Shiela’s Chicken Wing Sauce

Way back when we were just kids I had a good friend, Shiela Adelman. We lived in South Florida at the time and Sheila had a exercise studio where I taught aerobics classes. Besides being a great exercise instructor she was also a great cook.

She would use chicken wings for this recipe, I love using skinless chicken legs and other times I would use boneless and skinless chicken thighs.  Honestly the recipe will work with any cut of chicken.

Her recipe was just the ingredients, no quantities, so you can add additional amounts until you have this Sticky Asian BBQ sauce to your liking. This is how I make it now after years of tweaking it:Shiela’s Chicken Wing Sauce

• 1/2 C Ketchup
• 6 cloves of garlic crushed
• 1/4 C brown sugar
• 1/4 C honey darker in color is more flavorful to me
• 1/4 C soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (taste before adding salt the ketchup and soy sauce may give it all the salt it needs)
• 2 small slices of fresh red pepper or a dash of red pepper flakes
• Fresh ginger

Mix all the ingredients together until the sugar is melted.  Put your chicken wings, thighs or legs in the mixture and allow to marinate overnight in the refrigerator.  Bake at 400 degrees F for 1 hour.  The sauce should be thick and the chicken tender.  Enjoy! Oh, and be sure to have a few napkins handy!

Sunday Market or Feria

Early Sunday morning Joe and I headed out for our daily walk. Joe had several places in mind for us to at least walk by if not visit.  One was the planetarium another the zoo and the third was……..  But instead we got totally side-tracked as we discovered a Sunday Market about five blocks from our apartment.

The vendors block off the several streets and set up their tents, some even come with what looks like a food truck that opens to show cold cases for cheese, meat and fish.The first thing that caught my eye was the flowers, but I only picked up one plant and that was thyme.  And it joined my other herb basil on the washing machine in our laundry room.We figured a tray of 30 large eggs would cost $3.00 and they even had one man selling household products, cleaning, TP, paper towels.  There were several vendors set up selling cheese, pork, chicken, beef and even fish. The fruits and vegetables looked fresh but we had just gone shopping on Friday and our refrigerator was filled with everything we needed for the week. I have not had the time to check prices but I am sure this Sunday Market is cheaper than Tienda Inglesa.Grapes run $1.42 per kilo, that is cheap cheap cheap.  They are grown here so maybe that is why they are so inexpensive. Next Sunday these will be on my shopping list.Everything is marked so you know what you’re spending.I just could not resist the strawberries, they are one of my favorites.  They were small with a hint of tartness. Just perfect to eat with sugar and cream, and that is just what I did.$1.60 a kilo for peaches. That works out to about 72 cents a pound. This stand was selling all different dried herbs and even had nutmeg nuts in this bowl above.  Need to spend some time finding out what these are but I did buy some of the adobo which I knew had red pepper flakes and seeds in it.  I have used it on several things and it does pack a punch. This will be our Sunday morning ritual.  Buying fresh fruits and veggies five blocks from the house.  Now all we need is one of those Old Lady Carts, yes, I am prepared to drag it around. ha ha

Vendors Part 1 – Gonzalo: Veggies and Fruits At My Gate

Everyday at around noon Gonzalo (on the right in the photo below) and his brother Christian come by the house with their cart filled with great fresh produce.

These guys are great! Gonzalo has four boys with the last just starting preschool a few weeks ago. And mommy is Paola who is also as sweet a person as you will ever find. They tease me about broccoli which is my least favorite vegetable and bring me bunches of fresh acelga (chard) each week. When Joe and I were researching moving to Panama we looked at every picture we could find on the internet that showed the food items that were available.  See the pictures below for close up pictures of what Gonzalo sells.

His produce varies each day but most days you can find potatoes, red onions, scallions, cucumbers, beets, cabbage, mandarin oranges, juice oranges, pineapple, cantaloupe,  other melons in season, watermelon, tree tomato and naranjilla.

Some days he will have both the choclo and the yellow corn along with a green vegetable that they stuff with cheese and bake.

Fresh mora berries, green peas, peanut butter, sal piedra, crushed peanuts, tamarind, garlic, white onions, long beans and green beans. Tomatoes, green peppers and carrots are also available.

Today he had strawberries, fresh red beans, cilantro, cauliflower, broccoli and radishes.  I did see lettuce and white cabbage somewhere in the cart as well.

He also carries raisins, other fruits in season, grapefruit, apples, hot peppers, fresh peanuts, watermelon, yucca, the purple sweet potatoes they call camote, celery and bok choy called nabo here.  And if you do not see what you want, ask and he may even be able to get it for you in the next several days.

I depend upon Gonzalo for most of my fresh fruits and veggies.  His produce is fresh, reasonably priced and he always has a smile on his face.

Garlic Confit

We just love garlic. I use it in about every savory dish I make. So when Joe saw an article recently about how to make your fresh garlic last, I just had to try it.  Garlic Confit…

It is a very easy process, clean your garlic and put it in a pot with good olive oil, cook very slowly for around one hour. Do not allow the oil to boil just a very low heat is required.

It’s ready to eat, plus the olive oil is infused with the great garlic flavor. The garlic itself is spreadable soft and if you want to infuse it with every more flavor drop in a few peppercorns, a dried hot chili or your fresh herbs from the garden.

We tried it out this evening on slices of apple and Tilsit cheese. What  a great combination, it was smooth as butter with a very delicate flavor. I did add a sprinkle of salt and pepper just for good measure.

Remember to use the best quality olive oil you can find and the freshest garlic and you will not be disappointed.

Cooking for scratch and creating imaginative dishes has definitely changed how we view food, eating and shopping.

Fruits and Peppers in the Garden

We have such an abundance from our garden.  Below are just a few of the fruits that we gather each week. I am happy to say that many of my neighbors and folks on my daily walk like guava or guayaba, everyone here uses lemons on almost a daily basis so we are happy to share what our garden produces. Some of our other trees do not yet produce enough to share a great deal. I just cannot use all that we get from our garden so giving the egg delivery guys a bag full of guayaba is a wonderful way to thank them for their service and use the extra fruits that Joe and I can not eat.

We are blessed to have found a home that had a garden filled with fruit trees. Each day we pick fruits for our table and share with neighbors and friends.

The above four photos are our pomegranate or granadas.  I have made Pomegranate Syrup to use on pancakes.

These are one of several lemon trees that give us fruit almost year round. The trees have just finished blossoming and we have picked all the old fruit to allow the new fruit all the nourishment the tree can give them.

The pepper plants in the ground are not as happy as the ones in the pot. Our soil is basically sand, I am amazed anything can grow in it.

Star fruit or fruta china is an exotic fruit, sweet, juicy. Wonderful for juice but they never make it to the juicer. With only one ripe at a time it is so easy just to wash it and eat it right out in the yard. And that is what I do most times.

This papaya is located outside our fence but it started from seeds that I tossed so I think of it as mine, ja ja  They are getting close, I just hope they are sweet with dark fruit, some of the lighter fruit papayas are tasteless.

Naranjilla is another exotic fruit and I do not think its natural habitat is on the coast. This is a sierra fruit but I found a tree and am babying it hopefully soon to put it in the ground.  The leaves and stems have thorns and can cause some good pinches. You can use the fruit for juice by boiling it for about 10 minutes and then blending and straining, adding water and some sugar. I like to use it in Seco de Chivo or Seco de Pollo.

Our guava or guyaba tree seems to be always producing. I make marmalade and paste from the fruit as well as an occasional batido. The tree is also a wonderful shade tree to keep our little yard cool during those hot sunny days.

Thanks for taking the tour of our garden which is only 20 x 30 feet. Small but filled with such surprises. And smiles.

Peppers and Friendship

At this point in my life I would probably not be overly impressed if given a fancy sports car, a pair of beautiful high-heeled shoes – all I would be thinking is who is going to do repairs on the car and where would I wear a pair of heels in San Clemente…. but give me a bag of hot peppers and you are my friend for life.

These beauties were a gift and will be turned into several condiments for our table. First a few of the habañeros will be sliced and added to olive oil for Joe’s special taste sensation, the rest of them will be oven dried slowly until I can grind them into a fine powder. The red ones will be ground separately because the habañeros are incredibly hot and need special care in my opinion.

Thanks again Debbie and Ernie for this most wonderful gift.

Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice

It is a wonderful feeling to look in my “pantry” and find fabulous ingredients like poppy seeds, baking soda, cardamom pods, curry, curry pastes, turmeric, smokey paprika, tapioca, fish sauce and an assortment of pickling spices right at my fingertips. This is due totally to all you wonderful folks who for the past several years have asked if you can bring us anything from the States.

Today’s treats include eight jars of Garlic Cucumber Spears made perfect with mustard seeds, celery seeds, turmeric and coriander seeds all delivered to my door by some of my new friends. I added a bit of garlic, some hot pepper flakes that I previously made and the balance of the dill weed from Mary MacDonald’s garden.

I was in a mood today and so I also made Lemon Poppy Seed Bread/Cake. Oh my it has been a very long time since I have had poppy seeds in the house. These breads did not last very long. Joe and I ate a few pieces even before it was a bit cool, so I started handing out pieces to my neighbors or we would have eaten them totally ourselves.

I guess this afternoon Joe and I should go to the beach. I have done all that I wanted to accomplish today so the beach sounds like a great choice for this afternoon.

Thank you again to all of you lovely folks that have packed spices and herbs, roots and seeds and all other sort of special item in your luggage to deliver to our door. I cannot express my appreciation for your kindness in making room in your luggage for these items. It truly makes a difference in our daily lives.

Peter Piper Picked a Peck….

This weeks treasure on the produce trucks and carts were these beautiful yellow-orange peppers.

I also found some small cucumbers at the Charapoto market last weekend so I made Bread & Butter pickles but using Splenda instead of sugar. I did not hold much hope that they would not have an awful aftertaste but they actually are pretty good. Then I made Garlic Pickle Spears especially for Joe. Very good indeed! My Grandmother Kielar would be proud.

From left to right, Pickled Hot Peppers in a Fruit Vinegar, Bread & Butter Pickles with Splenda and Refrigerator Garlic Dill Spears. Notice I am reusing jars. I have not been able to find canning jars anywhere on my travels around Ecuador.  Caution must be taken to make sure that the jars seal; if not your food can spoil. Yesterdays’ batch of hot peppers could be heard popping hours after they had their hot bath!