offers an opportunity to get creative in the kitchen. The most recent casada plate sporting rice, beans, avocados, vegetarian bacon strips, tamales, shredded jack cheese, spinach and carrots is pictured below.

Comments

[Maxine Casada]

Interesting