When I was a little girl my dad used to take the family to this wonderful restaurant almost every Sunday.  It was called, El Parador.  Literally translated  “The Stopper”.  Basically this was “the place to stop and eat”… so yummy.  Our lunch was always the same.  Rotisserie chicken right off the spit, avocado salad, and boiled & fried Yuca.    Yuca is a root, from the same family as a potato.  It is very starchy and extremely hard when it’s raw.  This is one of those things you cannot eat raw… take it from me, I tried it once.  YUCK! If you like potatoes, I know you would love Yuca. 

There are two ways I make Yuca; boiled & fried.

To begin preparing the yuca you have to peel the outer brown bark-like skin it has on it.   Cut the Yuca into chunks, add to a pot of water.  To give the Yuca flavor, I add minced garlic and a palm-ful of dried parsley flakes.  It will need to boil for a while.  You will know it’s done when it is fork tender (just like a potato). When the Yuca is done, I drizzle a garlic/butter sauce over the top of the yuca to give it extra flavor.  Remember it is very starchy so it won’t have a lot of flavor unless you add something to it.

The second way you can make the yuca is frying it like a very thick French fry.  Instead of cutting it into chunks, you are going to cut it into slices like you would for extra thick French fries.  Add these to a pot and boil until they are a little bit less cooked then for the boiled yuca.  This way it won’t fall apart when you go to fry it.  Once the yuca is done, take it out of the pot, and dap it dry with a paper towel.  In a skillet, heat the oil of your choice.  Add enough oil so that the yuca fries are half covered in the skillet.  Once the oil is hot, add the yuca fries and fry until they are golden brown. Serve the yuca fries with ranch dressing or a spicy garlic sauce of your choice.

Like I always tell people, try everything once.  If you don’t like it, then at least you can say you tried it once…