Name this Cooking Utensil - A Contest!

Greeting all and happy September! First of all let me apologize for not posting any salads for Ali's wonderful "Salad Days" project. Who knows, maybe I'll get some up by winter time.

So, what's this contest!? Last month, when I was up in the Bitterroot Valley in Montana, about to begin a service trip (I was the cook) I was presented with a gift.

What you see in the photo above is my gift. It is a cooking implement, made of wood and made by the person who gave it to me. I took it in on the trip and it works VERY well!!

The challenge is to answer one or both of these questions. There will be a separate prize for each correct answer, as well as any other prizes that I feel like giving out!

• What is it used for?
• What is it called?

All of you were notified by email today, so the contest has officially begun. Please submit your entries to me via email. Deadline for entries is MIDNIGHT on Saturday September 18th.

Good Luck & Lots of Love, Didi

Brunch With an Ecuadorian Flavor

My friend Jennifer wanted to see the

Galapagos photos, so I invited her over

for an Ecuadorian brunch. I feel really

good about how it all turned out!

Menu:

scrambled eggs

strawberries

fried tiny red bananas

potato patties

steamed puddings (quimbolitos)

Santa Fe flamingo cocktail

cafe' con leche

The steamed puddings (quimbolitos) are not

something we actually had in Ecuador.

I found them on the Ecuadorian recipe

website and was intrigued. I've made them

twice now and this time, with some slight

modifications, they turned out much better.

Still in the parchment

Ready to eat

Here is the recipe that I slightly

adapted from the website:

Steamed Puddings (Quimbolitos)

4 Tbs. butter

6 Tbs. sugar

2 eggs, well beaten

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup corn starch

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup raisins

2 Tbs. cognac or light rum

Soften the butter to room temperature.

Cream together the butter and sugar

until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add

the eggs mixed with the milk. Sift together

the flour, cornstarch, and baking powder,

and stir into the batter mixture. Stir in the

cheese, raisins, and cognac or rum.

Cut either kitchen parchment or aluminum

foil (though you will want to grease the foil

because the batter will stick) into 8x8-inch

squares. Drop a scant 1/4 cup of the

mixture into the center of each, and fold

up into an envelope. (Parchment paper

worked great, but I did find that a staple

or two held the envelope closed.) Arrange

in a steamer and cook over boiling water

for 45 minutes. Servehot, with or without

cream. (They are yummy plain, but

honey-yogurt was good too.)

In Ecuador the Quimbolitos are cooked in

achira leaves, the leaf of the taro plant,

perhaps better know as dasheen or yautia.

however, nothing seems to be lost by

cooking them in parchment.

Santa Fe Flamingo

This is a guesstimation of the Welcome

drink we had in the Galapagos, on our first

night aboard The Daphne.

Here's my recipe:

Place all ingredients in blender and "liquify"

- 3 or 4 "golfball sized" chunks of cantaloupe

- 3 or 4 ice cubes

- 1 1/2 oz. light rum

- 1/2 oz. grenadine

- 1 tsp. sugar (if melon isn't very ripe)

Potato Patties

In Ecuador we had potatoes at

nearly every meal, including breakfast.

However, I have no recollection of eating

what we would call hash browns or country

fried potatoes.

I do remember having for breakfast

what seemed to be browned patties made

from seasoned (and/or jazzed up with

veggies) mashed potatoes. Or there would

be a whole casserole pan of something

similiar.

Didi's Equator Style Breakfast Potatoes

-yellow-skinned potatoes, peeled & sliced

(1 medium per serving)

-butter & milk as needed

-mild red pepper, finely chopped

-purple onion, finely chopped

(apx 1 Tbs. of each per serving)

-salt & pepper to taste

-dash of hot sauce

Boil the potatoes until they are cooked.

Mash well and add a wee bit of butter and

milk to moisten. Saute' the pepper and

onion. Add the cooked vegetables to the

potatoes along with a dash of hot sauce,

also salt & pepper to taste.

Shape the potatoes onto patties that are

about 3 inches in diameter and no more than

an inch thick. Brown on each side in just a

tiny bit of oil or butter. Serve hot. *Needless

to say the addition of cheese would not hurt!

Fried Red (Baby) Bananas

In Ecuador the banana is right up there with

the potato in its ability to appear at every meal!

If you haven't see the latest Saveur Magazine, it

has a great article on banana varieties.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Techniques/5-Banana-Varieties

Last week at the Co-op I found some tiny

bananas that the produce guy (I love produce

guys!) said were from Ecuador! According to

the Saveur article and some other web exploring

I've done, these little bananas are either called

"Baby" or "Red."

This photo shows a bunch of the bananas

that are not yet ripe. The ones I cooked had

no more green showing, and were maroon and

black in color, and looked pretty beat up. They

were very sweet when cut in half long-ways and fried.

FYI - Here is a size comparison between the tiny

bananas and a fairly small plantain.

Okay team, that's enough from me!

This blogging can become as big a time-suck

as computer solitaire (though probably with a

bit more redeeming value.) May is just around

the corner -- ENJOY the warmer weather and

of course the GOOD FOOD! XXOO

The Cuisine of Ecuador Comes Home

Installment #1 - POTATO SOUP (LOCRO)

One of the tastiest and most common traditional

foods that I enjoyed in Ecuador was potato soup.

I already knew that potatoes originated in South

America, but have since learned that they came

specifically from the highlands of Ecuador and Peru.

In my quest to recreate foods of Ecuador I did

some exploring on the web. The best site I found

was:

http://www.recipehound.com/Recipes/ecuador.html

Here is my adaption of the Potato Soup (Locro)

recipe from this site.

4 tablespoons butter or oil

1 1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 cups water

3 pounds potatoes, chopped into small cubes

2 cups milk (You can use any milk substitute)

1/2 pound munster cheese, grated

Avocado wedges

tomato, skin removed and quartered

salt & pepper

In a large, heavy saucepan melt the butter and stir

in the paprika. Add the onion and saute over

moderate heat until the onion is softened. Pour

in water and add potatoes. Bring to a boil and

then lower to a simmer. Cook over low heat,

uncovered, stirring occasionally. When the

potatoes are almost done, add the milk and continue

to cook, stirring more regularly, until the potatoes

begin to disintegrate. You may now want to use a

heat defuser. At this point you can decide to blend

the soup (Great use for that awesome hand-held

blender!) or leave the potatoes chunky. Season

to taste with salt & pepper and serve immediately.

Place an avocado wedge and a tomato quarter

into each bowl of soup. Sprinkle on grated cheese

or serve it on the side. ENJOY!

Additions to my previous post:

1) All cafe' con leche in Ecuador is served with heated

milk. It is wonderful, and even without a microwave

I have been heating the milk for my coffee most

mornings since I returned home.

2) I forgot to mention our second dinner in Quito. That

night we ate at our hotel, Rio de Amazones. The hotel

had two restaurants, one quite posh and the other an

Ecuadorian Denny's (actually called La Canoa.) This

is where we had supper after our trip to the cloud

forest. Again I went for "traditional food", so I had the

goat stew (seco de chivo.) The quality of the food at

this place was a cut below anywhere else we ate, but

this stew was quite good. I have seen seco de chivo

recipes on line, so now I just need to find a source

for goat meat.

Eating My Way Through Ecuador

FIRST STOP QUAYAQUIL

Well, this is it! My very first post to a blog. Since food was such an amazing part of my trip (March 29 to April 10, 2010) to Ecuador and the Galapagos, it seemed like a good subject to begin with.

Above you see the lunch we had at the Hostel Macaw in Guayaquil, on our first full day in Ecuador. I loved how many different vegetables we had.

We had some good beer as well! This Pilsner brand of beer (made in Ecuador & the only kind we were ever served) was really quite tasty in spite of its light color.

That evening, still in Guayaquil, we had our "Welcome Dinner" at "Lo Nuestro, Cafe y Restaurante." There was a wide selection of traditional Ecuadorian food, a wonderful atmosphere and my meal was DELICIOUS! I had pork chops in tamarind sauce (now there's something I should try and find a recipe for!) The pork chops were sliced very thin and the meat melted in my mouth. Needless to say the flavor of the tamarind came through loud and clear.

At the end of the meal we were serenaded by two wonderful guitar players and this incredibly "Evita-esque" singer with an amazing voice.

NOW ON TO THE GALAPAGOS!

On Wednesday morning, 3/31, we flew to the tiny island of Baltra in the Galapagos. The airport is here because this is where the US military built it during WWII. After getting our official paperwork to become certified visitors to Parque Nacional Galapagos Ecuador, we took a 2 minute bus ride to the harbor, were picked up by a "panga" (zodiac) and motored out to our home for the week - Yate' Daphne.

The panga always "docks" at the stern of Daphne. After taking off our shoes and stowing them in the cubbies, we stepped up about 4 steps and we're in the dining room! On this first time aboard we were met by Romero (barman/busboy) and cold glasses of iced tea (sans ice.)

After getting assigned our cabins and washing up we had lunch! (our second lunch of the day because they also fed us on our flight over from the mainland.) My journal only says that the meal was excellent, that it was the size of a dinner and that there was flan for dessert (not as good as Suzi's, but yummy.) I do think we actually had lasagna.

I did not have a single bad meal aboard Daphne. My only disappointment was that I had the stomach flu and missed one dinner and one breakfast. Here are some food photos from the Daphne:

The dining room

Our cook, Chico!

Every lunch started with soup

Romero sets out lunch

Getting our breakfast

A small lunch when I'm getting over the stomach flu

Our Farewell cocktail, a Caipirinha

Our last night's dinner

The farewell desert

Just in case you thought that the only ones eating in the Galapagos were the lucky folks on the Daphne, here are some of the locals chowing down!

Land Iguana rolling a cactus fruit to get rid of the spines in preparation for eating

Not so little sea lion getting lunch!

A BIG baby Darwin finch gets a snack

FINAL STOP QUITO

It was hard to say good-bye to the Galapagos,

a truly MAGICAL place. However, to ease our

transition we had three nights in Quito, the

Capital of Ecuador. The first night we went

to a restaurant near our hotel that featured

Ecuadorian cuisine. One dish our guide

had told us about was "cuy" or Guinea Pig.

I realize this may seem gross, but "when in

Rome." I did order the Cuy, but my mistake

was to get the fried rather than the roasted.

Suffice it to say that I have eaten

"Kentucky Fried Guinea Pig" - ick!

Probably my favorite meal of the whole trip

was a lunch we had on our visit to the cloud

forest. This is a high elevation rain forest

about two hours from Quito. Not only did

we walk through some amazing forest, see

stunning flowers and beautiful hummingbirds

(ten species in all) but we had this delicious

lunch.

This is rainbow trout from a local trout farm.

One of the best pieces of trout I have ever

had (and I've had my share!)

Ice cream for dessert! (yep, always dessert)

The hummers had plenty to eat as well!

On our final full day in Ecuador we took a tour

of the old city in Quito and went to visit the

equator. This was another day of two dinners,

one at lunch and one in the evening!

Here are the photos of our lunch at a lovely

restaurant at the equator:

As always, the starter of plantain chips,

popcorn & roasted corn. This time lupine

seeds as well!

Empanadas

Potato soup

And then...the main course!

That night we had our farewell dinner at

another very nice restaurant:

Since we had such a substantial lunch, I went with a light supper of fish.

However I did start out with some shrimp ceviche' that was killer!

Again we had amazing musicians at our table.

The next morning we flew back home.

So many things about this trip were amazing, and the food was right up there!

Adios mis amigas! Next installment, my

adventures with Ecuadorian cooking here at

home.