rainforest recipes: 2007

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Canadian Thanksgiving

I completely forgot about Thanksgiving this year. Fortunately, where food is concerned, I have some kind of "inner guidance system". I awoke on Thanksgiving morning with a craving for stuffing. The craving was so strong that I started making up a batch while cooking our breakfast, stuffed a whole chicken, that I just happened to have picked up at the market the day before, and popped it in a slow oven to roast. It wasn't until much later in the day that I received a "Happy Turkey Day" message from my brother and realized that the cravings were coming through from my Canadian genetic coding!

Posted by Anne Lossing at 6:50 PM 0 comments

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Bollitos

Rose and Beberly are back for another quarterly, 2-week visit to work with the women's group, and this time they have been welcomed with a traditional luncheon of Bollitos. I've never made them myself ... but I've been to lots of events where they have been served.

For most of the women here, making bollitos would start with growing the corn, drying it and storing it. When they are ready to cook, the women go through a relatively lengthy process of boiling and rinsing to prepare their corn for grinding. Then they take it to the closest molino (mill) to have it processed into maza (corn dough). They would then mix it with the whole cooked black beans.

A measure of the maza is placed in the middle of a precut piece of a leaf of a banana palm.

Then the leaf is folded into a packet which is placed into a large pot with some water that is brought to the boil to steam them for about an hour.

While they cook, the women prepare a fresh tomato sauce.

The bollitos are unwrapped and the sauce is lathered over top.

Then you try to get a photo before they are gone!!

Posted by Anne Lossing at 3:27 PM 2 comments

Labels: black beans, corn, tipico

Potato Salad

I haven't made a potato salad for years, and I'm not sure why, since the ingredients are all readily available here. When I decided to serve hamburgers the other day, it seemed like a natural accompaniment. The only alteration I made from the usual potato salad recipe was to use a mixture of mayonaise with my home made yogurt and some chopped cilantro as dressing.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 5:27 AM 0 comments

Friday, August 24, 2007

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup is a dish that I grew up with, and never felt the need to look further than Campbell's until moving to the jungle, where it quickly became necessary to figure out how to create it from scratch. Along the way, I discovered this fantastic Guatemalan custom of adding half a fresh avocado and a good squeeze of lemon, and always cilantro if you have any. After trying a variety of noodles, I prefer the Angel Hair Spaguetti noodles, broken into thirds. Since we can't buy chicken stock here, I usually bake chicken thighs and drumsticks and freeze them, as well as the juice from the cooking, to use in a variety of recipes.

(I've been learning that the best photos are those taken earlier in the day when the natural sunlight streaming through my kitchen windows, illuminates perfectly.)

Chicken Noodle Soup

3 pieces chicken (either drumsticks or thighs) baked
1 - 2 Tbsp. drippings from the baking of the chicken
4 cups water
salt and pepper
1 small carrot
1 stick celery
1 small onion
Spaguetti noodles, broken in thirds
2 avocados
1 lemon
chopped cilantro

Put the chicken and drippings, with some salt and pepper, in the water and bring to a boil, then simmer for about 5 minutes while chopping the carrot, celery and onion.

Remove the chicken from the broth and add the vegies.

Debone and chop the chicken and set aside.

Add the spaguetti noodles. I add enough to make the soup quite thick and not too watery.

Add the chopped chicken.

Serve topped with half an avocado, chopped cilantro and a lemon slice on the side.

Serves 4

Posted by Anne Lossing at 5:24 PM 0 comments

Labels: Chicken, noodles, soup

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Roasted Tomato Salsa

For most of my cooking life, if I have needed tomatoes in any form for a recipe, I would purchase them canned ... canned tomatoes, canned tomato paste, canned tomato juice, canned tomato sauce ... if I bought fresh tomatoes, it was to eat them fresh in a salad or sandwich. Now, I find myself in a land where tomato based recipes are popular, and canned goods are not ... and every cook makes her own special brand of tomato sauce with her eyes closed. To work around my deficiency in tomato-sauce making skills, I have avoided most tomato based recipes for quite some time now ... a not really difficult feat since I'm also not that crazy about tomato based recipes. However, this one caught my eye when I realized that the vegies are oven-roasted. I wanted to try it as a salsa, but it has been weeks since the "specialty" story in Santa Elena has stocked nachos, so I decided to go with pasta instead. The flavor was wonderful, even with the substitution in chiles, although if using fresh jalapeno's again, I would use two instead of one. And here is the recipe:

Roasted Tomato Salsa
Recipe by: Heidi at 101 Cookbooks.com

If you can't find a guajillo pepper, no worries - just leave it out of the recipe. The salsa will still taste delicious with just the roasted tomatoes and chipotles. You can also substitute another type of chile if you like. The reddish-brown guajillo are known for their strong, complex and earthy flavor, and medium heat. Feel free to experiment with more readily available chiles from your area until you find one you really like to play off the flavors of the chipotles and roasted tomatoes.

Two chipotles can be very spicy, consider yourself warned. Start with one, or even one-half a chipotle if you or your family are heat-sensitive, and work up from there.

-= Ingredients =-
2 pounds Roma tomatoes ; cut in half lengthwise
1 medium white onion ; cut into six wedges
1 large garlic clove ; halved (I used 3 small cloves and will use more the next time)
a ; couple pinches of finely ground sea salt
2 -3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium dried guajillo chile pepper ; soaked in boiling water until softened, and then drained
1 -2 chipotles in adobo sauce ; (canned) (I didn't have any dried chiles or chipotles in adobo sauce, so substituted 1 fresh red pepper and 1 fresh jalapeno pepper)
1/2 cup cilantro ; roughly chopped

-= Instructions =-
Heat oven to 400F degrees.

Now gently tossed the tomatoes, onions, garlic, and salt with the olive oil in a large bowl.
(I also cleaned and chopped the red pepper and the jalapeno pepper, and added them to the other vegies)

After they are nicely coated arrange in a single layer, tomatoes cut-side facing up, across a parchment-lined baking sheet.
(I added a step and an ingredient at this point by sprinking dried oregano over the vegetables.)

Roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the tomatoes start to collapse and the onions begin to caramelize a bit. Remove from the oven. (It actually took more than 30 minutes ... probably 45 to 50 minutes ... to cook the vegetables as much as I wanted, but the oven wasn't high enough for the first 25 minutes)

Puree the chiles (both the guajillo and chipotles) with the roasted garlic and two roasted tomato halves.

(It doesn't say here specifically, and perhaps its not even necessary for those who are used to working with cooked tomatoes, but it is better to take off the skins of the remaining tomatoes before chopping or mashing them.)
Chop the remaining tomatoes by hand (once they've cooled a bit).

Chop and add the onions as well. (I put all of the peppers, onion, garlic and a couple of tomatoes into the blender ... everything except the remaining tomatoes ... and a couple of small pieces of onion that escaped the blender!)

Add chile/tomato mixture to chopped/mashed tomatoes

Season with salt and stir in the cilantro.

And its ready to use as either a sauce or a salsa

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

Posted by Anne Lossing at 10:47 AM 1 comments

Labels: Cilantro, Pasta, Queso Fresco, Salsa, Sauce, Tomatoes

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Aloo Paratha

Here is another dish that caught my eye some time ago ... a stuffed bread called Aloo Paratha. I had to improvise a bit in the recipe, which called for Ginger Paste (I used finely chopped ginger) and Green Chili Paste (I used 1/2 of a jalapeno pepper, finely chopped). The end result, which also included lots of chopped cilantro, was delicious, if not exactly traditional. We noted that one could open the layers after it is cooked to add other ingredients, like chopped cooked and seasoned chicken, or refried black beans with cheese.

Here is the recipe that I used as a base ... with my changes in brackets ...
Aloo Paratha

Whole Wheat parathas stuffed with a spicy potato stuffing.

Recipe By: Raaga of The Singing Chef
Serving Size: 0
Cuisine: Indian
Main Ingredient: Flour

-= Ingredients =-
For the dough:
1 cup Whole wheat flour (We can't buy whole wheat flour here, but I managed to talk one local store owner into bringing in "bran". Usually I mix it with my flour to create whole wheat items ... this time I used plain white flour)
1 tsp Oil
1/4 tsp Sugar
Salt ; to taste

For the stuffing:
2 Potatoes, boiled and mashed
1 tsp Ginger paste (Also not available, so I used chopped ginger)
1 tsp Green Chilli paste (For this I used chopped jalapeno pepper ... I only used half of it, and none of the seeds which I fed to the parrots, who love them! I thought it wasn't hot enough. Next time I want to make the actual green chile paste, which I discovered a recipe for)
1/4 cup Coriander Leaves ; chopped
Salt ; to Taste
Oil ; for frying
Flour ; for rolling

-= Instructions =-
Take a little water in a bowl. Add the salt, sugar and oil. Mix well until the sugar crystals dissolve. Add the flour and mix well. Knead the dough, adding a little water at a time as needed. Keep aside.

Mix all the ingredients for the stuffing.

Roll out small portions of the dough. Place a little bit of the stuffing in the centre and bring the edges together and seal. Roll these using a little flour taking care to ensure that the filling doesn't spill out. (Actually, the portions where it does spill out are tastier than the rest as the potato stuffing gets toasted directly on the tava. So, don't pay much attention to this one!)

Toast on a tawa on medium flame using a little oil for each paratha. Enjoy with tomato sauce or curd and pickle. I enjoy these parathas with the Gujarati Gorkeri pickle.

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

Posted by Anne Lossing at 5:28 PM 1 comments

Labels: bread, Indian

White Chili with Chicken

This is a dish that I had made before, but didn't get to take photos before it disappeared. The recipe called for chicken broth, but we can't buy it here, so when I deboned the chicken breasts, I saved the bones and put them in on top of the beans and spices to flavor the mixture. I also used whole cloves instead of ground, and fished them out before serving. The flavor was superb, and I am thinking to make some without the added chicken breast chunks to have for breakfast. I served it with a sliced avocado topped with my yogurt/mayo/chive/cumin sauce and crunchy tostadas on the side. This dish is now ready to be added to the menu at Gringo Perdido

White Chili With Chicken

Recipe By: Southern U.S. Cuisine (crockpot collection)

-= Ingredients =-
1 pound dry white northern beans
5 cups chicken broth
2 garlic cloves ; minced
1 large white onion ; chopped
1 tablespoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 can diced green chilies - (7 oz) ; (or one diced fresh green chile)
5 cups diced cooked chicken breast
1 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon diced jalapeño pepper ; (optional)
Flour tortillas

~~ === CONDIMENTS === ~~
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Sliced black olives
Chunky salsa
Sour cream
Diced avocados

-= Instructions =-
Soak beans in water to cover for 24 hours then drain. (The recipe called for this step, but I usually just pick over, wash and cook in the pressure cooker for 25 minutes or so)

In crockpot or large kettle, combine beans, 5 1/4 cups chicken broth, garlic, onion, white pepper, salt, oregano, cumin, cloves. Simmer covered for at least 5 hours until beans are tender. Stir occasionally.

Stir in green chiles, chicken and 1 3/4 cups chicken broth. For hotter taste, add jalapeño. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Serve with flour tortillas and condiments. I used a sliced avocado topped with a sauce of yogurt, mayo, chopped chives (from my garden) and cilantro

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

Posted by Anne Lossing at 4:17 PM 0 comments

Labels: Chicken, Chili, Dried Beans, Main Dish, Poultry

Friday, July 20, 2007

Foodie Blogroll

I was surfing through some food blogs, looking for interesting recipes, as well as interesting blogs, and I discovered the "Foodie Blogroll" ... a list of hundreds of blogs about food. You will find the links in the sidebar.

Posted by Anne Lossing at 4:54 PM 0 comments

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Chicken Satay

Satays are the other popular barbecue food in the e-zines, and I've just been waiting the right moment to try out a couple of recipes that I came across for the Satay Marinade and the Peanut Dipping Sauce. I made it all up yesterday, and left the chicken strips marinating for the night, then, when Bryan and his friend (they've recently arrived from Canada) came in this morning, we just hunted up some firewood and started up the barbecue. I served it with baked potatoes and steamed broccoli with chive sauce. The Peanut Dipping Sauce turned out quite spicy hot ... I thought at first that it would be too hot to eat, but all agreed that it was in the "addictive" range of heat.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 5:29 PM 0 comments

Most Popular Petenero Lunch

This is the lunch that was served by the Women's Group for the construction workers who were pouring cement for the floor in their new building (see www.ixcanaan.blogspot.com for more on this). This type of lunch is, without question, the most popular lunch amongst the people who live in this area. It is made up of fried chicken, rice, a potato-vegetable salad (or, often, a cabbage salad) and tortillas. It is usually eaten by ripping chunks of chicken from the bone to wrap in the tortilla and eat with the rice and vegetables.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 9:44 AM 0 comments

Monday, July 9, 2007

Barbecue

It seems like every recipe-zine that I have received over the last couple of weeks is raving about "barbecue" and "rubs" so it was only a matter of time before I would have to experiment. Although I could (and have) done some grilling over a rack and 3 rocks, I decided to splurge and buy a real barbecue. There are several interesting designs in the market, and I eventually settled on this popular model made from a tire rim. The recipe for Moorish Pork Kabobs, had caught my eye, but there was not a single shoulder roast to be found in the market, so going with the flow, I picked up some juicy looking baby back ribs and later that same afternoon found a recipe for a rub and a sauce called Sticky Spicy Ribs. It was a lengthy process to produce a finished product, what with mixing, marinating, baking and barbecuing. I started first thing in the morning and they were finally ready to eat for dinner with, what else, baked potatoes!! The meat was a bit chewy, but the flavor was so great that it didn't matter!!

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 5:35 PM 0 comments

Eggplant Parmigiano

I have been thinking for awhile that an good recipe for Eggplant Parmigiano would make an excellent vegetarian addition to the Gringo Perdido menu, so I read through several recipes and chose two to try. This was the first one. The eggplant was dredged in crumbs before being fried, then lathered with this excellent tomato/carrot sauce, and topped with grated mozzarella. They were good, but I want to try the other recipe, which is a bit different, before making a decision.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 5:15 PM 0 comments

Donut Muffins

I have tried to make donuts since I have lived here. I had phoned Mom for her recipe and any tips she could give me, since I've never perfected the art of deep fat frying, all to no avail ... after hours of preparation, they didn't become real donuts at all! So, when I came across this recipe for Donut Muffins the other day, I was anxious to give it a try and see if they actually tasted like donuts. They were delicious ... if not quite exactly like a real donut. They have a dry cake-like consistency with a crunchy cinamon-sugar coating and they taste great with coffee or chocolate.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 5:02 PM 1 comments

Good Old-Fashioned Meat Loaf

Since I bought 2 pounds of ground beef for the lasagna, and only used one, I decided to continue my walk down memory lane with a good old fashioned meat loaf. I loosely followed a couple of recipes that included lots of grated carrots and other vegies, as well as oatmeal (instead of bread or crackers). I gave it a bit of a Guatemalan twist with some chopped cilantro, which is my "herb of the month"! And topped it with some crushed potato chips. It was moist and flavorful and was perfectly accompanied by the traditional baked potato, and some not-so-traditional guisquil with a yogurt/chive sauce.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 3:44 PM 0 comments

Lasagna

For a variety of reasons, we seldom eat beef. However, I recently discovered that the Despensa (the local supermarket) is bringing in a quality beef product, so I occasionally splurge and cook a dish from the past. I haven't made a lasagna in more than 15 years ... and never here in Peten. I had already done a thorough recipe search, and had cobbled together about 4 different ones to get the tastiest bolognese, the tangiest ricotta filling, the ultimate bechamel topping and the ideal noodle. I used culinary licence to substitute several of the ingredients ... most notably the ricotta cheese for yogurt, which added the most delicious "back note", and will become a permanent change in the recipe. The noodles were the best lasagna noodles I ever ate. I only used half of the batch of noodles, so I froze the other half and will use them to try the dish with chicken the next time.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 3:25 PM 0 comments

Monday, June 25, 2007

Hungarian Goulash

This dish was a "first" in two ways ... the first time that I have ever made noodles of any kind ... and the first time that I have eaten Hungarian Goulash. I had read and printed this recipe out a couple of months ago, but everything didn't "come together" until today. It was a huge success! We both loved it ... Enrique said the noodles were even better than the goulash! I wasn't sure if I would like such a heavy paprika-based flavor, but it started out as interesting with the first bite, and grew to flashes of brilliance. It gave me the confidence to look at some more types of pasta recipes ... I'm thinking about trying a lasagna

Chicken goulash

Although potatoes play a supporting role in this dish, we think they are the stars. Goulash, the classic Hungarian dish made of beef or veal with lots of onions, paprika and potatoes, can be a wonderful culinary experience if made well.

The potatoes stew in the paprika, wine and stock until they almost burst. If you fished them out, they would make a fulfilling meal on their own. In this version, we replace the meat with our favorite boneless-skinless chicken thighs. Finish it with some cider vinegar and a touch of butter for extra flavor.

Serving Size: 6

Ingredients
2 tablespoon oil
6 cups 3/4-inch diced onion
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup cold water
3 tablespoon sweet paprika
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs ; cut into 2 inch pieces
1 cup white wine
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
4 cups 1-inch cubed peeled potatoes
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sweet butter
1/4 cup chopped chives

Instructions
1. In a heavy bottomed pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium low heat.

2. Add the onions, kosher salt, and water, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7 minutes or until onions are soft and lightly caramelized. Stir in the sweet paprika, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Toss in the chicken, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring to coat the chicken with the onions and spice. Pour in the white wine, and reduce by half. Add the chicken broth and cubed potatoes, and simmer for 60 minutes over low heat.

4. Stir in the vinegar, butter and chives. Serve over egg noodles, or just on its own with crusty bread. Makes 6 servings.

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

______________________________________________

Egg Noodles

Ingredients:
2 cups All-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Egg plus
2 Egg yolks
1/3 cup Water
1 teaspoon Cooking oil or olive oil

Instructions:
In a large mixing bowl stir together 1-3/4 cup of the flour and the salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture.
In a bowl combine eggs, water, and oil. Add to flour mixture; mix well.
Sprinkle kneading surface with the remaining flour.
Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead till dough is smooth and elastic (8-10 mins total).
Cover and let rest for 10 mins. Divide dough into fourths.
On a lightly floured surface, roll each fourth into a 12x12" square (about 1/16 inch thick).
Let stand 20 mins.
Cut dough into 1/4 inch wide strips then cut into 2-3 inch lengths.
You can use a pasta machine if you have one.
Cook the pasta 1-1/2 to 2 mins. Make sure the water is boiling before adding the noodles or they will glump on the bottom. You can freeze the noodles, just let them dry before putting them in the freezer. Cook them a bit longer if you freeze them. (Recipe From: Darryl & Kelly Youngblood )

** This recipe can be pasted into BigOven without retyping. BigOven.com ID= 81710 **
** Easy recipe software. Try it free at: http://www.bigoven.com **

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 3:15 PM 0 comments

Labels: Chicken, Paprika, Pasta, Potatoes

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Honey-Yogurt Pie with Fresh Mango

It's mango season again, and I have been watching for recipes containing fresh mangoes to incorporate into the menu at Gringo Perdido. This recipe originally called for peaches with sugar and cinnamon, which was easily substituted for mangoes ... without the sugar, of course ... the mangoes are super sweet and juicy! The pie has a crust of graham crackers with oatmeal, panela (a local raw dark sugar) and spices. The cold filling is made from yogurt and honey (and gelatin) blended with whipped cream. I used the local cream, which tastes great in this dish but never really whips into "peaks". The grape on top has been soaked in a spicy syrup. I will definitely be adding this to our menu during mango season ... it is delicious!

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 7:56 PM 0 comments

Wing NIght

You would think that in a country that consumes as much chicken as Guatemala, you would find chicken wings on every corner ... but no. Until recently, it was impossible to even buy a chicken wing that wasn't attached to a chicken breast ... which meant that in order to prepare Buffalo Wings for two, you would have to buy about a dozen chicken breasts and cut the wings off. You can see the problem. Anyway, I recently found a new "poultry lady" who, with some prior notice, can find me a few pounds of wings (without breasts). For several days I have been adding new wing recipes to my BigOven files (now there is a program that I can heartily recommend if one likes recipes and cooking!) and studying them and imagining them ... and finally decided to begin with three of my favorites ... Buffalo Wings (left), teriyaki wings (right) and crispy parmesan wings (center). Sunday seemed like the ideal day for wings, which can be eaten in front of the televised "futbal" games, so I prepared them for a late Sunday lunch today, and served them with small baked potatoes and a yogurt-chive sauce. All three of these recipes were relatively easy to prepare, require no long marinating time, and other than the wings themselves, oh yes, and the parmesan cheese, contain ingredients that are easy to obtain. I will definitely use these three recipes again.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 6:57 PM 0 comments

Saturday, June 23, 2007

World's Best Pollo Guisado

Yes, its true. We have the world's best pollo guisado right here in Peten! We discovered it shortly after making El Remate our home (13 years ago). In those days, we would go "to town" once a month for whatever supplies we needed. We would take the early bus in, and go to the market for breakfast. The first few times we went, we tried pollo guisado in different "comedors" in the market, and in the end, Comedor Elena won hands down, and we have been going there for our "breakfast" of pollo guisado at least once a week ever since.

Pollo guisado (pronounced "poyo ge-sado") is a local version of chicken stew. It is usually made (and always tastes better) with chicken legs and thighs, and you can, of course, add various vegetables. This version is made with potatoes and tomatoes, and the sauce is red from the "achiote" (annatto in English) and is served with fluffy white rice with grated carrot. The meal comes complete with steaming tortillas, home made chile (you can see the corner of the bottle of it here ... I don't actually eat the chile peppers, but I love the onions that have been pickled with them, and it really "makes" this meal) and fresco, a kool-aid type beverage (I always order a glass of purified water with lemon on the side). And to top it all off, there is no waiting (comedors are like cafeterias, except they serve you) and the price is an incredible bargain by anybody's standards at Q10.00 or about U.S. $1.35!! I also love taking my meals with the "real" people of the country ... they have this wonderful custom of thanking everybody in the restaurant when they finish a meal, and all of us answer "buen provecho" like we are all one big happy family!!

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 4:07 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Potato and Egg Gratin

I wanted to try a new dish today, but I haven't been to town for supplies in a while so I was limited to things I could pick up in the local tienda. I had tried this dish once before, but I had used large muffin cups to bake it, and they overflowed. This time I baked it as one casserole, and it turned out great!! It is made from a combination of sausage, sauteed with chopped onion and red pepper, then diced cooked potatoes, chopped tomato and chopped cilantro are added. I always use about twice as much chopped cilantro ... I love the flavor! Also, we can get two types of sausage here ... a red sausage called chorizo, that is based on achiote, and a light sausage called longaniza, which is flavored with cilantro. For this dish, I prefer the chorizo. The whole sausage potato mixture is spread into a buttered baking dish and topped with eggs. Just before it is fully cooked, you add grated cheddar to the top. Unfortunately, the only cheddar I can get here is similar to orange rubber in both taste and texture, so even though I added it, it is more of a visually appealing feature than a taste addition. I served it with whole wheat toast, but I think it would be better with hot biscuits. And its very filling ... if I serve it as part of a Gringo breakfast, one egg section would probably be sufficient after the fruit, yogurt, granola, muffins etc.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 6:23 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Enchiladas Giselita

This enchilada plate is also at the top of the "favorites" list amongst the Gringo Perdido clientelle. We call it "Enchiladas Giselita" ... since Giselle taught us this recipe on one of her recent visits to the hotel. The enchiladas, which have been stuffed with shredded chicken breast and herbs, are placed on a bed of pureed red beans, covered with a delicious green tomatillo sauce and shredded mozzarella and garnished with avocado quarters.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 2:21 PM 0 comments

The Gringo Perdido Favorite

Gringo Perdido is this beautiful little ecological hostel in the middle of the jungle that I have the great good fortune to manage. You can check it out at www.hotelgringoperdido.com. This dinner is one of the house favorites and is so popular amongst our guests that we usually serve it for their first night's dinner. It includes a traditional cole slaw with apples and raisins, a cream of brocoli soup, teriyaki chicken strips with garlic baked potatoes, vegetable rice and steamed carrots/guisquil. This feast is accompanied by Reina's home-made hot whole wheat bread and one of a variety of icy cold fruit drinks. Your desert is a fresh tangy tasty lemon meringue pie, served with strong Guatemalan coffee or Te de Santa Maria - a local jungle tea that is reminicent of anise.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 1:59 PM 0 comments

Pizza Muffins

The other day I planned a menu of Chicken Chili and Pizza Muffins. I reached for the bottle of white beans on the top shelf, and as I began to open the jar, I realized that the beans were full of holes. One thing I have learned in the jungle is that, where there are holes, there is a creature making the holes. I know the people who live here have a way of dealing with them when they are full of whatever bug eats beans, but I can't. So I threw them out. The nearest store that carries white beans is 30 kilometers away. I decided to make the muffins anyway. To begin with, the recipe was in grams. How many cups of flour are in 250 grams? I went to my computer and pulled up a conversion chart. No such conversion as grams to cups. Using a double formula of grams to pounds and pounds to cups, I eventually figured I was ready to begin. I keep the mozzarella frozen to prevent it from becoming blue cheese before I can use it. Fortunately, the other ingredients were straightforward. I decided to add a half green olive to the top of each for decoration, and I like the way it turned out. They tasted great hot from the oven ... with a pat of my butter/olive oil blend ... and would probably be best with a hot creamy thick soup like Lentil with Lemon grass.

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Posted by Anne Lossing at 1:26 PM 0 comments

An Introduction

Living in the jungles of Guatemala brings its own set of challenges to the realm of cooking and eating. Since there are so few restaurants, or stores that carry "foreign" ingredients, the successful chef / gourmet food lover must learn to substitute or to create the missing ingredients. This blog will follow my adventures in creating delicious recipes from various cultures with limited ingredients.

Posted by Anne Lossing at 11:40 AM 0 comments

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