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

Graham Crackers & Mojito Pie

Imagine Lemon Meringue Pie. Now substitute lime juice for the lemon juice in the filling and replace 1/4 cup of the water in the filling with rum. Cook several sprigs of mint in the filling as well.

Ali & I had the idea for making a mojito pie. You can see from the photo that this pie was actually made.

We felt that our creation should have a graham cracker crust; and we didn't want to go out to buy soy free graham crackers, so we decided to make our own.

Exploring on the web we found a delicious recipe for perfect graham crackers. It turns out that graham flour is just whole wheat flour, although a slightly coarser grind. These crackers tasted so much like the real thing and were fun to make. Thank you to 123chef for posting this recipe on the website Chef Talk.com (forum.) Here is the recipe with a few modifications from us.

Home Made Graham Crackers

(makes enough for 2 pie crusts, or one crust and lots of delicious munching)

2 1/2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup (4.5 ounces) graham flour (whole wheat)

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (2 ounces) brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3 ounces unsalted butter (or palm oil shortening)

1/2 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the ingredients in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix until smooth and well combined, scraping down the bowl. This makes a very easy to handle, non sticky dough. Divide dough in half.

Pat out one portion of dough on a piece of parchment, to the size of a large, thick pancakes.

Lay another piece of parchment over the dough and roll it out with a rolling pin, until about 1/8-inch thick. (I think ours were a bit thicker, but baked up fine.)

Peel off the top parchment and transfer the bottom parchment with dough onto a baking sheet. Cut dough into squares with a knife or pizza cutter. Do not separate squares.

Bake for about 10 minutes and then check the cracker for doneness, bake for another 3-6 minutes. The crackers should be golden brown. Repeat with other portion of dough.

Place baking sheet on a cooling rack. Once cool, the graham cracker can be broken into squares, or crushed into crumbs for pie crust.

Rose Window Easter Almond Citrus Cake

I found this recipe on the back of some "Sugar Zulka" found in the baking section of our local market.  We've been enjoying it in coffee and tea too.
This was one of our desserts at Easter - hence the name Easter cake.
I made a few modifications, but everyone who likes almond agreed that it was tasty and my brother-in-law, the former chef, said it is the best dessert he's had in months!

I'll type the original recipe & put my modifications in parentheses.

- 1/2 C All-Purpose Flour
- 1 t Baking Powder
- 12 T Unsalted Butter
- 3/4 C Sugar Zulka (I used their product, but I think any course sugar in the raw would work)
- 12 T Almond Paste (I just used a tube...It may be a little less than 12 T)
- Grated Zest of 1 Orange
- Grated Zest of 1 Lemon
- 1/2 t Almond Extract
- 1 t Kirsh (I used Grand Marnier instead - hence the name "Almond Citrus Cake.  Lemon or orange extract would probably work too.)
- 1 t Vanilla Extract
- 5 Eggs

Topping:
- 2 T Apricot Jam (I used a little more than this.)
- 1 T Water (Why use water when you can use Bourbon?  I used Bourbon, enough to make the ratio work)
- 1/4 C Toasted Sliced Almonds (I didn't do this b/c I desperately wanted to use my lattice cutter that I purchased with April's birthday King Arthur's Gift Certificate.  I rolled out marzipan and cut it out and laid it on top of the jam/bourbon combo, with a rather gorgeous effect, if I do say so myself. Hence the Rose Window part of the name.)

Preheat oven to 325 F
Butter a 9" round cake pan & line with parchment paper (I forget the parchment paper, but it would have been cleaner if I had.)

Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside, Cream butter & sugar on medium, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until light & fluffy (3-4 minutes).
Add almond paste, zests, almond extract, kirsch (or whatever) & vanilla.  Beat until light & fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl (2-3 minutes.)  Add eggs and beat until smooth and lump free.  (The original recipe doesn't mention adding the flour mix, but I added it here and beat until smooth and lump free.)

The pan will be very full, but shouldn't run over.  Bake until cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick comes out clean 40-50 minutes (50 for me)

Transfer the cake pan to a wire rack and cool for 1 hour.  Turn the cake onto plate, brush with the jam mixture (I heated mine in the microwave) and sprinkle with toasted almonds (I skipped this in favor of my marzipan topping.)

Bloody Mary Salad

I came up with this little number while trying to figure out what to do with limp celery and tomatoes that had only about 24 hours left in them...
To my delight, it captured the essence of the cocktail in a yummy way...

I like an olive garnish in my Bloody Mary, so I included one here too!

Salad:
- Tomatoes - sliced and de-juiced
- Celery - chopped
- Diced Green Olives - chopped
- Shallots - chopped
(Spinach or wild greens would work too for a lighter salad. Cucumbers and and hot pepper vodka would be a nice tribute to The Del's Bloody Mary.)

Dressing:
(Emulsify the following)
- 1/2oz Vodka
- 1/2 oz Olive Oil
- 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- Dashes of Tabasco to taste (I like lots!)
- Dash of Celery Salt
- Cracked Pepper
- A dash of sea salt (- watch the salt level!)

Toss and Refrigerate for 30 minutes or more (If using the greens toss right before serving).
This would also make a fun bruschetta for a cocktail party, or could be served in cocktail glasses with a garnish for fun!

* Cutting the tomatoes ahead of time, removing seeds, and salting them and letting them sit will draw out some juice that can then be used in the dressing, as desired

I just threw this together, so the measurements aren't exact, like any good drink!  I'd like to make the dressing a little thicker, but maybe de-juicing would help.