Posted in Recipes

This week's Ecuadorian recipe that I tried out was for Humitas. As you can see in the picture, they look similar to a tamale. An humita is a corn batter that is steamed inside a corn husk. They generally have cheese in the center. In the mountain region of Cuenca they make them sweet and add anis. I don't care for those so I made them in the way they are made here on the coast. These that I made were okay, but I've had better. The batter isn't too hard to make, but putting them into the corn husks, then tying them, is a LOT of trouble. I'm glad to have made them but it is worth whatever they charge to buy them already made!

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Here is the recipe for Chupe de Pescado- a local fish soup that is very good!

Chupe de Pescado

Ingredients:

Broth:
1 large fish head (about 300 g)
7 cups of water
350 g. of fish filets cut into 1" cubes and seasoned with salt and pepper*
3 Tablespoons of flour
1 Tablespoon of oil
2 Tablespoons of butter
Salt

Refrito:
Achiote**
1 large purple onion diced into medium chunks
1 large green onion diced***
1 green pepper diced into medium chunks
4 garlic cloves minced
1 tomato loosely blended (so that it is chunky)
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 kg potatoes- 1/2 diced, 1/2 cut into large wedges
1 cup milk
Salt


Preparation:

1. Cook the fish head in the water with salt for about 20 minutes until it is very soft. Cool the resulting broth then strain out the fish.
2. Measure the broth and add more water if needed to complete 6 cups. Set water aside.
3. Dredge the fish cubes in the flour.
4. Heat the oil and butter in the soup pot and fry the fish cubes then set them aside.
5. In the same soup pot that you used to fry the fish, prepare the refrito.
6. Add the achiote to the oil in the pot. Remove after a few minutes.
7. Saute the onion, green pepper, and garlic.
8. When the vegetables are soft add the tomato which has been slightly blended .
9. Add the spices then saute for 10 more minutes.
10. Add the potatoes and stir in constantly for another 5-10 minutes.
11. Add the milk and when it begins to boil add the fish broth.
12. Let it simmer for about 1/2 hour until the potatoes are done.
13. Lastly, add the fried fish cubes. When the fish is hot, it's ready to serve.

* for the cubed fish I use white sea bass (corvina). Any mild flavored fish will do.
** Achiote- also known as Annatto seed. It is used to give food an orange/yellowish color. See picture below. This can be found a some grocery stores in the States near the ground chilis. Use a mild paprika if you cannot find this.
*** Our green onions here are very big. They are about 16-18 inches long and the bulb is about 1-2 inches across.


When we ate this I needed to add some salt and pepper. I also added a little aji sauce because I like mine a bit on the hot side.

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Here is the recipe for Pan de Yuca/Yucca Bread.

Pan de Yuca/Yucca Bread

Ingredients:
230 g of yucca starch (like corn starch but made from yucca)
460 g grated dry cheese (I used Parmesan)
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 pinch of salt
Milk-lukewarm

Preparation:
1. In a bowl, sift well,3 times, the yucca starch and baking powder.
2. Stir in the salt and cheese.
3. Form a well in the center and add the egg yolk.
4. Add a little milk at a time mixing everything up until you have a soft dough.
5. Form and roll small golf ball sized balls and put them on a greased cookie sheet leaving a little space between each ball.
6. Bake at 220 C (400F) until they turn golden- about 8-10 minutes.

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Yesterday Shelley Fowler, a summer intern who worked with our team came for lunch before going back to the states. As usual, I tried out a new recipe. This one was for dessert and was absolutely scrumptious! It was a coconut flan. I don't really like flan that much and the only recipe I like was one given me by a Cuban woman. No other flan I've ever eaten comes close - till this. It's very similar to my Cuban recipe which is why I liked it so well. It's definitely a keeper. Enjoy!


Coconut Flan

1 cup granulated sugar
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 cup canned coconut milk
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1/2 cup toasted coconut

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Place sugar in a medium size heavy bottomed saucepan and pour 1/2 cup water over it. Stir to dissolve. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook, without stirring, for about 10 minutes until amber colored. Pour into a 9-inch glass pie plate; swirl to coat bottom.
3. Blend condensed and coconut milks, eggs, vanilla and coconut extracts in a blender, Piur into prepared pie plate.
4. Place pie plate in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to come halfway up side of plate. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes, until custard is just set.  Transfer to wire rack; let cool. Refrigerate until completely chilled, 4 hours or overnight.
5. To serve, run a sharp knife around edge of custard. Invert onto a large plate, letting caramel run over top.  Garnish with toasted coconut.

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A few weeks ago we had a volunteer group here. One of the things they brought me was a bunch of old "Taste of Home" magazines. I love that magazine! The recipes inside are always good. I went through them to cut out all the recipes I wanted to try (don't have room for all the magazines).  I ended up with 75 recipes! I decided that I am going to work my way through them. We've had a good bit of company lately and I've had the chance to try out several of the recipes.

On Tuesday of this week  I tried out three recipes in one meal. One was a bust, but the other two were keepers. I've been trying to do more with salads in an attempt to add more fresh veggies to our diet. The salad that I tried out was from Betty Lamb in Orem, Utah. She shares this about the salad.

When a friend shared this recipe, it had a fancy French name. Our children can never remember it, so they say, "Mom, please make 'that good salad'."

It was good and my husband raved over it. He never does that! I think it's the dressing he liked so much. The salad didn't seem that out of the ordinary to me. However, there wasn't but a spoonful left so I guess he wasn't the only one to like it! So, without further ado, here's the recipe for "That Good Salad."


"That Good Salad"

Dressing
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper

Salad
2 bunches (1 lb. each) romaine lettuce, torn
2 c. chopped tomatoes (I did mine in thin wedges)
1 c. shredded Swiss cheese (We don't get that here so I used small cubes of Mozarella)
2/3 c. slivered almonds, toasted (I didn't see the word toasted so I didn't do that)
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
8 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1 c. Caesar salad croutons (the garlic/cheese ones looked better so I bought those)

Basically, just make the dressing, make the salad, pour some dressing on the salad and mix well adding in the croutons at the last minute before serving.

The only thing I did differently was to put the cut tomatoes, mozarella cheese, and bacon in the bowl, pour on a little of the dressing and let it marinate until it was time to put in the lettuce, Parmesan cheese, almonds, and croutons right before serving.

Enjoy!

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A friend recently left me some English Women's Magazines and while browsing through them I came across several recipes I wanted to try. So yesterday I made one called Pork with Quinoa Pilaf. I've been trying to do more with Quinoa since it's such a good-for-you food. It's a good rice substitute. This recipe is a very healthy recipe and it turned out really good. Even dh had seconds which is rare! I actually took a picture of it to show you what it looked like. It wasn't exactly like the picture in the magazine but close.  We had this with Waldorf Salad. Enjoy!




Pork with Quinoa Pilaf
1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin
3/4 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning (I was much more generous than this!)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil
1 medium sized red onion chopped
1 medium sized Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups chicken broth
2 medium sized carrots, peeled and shredded
3/4 cup dried cranberries (don't have those here so I left them out)
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (I left this out, it didn't sound so good to me)

1. Season pork tenderloin with 1/2 teaspoon of the lemon-pepper seasoning and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Heat oil in a 12-inch non stick skillet (I used stainless steel since I've quit using teflon pans) over medium-high heat. Brown pork 4 minutes, turning until golden. Remove from pan.

2.  In the same skillet, reduce heat to medium. Saute onion and apple for 5 minutes or until tender. Add quinoa; cook, stirring, 1 minute to toast. Add broth, carrots, cranberries and remaining 1/4 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning and 1/4 teaspoon salt; mix well.

3. Place pork on top of quinoa mixture in skillet. Cover; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low; simmer about 15 minutes until pork registers 150 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, liquied is absorbed and quinoa is tender. Remove pork from skillet; let quinoa mixture sit for 2 minutes. Thinly slice pork. Stir walnuts and feta cheese into quinoa mixture. Place 3/4 cup quinoa pilaf onto each plate; fan sliced pork on top.

And for those who want this kind of info (per serving):
430 calories; 18 g fat (4 g sat); 32 g protein; 37 g carbohydrate; 4 g fiber; 594 mg sodium; 80 mg cholesterol.

The only thing I did different in making this was to cook the quinoa longer. After the 15 minutes I took the pork off, but the quinoa mixture was still very liquidy. I let it cook with the top off for another 20 minutes or so until the liquid was all absorbed.

One other tidbit- I have never bought quinoa in the States. Here, it is like rice- you have to pick out the little black things in it before cooking it!

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Last week I saw a can of Comstock Cherry Pie Filling that had been imported at the grocery store near my home.  I haven't had anything cherry in a really l-o-n-g time so I bought it. Yesterday I made my first cheesecake to go under the cherry pie filling. It was so-o-o delicious.

I found the recipe on allrecipes.com. There were lots of tips and alterations in the  comment section and so I decided to post the recipe as I found it and post the alterations that I used below. I don't have a spring form pan (at least I don't think I do) and so I bought an imported ready made graham cracker crust being sold next to the cherry pie filling. I only made half the recipe since a spring form pan is bigger than the ready made crusts. The whole family loved this cheesecake and my ds is begging for another one. So I guess this one's a keeper! Enjoy!

CHEESECAKE SUPREME

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 5 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 5 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Mix the graham cracker crumbs, 1/2 cup of the white sugar, and the melted butter together. Press mixture into the bottom of one 9 or 10 inch springform pan.
3. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, eggs and egg yolks; mix until smooth. Add the remaining 1 3/4 cups white sugar, the flour and the heavy cream. Blend until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 10 minutes, then turn oven temperature down to 200 degrees F (100 degrees C) and continue baking for 1 hour, or until filling is set. Let cheesecake cool, then refrigerate.

Cheesecake recipe adjustments: Do not cook at 400 at all! Do NOT preheat oven. Prepare according to recipe and put in springform pan. Put pan in oven. (I also put in a water bath, which I understand to be a pan of water below the pie pan) Now turn oven on to 200. Cook for ~3 hours & 10 minutes. (give or take 10 minutes). Should be a little firm when you turn the oven off, but not real firm. Turn oven off after the 3 hours and about 10 minutes. Crack the oven open and let the cheesecake cool in the oven for 1 hour (or longer if you wish). Then put thecheesecake in the refridgerator for AT LEAST over night. Best after full 24 hours. (Ours was only in the fridge for about an hour. We couldn't wait until the next day. Cooking it slow like this keeps it from being harder around the edges and softer in the middle. It was very uniformly creamy and smoooooth.)