rainforest recipes

This is my favorite sandwich of the month. Or of the year. I usually use more or less the same ingredients each time, but the option of adding just about any other vegetable you want is always there.

Totally Addictive Vegetable Sandwiches

2 slices Home made bread
mayonaise (or mayonaise mixed with yogurt)
1 tomato or several slices of cucumber
finely chopped onion
finely chopped red pepper
very finely chopped jalapeño pepper
lots of roughly chopped cilantro
salt and pepper
balsamic vinegar


1. Spread mayonaise on both slices of home made bread.
2. On one side, cover bread with chopped onion, sweet pepper and jalapeno pepper.
3. On the other side, fill bread slice with fat slices of tomato.
4. Salt and pepper (freshly ground goes without saying)
5. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro to taste (I use lots of it in place of lettuce which is not really good here)


6. Sprinkle tomatoes with balsamic vinegar.
7. Press chopped vegies into the mayo with the flat of a knife, and quickly, so the small pieces don't fall off, put that slice of bread over the tomatoes.
8. Cut into 2 or 4 pieces (I find them easier to eat if they are in 4 pieces) and enjoy!!


The Verdict:

I love these Totally Addictive Vegetable Sandwiches, and often eat them for breakfast, varying the tomato for thick slices of cucumber and adding sprouts when I have them. My favorite part is the burst of different flavors each time your teeth come together as you crunch into the variety of chopped vegetables. The only downside is the time it takes to chop all those vegies .. but its worth it :>)

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 7:14 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Lunch, Sandwich, Tomatoes, vegetable

About a week after moving into this neighborhood, I saw one of the neighbors returning to her home from her consult at the clinic and searching diligently along the sides of the path while she walked. As I watched, she reached down and started pulling greens from the ground. I hurried over as she was wrapping them up in the front of her shirt to carry them to her house, to ask what she had found. It's called Verdolaga she told me ... its a weed that grows abundantly in the ditches and roadsides.
I made a point of memorizing the look of the leaves and the way the plant was growing, and have made it a regular vegetable on our table during its season ever since. Now, I have been working diligently to grow a garden ... and in the section for herbs, the only plant that grew was ... you guessed it ... verdolaga!!!



Verdolaga has a gentle green flavor ... it reminds me of fiddleheads, a wild speciality from my Miramichi roots.


I just rinse it off, chop it up, steam it in a bit of water and serve with cider vinegar. I particularly like this vegetable served with a baked chicken dinner.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 2:20 PM 2 comments  

Labels: vegetable, verdolaga

The Mango Sauce from the Stuffed Chicken recipe inspired these Empanadas de Aselgar. Since April, when I learned to make pie crust, I have made a point of keeping a zip-lock baggie in the refrigerator with enough crust for a full pie just in case of an emergency craving for something in crust. (Hasn't that ever happened to you?). This was definitely such an occasion.

I still had the rest of the aselgar left over from making the stuffed chicken, so I steamed it and mixed it with a beaten egg and a lot of crumbled queso blanco (local fresh cheese which tastes a lot like feta).



I put a spoonful of the aslegar mixture on each round piece of pie crust and sealed the sides.




And baked them at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.



The Mango Sauce embellished the flavors perfectly. Delicious!

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 9:34 AM 0 comments  

Access to abundant inexpensive mangoes is as good a reason to live in the jungle as any! I first saw this recipe in Ben's "What's Cooking" Blog and saved it to adapt to my tastes and ingredient availability.

Stuffed Chicken with Mango Guacamole

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts ; flattened
2 slices of ham
4 -6 oz pepper jack cheese in strips
Some ; fresh spinach leaves
salt, ; pepper

The first thing you will note from my picture of ingredients is that I have no pepper jack cheese. It is impossible to find pepper jack cheese in Peten. Cheese selection is minimal at best and incredibly expensive for the 2 or 3 types carried. I have gone with my "fall-back blend" of local white cheese, combined with grated Parmesan cheese.

Spinach is another rarity, so I used a couple of leaves of aselgar.

I also added some sprinkles of Balsamic Vinegar, just because it seemed like the flavor would add to the dish.

1 small ripe avocado
2 ripe Manila mangoes
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 jalapeño pepper ; deveined
2 Roma tomatoes
the ; juice of 1 large lime

The biggest change in the Mango Guacamole is that I didn't have an avocado and there were none at the local tienda, so I decided to try it without. So I guess its not really a guacamole anymore.

I have a tree that produces giant lemons and I figure that one big slice is about equivalent to the juice of a lime (aren't limes just unripe lemons?)

The third thing I changed is the amount of cilantro. I love cilantro. I was old enough to be suffering from mid-life crisis before I consciously tasted it in my first bowl of black bean soup and I have loved it ever since. Along with the mangoes, abundant cilantro is another great reason to live in Guatemala.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C)
2. Put a slice of ham, a couple of slices of cheese and a couple of spinach leaves over one of the flattened chicken breasts. (I put the ham slices, the leaves of aselgar, the cheeses and some sprinkles of balsamic oil)



3. Roll and hold with toothpicks.
4. Drizzle olive oil over a cookie sheet. Put rolls on cookie sheet, drizzle some olive oil over them and season with salt, pepper, parsley flakes and oregano.



5. Bake for 25-30 minutes
6. In a food processor blend mangoes, avocado, cilantro, jalapeño pepper, tomatoes, lime juice and salt to taste.



7. When the chicken comes out of the oven serve with your favorite accompaniments, spoon some mango guacamole over the chicken and enjoy.


Verdict:

Even with all the changes that I made to the original recipe, the dish was excellent. The guacamole that wasn't really guacamole added a tangy spicy bite to the chicken and you wouldn't even realize that the main ingredient was missing. As a matter of fact, the extra sauce inspired the next recipe.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 5:48 AM 0 comments  

The other night I had a pound of fresh ground beef in the refrigerator and a yen for spaghetti and meatballs, so I started hunting through my recipe file for a meatball recipe that sounded right. Once again, a recipe from The Chef from World Wide Recipes came to my attention (he puts out an excellent free daily recipe e-zine that I can heartily recommend) ... it didn't look complicated and I had most of the ingredients, so I decided to make it.



Italian-American Meatballs

Although meatballs aren't completely unknown in Italy, it was Italian immigrants in America who turned them into the most popular dish in Italian-style restaurants. All you need is these meatballs, some tomato sauce (yours or from a jar), and some cooked spaghetti, and you have a classic Italian-American dish. And don't forget the garlic bread.

Recipe By: The Chef at World Wide Recipes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups ; (375 ml) soft bread cubes from sliced white bread (about 2 to 3 cups)
1 egg
1/3 cup ; (80 ml) milk
1 pound ; (450 g) ground beef or beef and pork mixture
1/2 cup ; (125 ml) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 -4 cloves garlic ; finely chopped
1/4 cup ; (60 ml) finely chopped parsley (I used chopped cilantro, and a lot more than 1/4 cup. Not only is cilantro in my refrigerator more often than parsley, but also, have I mentioned (?), I love cilantro!)
Salt ; and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions:

Combine the bread, egg, and milk in a mixing bowl, stirring to combine, and let rest for 15 minutes. Mash the bread mixture with a fork to make a smooth paste. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Form the meat into balls about the size of golf balls (or larger if you like) and place them on a greased baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 400F (200C) oven until browned, about 20 minutes. Serves 4 to 6.

Verdict:

I served the meatballs with a chunky style canned spaghetti sauce (with the price of tomatoes here recently, it is actually a better buy, although I don't usually agree with canned when I can get fresh) and Angel Hair Pasta. The meatballs were juicy and moist with an undertone of parmesan that was perfect with the tomato sauce. I have already taught the meatball recipe to the cook at Gringo Perdido and keep a batch frozen for fast dinners at home.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 6:14 PM 0 comments  

Many many years ago, when John and I were still in university and meeting other students from all over the world, we were invited to dinner at a good friend's house, and his roomate had cooked up this fantastic curry of ground beef and potatoes. I was overwhelmed by the excellent curry flavor that was much different from the curry powder that was commonly used in my neighborhood (if one used curry at all in small towns in New Brunswick!) and I looked for years to find a recipe that would duplicate the flavor of that dish. As soon as I saw this recipe, I believed that it was the one I have been looking for.

Indian Ground Beef and Potatoes (Keema Alu)

Serve this dish with some Indian naan or pita bread, or spoon it over rice for an easy one-dish meal.

Ingredients:
3 Tbs ; (45 ml) ghee, clarified butter, or vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 -4 cloves garlic ; finely chopped
2 tsp ; (10 ml) grated fresh ginger
2 tsp ; (10 ml) ground cumin
2 tsp ; (10 ml) ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ; (5 ml) ground turmeric
Cayenne ; to taste
Salt ; and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 pound ; (450 g) ground beef
1/2 cup ; (125 ml) chopped canned tomatoes, drained (I used fresh tomatoes)
1 pound ; (450 g) potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch (1 cm) dice
1 cup ; (250 ml) water
Chopped ; cilantro

Instructions:

Heat the ghee in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat and saute the onion, garlic, and seasonings until the onions are tender but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add the beef and tomatoes and cook, breaking up the beef with a spoon, until the beef is browned and all the liquid had evaporated, leaving only the ghee. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the water, reduce the heat, and simmer covered until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Increase the heat, remove the cover, and cook until all the water has evaporated. Serve garnished with chopped cilantro. Serves 4 to 6.
(From the Chef at World Wide Recipes)

(I don't have any good pictures of the process of this recipe. I was still using my old camera at this time, and its electronics had started fizzing out, making photo taking impossible.)

Verdict:

Superb! I was right ... this recipe comes closer to recreating that memorable dinner than any I have ever tried. As a matter of fact, I think I'll go and make some for dinner right now!

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 5:56 PM 2 comments  

I brought a couple of small cans of corned beef hash back from Canada with me for just this type of dish. I didn't follow a particular recipe ... I just combined all the ingredients of the basic 'corned beef hash 'n eggs' breakfast.










Verdict:

Other than the fact that the fried potatoes would be better made from leftover potatoes, it was excellent and I will definitely be making more when I can get another can of corned beef!

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 9:04 PM 0 comments  

I had this dish for the first time when we went to visit Guatemalan friends the other day. Doris made the dish the way her grandmother always did, by using the meat of a freshly killed patio hen. I was thrilled when she offered to write down the recipe for me.

Albondigas de Gallina (Meatballs of Patio Hen)

1 patio hen, cooked in a rice soup consisting of:
water
rice
1 sweet pepper
3 tomatoes
1 handful of cilantro

1. After the hen is cooked, take it out of the rice soup and grind it up with 1 cold tortilla
2. Add 2 egg yolks and a little chicken fat, salt and pepper to the mixture.
3. Form into balls and drop them back into the rice soup.
4. Simmer until the meatballs are cooked.
5. Sprinkle with cilantro to serve.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 8:46 PM 0 comments  

This is one of my favorite fast meals to prepare. One can create a full meal from freezer to table in less than 30 minutes.

Fajita Spiced Chicken

1 chicken breast rolled (I keep them on hand in the freezer)
1 red pepper in slices
1 onion in slices
fajita seasoning



1. Slice the chicken breast in rounds



2. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in stir-fry pan and add red peppers and onions.
3. Saute for 2 or 3 minutes.
4. Turn heat up, add chicken to mixture of peppers and onions, dust with Fajita seasoning and sizzle for a minute.



5. Turn rounds over, dust with more fajita seasoning and sizzle for another minute.
6. Turn heat down and continue cooking until chicken is desired doneness.
7. Serve with mashed potatoes and a vegetable (if I have it, I like to use steamed swiss chard or spinach with a sprinkle of cider vinegar).



The Verdict:

I love everything about this dish from its rapid simplicity to its delicious taste.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 10:11 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Chicken, easy, Fajita seasoning, fast

This was another recipe that I came back with from my Canada trip. A fast and easy dessert ... and really really yummy!

Ritz Cracker Squares

Ingredients:

1 package of Ritz crackers, plain, crushed (I used about 9 small packages)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 package of Score chipits (since they are not available here, I used a couple of Mr. Big chocolate bars, and threw in some regular chocolate chips)








Instructions:
1. Mix all ingredients together 2. Place in 9 X 13 pan 3. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until light golden brown

4. You can frost with Betty Crocker French Vanilla Icing or just sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top to melt in the oven.


Verdict:
Not only is it sweetly gooey chocolately delicious, it is fast and easy to prepare for emergency drop in company.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 8:33 PM 1 comments  

Labels: chipits, chocolate, dessert, easy, fast, Ritz crackers, sweetened condensed milk

Even though gardening has not been one of my successes, I keep at it and if its true that persistence pays off, then I will eventually fill my mostly empty garden beds with a bounty of lush organic vegetables. The temperatures here in the rain forest are great for gardening, as they are for insects and fungus, which compete with me for the green part of everything. I was therefore quite proud that one of my swiss chard changelings actually survived into adulthood. I call it a "changeling" because the package of seeds said they were "swiss chard", and I thought they were a red variety until the hump of a beet started showing above the soil!

It was exciting to cook and eat something that had grown here with our own energies. I had never tried Harvard Beets (or Harvard Beet as my sister pointed out, since I only had one), so I decided to try it.

Harvard Beets

Ingredients:

2 lbs Beets ; (900 g) medium-sized, tops removed
1/3 cup (160 ml) sugar
2 Tbs (30 ml) cornstarch (cornflour)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (250 ml) cider vinegar
1/4 cup (60 ml) orange juice








Instructions:



Boil the beets in lightly salted water for 40 to 45 minutes, until
tender. Drain and allow to cool. Peel and trim the ends, then cut
into thin slices.


In a saucepan mix the remaining ingredients and
cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until the mixture
thickens and becomes clear, about 5 minutes.




Add the beets to the pan
and turn gently in the sauce to coat them. Reduce heat to low and
simmer covered for 5 to 10 minutes, until the beets are heated
through. Serves 6 to 8.

** This recipe can be pasted into BigOven without retyping. **
** Easy recipe software. Try it free at: http://www.bigoven.com **

Verdict:

The Harvard Beet was delicious!! I served it with baked chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and steamed swiss chard. I will definitely make it again, particularly if I grow another beet.

The Greens:



One of the best parts of the beet plant is the greens. It has been my good luck (and their detriment) that the local people don't eat beet greens, so I have always been able to get them for free in the market.


I decided to eat them right away with a few drops of apple cider vinegar. They were delicious.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 5:59 PM 0 comments  

Labels: beet greens, beets

The natural next step after learning to bake Mom's pie crust, and feasting on Mom's roast beef was to combine the two and make a meat pie. I still had lots of pie crust left, and a big chunk of roast beef left over from Sunday dinner.

I don't have a specific recipe for meat pie ... I checked in the refrigerator for the vegies that I thought would accent the beef. I thought of the garlic and carrot after I took the ingredients photos. I also didn't use the entire peppers.

Meat Pie

Ingredients:

1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 yellow bell pepper
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
left over roast beef
gravy left over from roast beef dinner

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 2:34 PM 0 comments