Today’s Recipe: Ratatouille

This morning we woke to 40 degree weather with a wind of around 18 mph.  A good day for a warm and hearty stew recipe. I had all the ingredients for a wonderful Ratatouille so that is what I have made.

If you like zucchini and eggplant you will love this recipe. The cutting up of the veggies takes the most time, the cooking time is super fast and you end up with a very hearty meal.

Ratatouille

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Adobo seasoning
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 6 large cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 large red pepper, sliced
• 1/2 large green pepper, sliced
• 1 large eggplant, cut into sticks
• 2 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 2 zucchini, cut into long sticks
• 2 stalks of celery chopped including leaves
• 1/2 lb ground beef (use better quality)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Parmesan cheese for garnish
• Parsley chopped for garnish

Use part of the olive oil to sauté the beef with the dry herbs. Set meat aside on a plate when almost cooked.  In the same pot add the balance of the olive oil and sauté the onions, celery and peppers for 2 minutes, add the balance of the veggies and cook just a few minutes, stirring occasionally. At this point you may need to add 1/4 cup of water but the veggies will release more of their own juices making more sauce. Add the ground beef and stir, cover and cook for 10 minutes.  Check the tenderness of the veggies, they should hold their shape but be tender.  This is the time to make adjustments to the seasoning, adding salt or pepper to taste.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley and a grating of Parmesan cheese.  Serve hot or at room temperature.

This tastes even better the next day.  You can serve over a baked potato or rice to make a more filling meal.

This recipe is from Sandy Hill who we met in South Miami years ago.  We have lost contact over the years but this recipe has lasted the test of time.  Of course I have made several additions to make it my own but the basic recipe is the same as when Sandy had Joe and I over for dinner back in the late 70’s.

La Pippona

Empanadas anyone? What we are used to is a fried empanada with more crust than filling. These empanadas from La Pippona are light and flaky baked crusts with filling galore. We have tried several of them and so far our favorites are the Mexicana which is super spicy for Uruguay and the Ham and Cheese which is filled with chunks of great ham and a rich creamy melty cheese.  I failed to tell you we did order a little pizza as well, this went into the fridge for another meal.Each empanada is marked with dots to represent what the filling inside is and is delivered to your door hot and ready to just dig in.

But we have also fallen in love with the Lebanese open-faced Lehmeyun. These thin crusted pizza like flat treats are covered with a meat and spice mixture – this is so different yet so wonderful it sparks your taste buds.  Sprinkle a little fresh lemon juice (slices provided with your meal) on top and you are transported to an even better taste experience.

And to top off an already great meal they have dessert empanadas. Yes, you heard me correct.  We have tried two of the four desserts offered and really loved them.  One is an empanada apple pie, hot from the oven excellent. Just the right amount of sugar and cinnamon, thin sliced apples, divine is the only word that can describe this dessert. Actually tastes like the pies Mom used to make. As well as the National Postre (dessert) for all of Uruguay Dulce de Leche we ordered the one with chocolate chips. Honestly not so overly sweet just right for Joe and I to share.

In our research on Uruguay we saw so many comments about the lack of food choices here.  We have not found that to be true at all. The food varieties are wonderful, you have your pastas even with a special day the 29th of each month where noquis are on the menu at almost every restaurant. You have your choice of flame cooked meats from pork, beef, lamb, chicken as well as sausages galore and if your taste runs to innards they do that as well. Our favorite restaurant so far in Atlantida is Don Vito, the food, the service, the atmosphere are just perfect for our Sunday lunch. They have seafood choices, chivitos, pasta, salads, pizzas and meats as well as a beautiful display case filled with desserts to die for.  While in Montevideo we found Tres Fuegos had similar service and food. We have found hamburger restaurants serving just hamburgers, beef or veggie like our favorite Rudy Burgers on 26 de Marzo in Montevideo’s Nuevo  Pocitos section.  You want Japanese we have found several, even in Atlantida we have Sushi Brothers (will be doing a post on them real soon). Are you into seafood? The supermarkets have several varieties of local fresh fish and in Atlantida we even have a fish monger if you really want it fresh. Montevideo has Indian restaurants even take out Indian is available.

I just don’t see an issue with the choices. What we have learned since moving from the US in 2006 is you may have to do a little work to have what you want to eat. I have learned how to make so many things from scratch and that only makes me a better cook and we have more wholesome food and eat so much better as I can control what goes into my food when I use fresh ingredients. So you like Thai make it at home you can find most ingredients at your local supermarket.  Want Thai Spring rolls, make them. Here the supermarket has spring roll wraps, sushi nori, rice noodles, tahini, soy and oyster sauce, wasabi powder…you want to make Pho they have the spices and other ingredients needed to make your own home-made version.

It’s all part of the great adventure. You need to go with it.

 

Oven Baked Zapallitos

Something new for us are these little green squashes.  Here they stuff these zapallitos with all sorts of things and bake.  I bought several and used a few in my ratatouille recipe.  Had two beauties left so I decided to make my own version of these little baked babies.

Oven Baked Zapallitos

• 2 nice sized Zapallitos – cut tops off. Remove interior add this to other ingredients
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 red onion cut up in small pieces
• 1/4 of a large red pepper
• 3 oz. ground pork
• 3 oz. ground beef
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• little cubes of cheese 2 oz or so
• a few slices of mozzarella cheese for the top

Set the zapalittos aside. Place the olive oil to heat in a frying pan, add the oregano, garlic and sauté for one minute add the chopped meat and cook until the meat is no longer raw.  Move to a plate.  Add all the veggies and sauté for just a few minutes add the meat back and cook for just a few more minutes. Add salt and pepper and check to see if it needs more.

Add a few small cubes of cheese to the bottom on each squash. Add one large tablespoon of the filling, more cheese, continue filling until the mixture reaches the top of the squash. Press down to use all filling. Place the lid on top and put in a 350 oven for 30-45 minutes.  The squash shell should keep its shape.  Right before serving remove the squash top and add a slice of mozzarella cheese. Put back in the oven and allow to melt.

Serve alone or with rice or mashed potatoes for a great lunch or dinner.

 

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!

Fish Market at the Buseo Port

On Saturday we walked down to the Buceo Port as Joe was asking for fish. We got the salmon again, and just like the first time, it was fabulous.

All the fish looked good and even things like calamari, octopus and the mussels looked fresh and very appealing. Prices are in Uruguay Peso, convert to US Dollars by dividing the number on the card by .28.  All of these prices are for a kilo which is a little over 2 pounds.

You can buy a whole fish or you can buy steaks or fillets.

There are two other stores including a store with local trinkets as well as a vegetable and fruit stand that carries spices, herbs, a few live herb plants and has a cooler with drinks.

A new addition from the other times we were there was a van backed up to the sidewalk and the back door opened. As you can see it had a variety of cheese, wine and salami.

We got our salmon and ran home to have lunch.

Look At This Lunch Meat

I am not sure how the Uruguayan people would take me calling this lunch meat, but that is what it resembles to me.

Joe did a great deal of research before we moved here, we saw videos, had slide-shows and generally discussed Uruguayan customs, foods, housing, language, futbal and of course its people.

One major discussion item was food. I love to cook, I love to bake and we both love to eat, so many of our after dinner slide-shows included food.

Matambre is a rolled stuffed beef dish made here in Uruguay as well as Argentina.   We have seen it for sale in the local supermarket and decided to try it.

The bread is Pan de Campo or country bread. It was a huge round loaf and this sandwich is only half a slice of bread. I am not sure what the Uruguayans would use on the sandwich but I added leaf lettuce and mayo.  It went over very well.  I would buy it again. Yum!

Cranberry Walnut Scones: What a Wonderful Breakfast Treat

Last night before bed I was thinking what wonderfulness can I make tomorrow morning.

I have decided that we can eat “good for you” food every weekday but the weekends are special and we should have something even better.  So Sundays I make something wonderful like Lobster Rolls or a Pork Tenderloin Roast with Homemade Sauerkraut and Root Veggies or a Moroccan Roast Chicken with Guava Paste.  But Saturday morning should be special also.  So I remembered making scones once before.  The recipe was from a Rachael Ray cookbook and honestly it did not do it for me.  So I got on the computer and found a recipe from All Recipes.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/79470/simple-scones/

I of course made some changes and this is what I came up with:

Cranberry Walnut Scones

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup chopped nuts I used walnuts
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen or pretty hard
• 1/2 cup sour cream (fresh heavy cream with 1 teaspoon vinegar added)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (soaked in warm water for a few minutes and drained and patted dry)
• 1 tablespoon regular white sugar

Heat the oven to 400 F.  In a medium-sized bowl mix the top 5 ingredients.  Grate the butter into the flour mixture and with a pastry blender or two knives cut the butter into the flour mixture. Do not use your hands as it will melt the butter. Add the walnuts and mix well, place in the fridge until ready to add the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl add the sour cream or the cream and vinegar mixture and set aside.  Add egg to cream and mix well.

Add your egg/cream mixture to your dry ingredients. With just a few strokes incorporate it – it will have dry ingredients that have not mixed well.  No problem just turn out onto a work area (I use a large plastic place mat).  With your hands knead gently until you have a soft dough.  Do not overwork, you do not want to melt the butter pieces. Just a few strokes with your hands should incorporate it into a nice dough.  Shape into a disk about 1/2 inch thick and approximately 7 inch diameter. Sprinkle top evenly with cranberries and pat into the dough. Sprinkle with the white sugar. Cut like a pie into 8 pieces.

Place on a baking sheet with parchment or another non-stick mat. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes.  Watch that the bottom does not burn.

Serve hot with honey butter mixture or my favorite cream and honey.

Cream or Butter Sauce:

• 2 tablespoon butter or heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon light honey

Mix together and serve on the side with the hot scones.

Great with a good cup of coffee sitting on your porch watching the street come to life.

Orange Sweet Potatoes or Yams

One day last week Gonzalo came by with a few orange sweet potatoes. I went pretty crazy as we seldom see orange sweets here. So I begged for him to find me more and yesterday he gave me a bag full of these orange beauties.  I love the purple ones, don’t get me wrong, they are delicious and super sweet.  But when making a sweet potato souffle where I add eggs and brown sugar the resulting color is really off-putting. The combination of the yellow egg yolks, brown sugar and purple potatoes turns almost black.  Again not very appetizing.

I can remember our first Thanksgiving here, we were living in Salinas and were invited to Will’s Coco Bar for a traditional US style Thanksgiving.  I decided to make my sweet potato souffle which is usually well received and finished off. It did not go over well.  Honestly it tasted very similar to the ones I had made in the states but the color, it was scary. I ended up bringing home half a dish full and chucking it in the trash.

Today I have enough to make sweet potato fries. We will see how Joe likes them.

Joe loved them and they vanished.

I guess making friends with your vegetable vendor, the meat guy and the rest of the folks who come by on the street does make a big difference. Thanks Gonzalo, you are the best for finding these for me.

 

Baba Ganoush

I know the name sounds a bit strange but it is a wonderful tasting and very filling dip. Especially good with cut up raw vegetables or my favorite fresh pita bread*. So guess what I am making today?  Baba Ganoush. This is going to be lunch.  Joe and I have always talked about just having dessert first and forget about the lunch or dinner.  Well I say let’s have an appetizer for lunch and forget about the lunch!

So let’s talk eggplant, what a wonderful vegetable.  I make a delicious eggplant lasagna as well as a ratatouille recipe that I will post in the future. Both are excellent ways to use this very versatile veg.

Baba Ganoush

• 1 large or 3 smaller fresh shiny eggplants
• 1/2 head of garlic just cut the tops off to allow the oil to penetrate the cloves
• 1 clove raw garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 1/2 cup tahini (sesame paste)
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 teaspoon garam masala – it is a traditional Indian spice blend that usually includes cumin seeds, cinnamon, coriander seeds, black pepper, clove, nutmeg and chili.
• Olive oil for baking the veggies and a few tablespoons for the top of the dip
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

First take your eggplants, wash them and cut them in half. In a small tin foil wrapper add half head of garlic and just trim the tops of the garlic to show the clove below. Place all on a cookie sheet that has been lined in tin foil, less to clean up. Sprinkle all with olive oil, add the oregano and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until soft.  Squeeze any excess olive oil from the garlic tin foil into your mixture, what a wonderful flavorful oil it has made.

In a large bowl spoon all the eggplant flesh and squeeze the bottom of the garlic head –  the cloves will just pop out and add them to the bowl.  Mash all together and add your tahini, lemon juice, garam masala, salt and pepper. Finely grate the one raw clove of garlic on top of the mixture. Mix well. It should be dip consistency, pretty thick with no big chunks of eggplant if it seems too thick add a little water until you get the right consistency.  Taste for seasoning add more salt if necessary. Refrigerate. Right before serving add your cilantro and mix well.  Serve with sliced vegetables, crackers or pita bread.

*Pita bread recipe can be found by searching for Pita Bread and Hummus above from my August 2016 post.

Wanderlust

Joe and I are feeling the call to more adventures. Itchy feet as our one friend calls it. We have decided to leave Ecuador for other travels in South America.

Ecuador has been a wonderful home since 2009. If you go back through my posts you will see just how much we have learned, enjoyed and expanded our horizons by being in this country.  We have met great people (you know who you are), visited and lived in different areas and have spent many hours just sitting on the beach living the good life.

As to where next, well we don’t know yet.  Those of you who’ve been following the blog from the beginning will remember that I wrote a bit about our time in Panama. Now it’s Ecuador. Stay tuned to see where our next stop will be.

When Joe and I were first thinking of moving out of the US, back in Kennesaw GA a dozen years ago, we found an article on living outside the US. Doing some research we found a lot of info on being a tourist but not much on health care, grocery shopping and the like.  Then we found some of the cruiser sites (for the uninitiated like us, these are people who live and travel around the world in sailboats). These were practical sites with info we could use.  Pictures of fruit and vegetable stands instead of museums, prices for haircuts and doctor visits.  We wound up on a blog by a couple on a sailboat and the quote under the title said it all – “Our Fifteen Year Journey to say Goodbye to the World” Wow.  What if we had fifteen years, what to do – where to go.  We don’t travel well. Joe dislikes planes and I don’t care for hotels for too long.  So we decided – what if our traveling was to move somewhere for a few years.  Every trip to shop is an adventure – so it was to be 5 places for 3 years each or 3 places for 5 years each.  Well it’s been about 10 years since then and we’ve been 2 places so far, and they’ve been just spectacular, each in their own way and for different reasons. And all of these amazing adventures will stay in our hearts forever, as they have changed us forever and in very good ways.  But it’s time. It’s time.

Ecuador you will be missed. Stay tuned……