June has proved itself to be a serious test of my tolerance for both drinking and socializing. It started with our 10-year high school reunion, progressed into a work offsite, and is culminating in a trip to Iceland with my girlfriends. After more beers than I’ve had since college, my body hates me and so does my wedding dress. It’s been good for my soul, though, full of enriching conversations and laughter and long nights enjoying the perfect June weather.

Reunion in particular was a whirlwind. Trevor and I both went to Andover, and our reunions are a weekend-long marathon. Friday night was a bit awkward – lots of “hey! So what do you do now?” conversations and liquid courage courtesy of Sam’s car bar. But by Saturday, everyone had slipped right back into their old friendships. We spent the day playing flip-cup and slosh-ball and hanging out in an old soccer field on the edge of campus. This morphed into dinner and dancing and 3-am lawn hangouts before we stumbled home. With very little recent practice for this sort of all day event, I’m amazed at the stamina we brought to the table – 28 and going strong.

On Sunday morning, after we groggily hugged our friends (and my amazing parents who let us take over the house all weekend) and slowly drove ourselves back home, we needed grease. Grease and HBO. There are only 3 or 4 restaurants within walking distance of us that are any good, but thankfully one of them is Tenoch. Tenoch is a small fast-food style restaurant that makes the most incredible tortas, griddled Mexican sandwiches. A torta usually consists of a big squishy bun called a telera, slow-cooked meat, a spicy sauce, refried beans, avocado, something bright and pickle-y like pico de gallo or pickled onions, and melted queso fresco. Basically it has all the elements of a taco but with a larger volume of filling and more carbs.

As per usual, I got a torta de carnitas, piled high with shredded pulled pork, and promptly demolished it. I then collapsed into a state of complete sloth and binge watched Silicon Valley. It was kind of glorious. While in this lethargic state, in a rare moment of perfect foresight, I decided this sandwich was something I needed to make at home.

The next weekend I made a giant pot of carnitas, baked homemade telera buns, and whipped up a quick guacamole and pico de gallo. The resulting tortas de carnitas were just as good as the Tenoch version. Plus, we had tons of leftovers. This proved to be an incredible boon as I went into drinking week, round two, at my offsite. The carnitas recipe I used comes from a great little book called Tacos, Tortas, and Tamales. It has tons of flavor and is quite easy. Give it a try whether or not you’re going all in on the tortas!

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Torta de Carnitas

The inspiration for this comes from our local torta shop, Tenoch (amazing sandwiches!) and the carnitas recipe is adapted from Tacos, Tortas, and Tamales, which is a great little book on Mexican street cooking.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 5
• Cuisine: Mexican

Ingredients

For the carnitas:

• 8 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 medium white onion, peeled and chopped into quarters
• 1 TBS fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 3 tsp kosher salt
• 3 lbs. boneless pork-shoulder, cut into 2-inch chunks
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 3/4 cup coke

For the tortas:

• 5 telera rolls, store-bought or homemade
• 2 TBS room-temperature butter
• 3 lbs. prepared carnitas
• 1 15-oz. can of refried black beans
• 1 c. spicy pico de gallo
• 2 c. prepared guacamole

Instructions

For the carnitas:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the garlic cloves, onion, thyme, oregano, salt, and half a cup of water in a blender and blend until smooth. Place the pork and the bay leaves in a large dutch oven or oven-safe pot with a lid, and pour the garlic and onion mixture on top of the pork. Add the coke and use tongs to toss the mixture a few times to make sure everything is well coated.
2. Cover the pot and place in the oven. Cook until the pork is so tender that it falls apart when you press it with a fork, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. When it is very tender, remove the lid. Use tongs to stir the pork and make sure a few pieces are above the liquid line. Return to the oven for 15 minutes, browning the exposed pork. Repeat the process once more, bringing new pieces of pork above the liquid and browning those for 15 minutes.
3. Once you have browned the pork, use tongs to transfer the pieces of pork to a glass bowl or storage container. Let the remaining fat and juices left in the pan cool and solidify, then discard. Coarsely shred the pork meat with a fork. Refrigerate the pork overnight, allowing the flavors to intensify.

For the tortas:

1. Cut the telera rolls in half as you would a hamburger bun. Spread the cut side of each half lightly with butter. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and toast the telera halves in the pan, butter side down, until golden brown. Do this in batches to prevent overcrowding the pan.
2. Once the buns are toasted, add the shredded carnitas to the frying pan in a single layer (you will likely need to do this in batches). Cook the pork, stirring frequently, until it is browned and crispy all over. This should take 5-10 minutes, depending on how much pork you are doing at once.
3. Spread the bottom half of each toasted bun with a few spoonfuls of refried beans. Top this with a spoonful of guacamole, spread out evenly. Spoon some of the browned pork on top of the guacamole, then add pico de gallo to top off the sandwich. Put the top half of the bun on the torta and serve immediately.

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Happy May, and Happy Margarita Week! It’s year two for the tequila-fest that Kate over at Hola Jalapeno puts together in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. Last year, I contributed these Sparkling Lemongrass Ginger Margaritas. I was still feeling very inspired by all the amazing Vietnamese, Japanese, and Chinese food we ate while in Asia, so it was only natural to work some of my favorite Asian aromatics into a traditionally Mexican drink.

For this year, I dialed things back a little bit. It can sometimes feel like I’m constantly trying to outdo myself when I come up with recipes. I want the recipes on this blog to be creative and inspiring – I’m not here to write about super simple recipes or cooking basics. However, simple doesn’t always mean tired and overdone. Simple recipes can be a wonderful way to let the flavor of an incredible ingredient shine through. Think burrata cheese, high quality olive oil, and perfectly crunchy sourdough. So while last year’s contribution to Kate’s Margarita Week was exotic and new, this year I’m keeping it simple with Passion Fruit Margaritas. Just a perfect, balanced drink that lets the passion fruit sing accompanied by high quality tequila.

I developed a crush on passion fruit during my first few trips to Colombia two years ago, and since then it’s blossomed into a burning romance. Whilst I burn through some of my food obsessions in a month or two (like when you fall in love with a new song and play it non-stop for two weeks, only to realize that you never want to hear it again after that), others are a slow build. Passion fruit is one that’s here for the long haul. It’s so wonderfully tangy and fragrant, the perfect complement for desserts and drinks. I daydream about the passion fruit gelato at Santini in Portugal, and I can slurp down a fresh passion fruit juice in minutes.

The only downside to my love for passion fruit is the cost. Passion fruit are hard to find and exorbitantly expensive in Boston, running $2 a piece (if anyone in Boston has tips for where to get them cheaper, please share! I’ll bring you a margarita). This might be the only drink I’ve ever made that cost more to make at home than it would have to order at a restaurant.  At least I had a lightbulb moment when reading this post by A House in the Hills that you can grow passion fruit (obviously). True, it typically grows in subtropical places like Colombia and Australia. But we’ve tried lemon trees and avocado trees and olive trees, so why not give passion fruit vines a try? One day we’ll live in California/Portugal/Mexico where we belong. Until then, I’ll be forking out the cash to get fresh passion fruit for my margaritas and desserts.

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Passion Fruit Margaritas

Makes 3-4 margaritas.

• 6 fresh passion fruit
• 1 lime, plus more for garnish.
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 4 oz. white tequila
• 2 oz. orange liqueur
• ice
• coarse sea salt, for rimming glasses

1. Cut the passion fruit in half, being careful not to spill the juice out of the center. Scrape the pulp and juice into a small food processor. Pulse 2-3 times just to loosen the seeds from the pulp. Pour through a strainer into a bowl, separating the juice from the seeds.
2. Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl with the passion fruit juice. Add the sugar and stir to thoroughly combine.
3. For each drink, add the following ingredients to a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice: 1 oz tequila, 1/2 oz orange liqueur, 1 oz passion fruit juice mixture. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds, then strain into a salt-rimmed glass. Add a few passion fruit seeds and a slice of lime for garnish. Serve immediately.

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This year Trevor and I are hosting Thanksgiving for the first time. It’s my doing – even though our house is small and unfinished and we’ll need our guests to bring their own chairs, I really wanted to do it, to bring our families together in our home. It will probably be a little bit stressful and uncoordinated and messy, but I’m still thrilled we’re doing it.

I was thinking, on the morning of Election Day last week, how great Thanksgiving is. How it is something truly American and something to be proud of. Two days for the entire country to be with their families, a holiday with no religious element, no political element, just a time reserved for being thankful and being with family. What a nice thing! A holiday designed to celebrate gratitude! I know that sentiment can get lost amidst the planning and family squabbles and food and excitement for the start of the “holiday season,” but let’s try to bring it front and center this year, at least for a few hours next Thursday. In the midst of a busy season, let’s use Thanksgiving as the bright spot that it is – a time to rest, to take a break from our busyness, to slow down and focus on the people and things that matter most to us.

We’re still tinkering with our menu for next week, but last weekend we did a sort of test run, putting together a Latin-inspired Thanksgiving menu. It’s the latest in our series of globally-inspired dinner menus we’ve been creating in partnership with La Crema Wines – the others include October’s autumnal Korean dinner, the summer’s Italian seafood feast, and a Greek-American cookout for Labor Day. I have unexpectedly fallen in love with the Latin culture over the past two years of travel, and a big part of that is due to the food. There’s so much more to Latin cuisine than I realized before I started traveling there. So this Thanksgiving menu is laced with chiles and rich sauces that remind me of dinners in Colombia and Chile.

As a main dish, we created a Mole Roasted Chicken (or turkey, if you’re feeding more than two people!) with a very-simplified mole sauce, that uses the basic techniques of a traditional mole but takes a few shortcuts. We also made a Cornbread, Chorizo, and Poblano Stuffing – I could have eaten an entire tray of it on my own and I think it’s one we’ll repeat next week for the real thing. As a side dish, Chipotle Sweet Potato Pommes Anna, a super simple dish that’s easy to make but has tons of flavor and a lovely presentation. And for dessert, a showstopper of a pie, a far cry from your traditional apple and pumpkin pies but still equally deserving of a spot on your Thanksgiving table: Chocolate Mousse and Passion Fruit Pie.

One of the foods I fell in love with in Latin America, particularly in Colombia, was passion fruit. If you’ve never had the chance to try one, seek it out – it’s sweet and citrusy and tangy and unlike any other flavor I know. Chocolate and passion fruit has become one of my favorite combos, and it’s now my standard order at any gelato place that offers passion fruit as one of the flavors. I first experienced the pure deliciousness of chocolate and passion fruit at a restaurant in Chile that served me an enormous bowl of incredibly rich and decadent chocolate mousse with a passion fruit caramel on top – I think it was the best dessert of my life. I may have to take some more time to think about that statement, but off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything that surpasses it. That dessert was the primary inspiration for this pie, which combines a passion fruit curd with a light chocolate mousse and a buttery chocolate cookie crust.

It was shockingly hard to find passion fruit near me in Boston, and when I did, they were pretty pricey – $1.99 a piece and I needed 5 to scrape together 2/3 of a cup of pulp. But as soon as I cut into one and that beautiful, tangy smell filled the air I knew it was worth it. Turning the fruit into a curd stretches the flavor and also gives you a filling with a beautiful, silky texture. The passion fruit curd together with the chocolate mousse made the pie pretty much everything I imagined it would be.

The recipe for the pie is below, and you can find the recipes for the Mole Roasted Chicken, the Cornbread, Chorizo, and Poblano Stuffing, and the Chipotle Sweet Potato Pommes Anna on the La Crema blog. All three dishes were designed to pair equally well with La Crema’s Sonoma Coast Chardonnay or their Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. Since a “help yourself” policy is usually best when it comes to wine and big holidays, it makes sense to choose a few versatile bottles that will be good at any point during the meal and will also give guests the flexibility to choose for themselves. These two La Crema bottles fit the bill perfectly.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by La Crema. All opinions are honest and my own.

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Chocolate Mousse and Passion Fruit Pie

Serves 8. Passion fruit curd recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson. Chocolate mousse pie adapted from Chowhound.

For the passion fruit curd:

• 2/3 c. passion fruit pulp (from 6-7 ripe passion fruit)
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 stick butter

For the chocolate mousse and pie crust:

• 6 oz. chocolate cookies
• 4 TBS salted butter
• 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate
• 1 c. heavy cream
• 2 TBS sugar
• 2 egg whites

1. To make the passion fruit curd: place the passion fruit pulp in a food processor and pulse several times to loosen the juice from the seeds. Strain the juice through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl. Add about half of the seeds and pulp to the juice, and discard the other half (or eat it!). Add the sugar, eggs, and egg yolk to the passion fruit juice and whisk to combine very thoroughly. Set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium low heat. Add the passion fruit mixture to the melted butter, whisking vigorously as soon as you add it to the pan to prevent the eggs in the mixture from scrambling. Cook over low heat, whisking continuously, until the curd has thickened to a spoonable consistency. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and chill until set, at least 3 hours.
3. To make the pie crust: preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the chocolate cookies in a food processor and pulse until they are small crumbs of even size. Melt the 4 TBS butter in the microwave and stir into the cookie crumbs. Press the cookie crumbs around the bottom and sides of a 9-inch tart pan. Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes, then remove and set aside to cool.
4. To make the chocolate mousse: roughly chop the chocolate and place pieces in a metal bowl. Add ¼ cup of the heavy cream to the bowl with the chocolate. Bring a small saucepan half full of water to a boil. Place the metal bowl over the boiling water and whisk chocolate until evenly melted. Set aside and let cool slightly. Beat the remaining heavy cream together with the sugar until the whipped cream holds a firm peak. Fold half of the whipped cream into the warm chocolate mixture, taking care not to overmix. After incorporating the first half of the cream, gently fold in the second half of the whipped cream, leaving some streaks of white and chocolate. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the mousse.
5. To assemble the pie: spoon the chilled passion fruit curd evenly over the bottom of the cookie crust. Use a spatula to spread the chocolate mousse over the top of the curd, leaving some of the curd visible around the edges of the pie. Dome the mousse in the center of the pie. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until set, at least 3 hours. You can also freeze the pie for 1-2 hours for a firmer set.

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This March, only three weeks after coming home from Japan, we took a quick trip down to Costa Rica to join my family for their spring break vacation. Hard life, I know. It feels a bit presumptive to call this a travelogue, as the majority of what we did was sit in the pool and watch the wildlife in the trees, but I did want to share some pictures and thoughts (and a recipe for fish tacos with mango salsa) all the same.

We spent a full day traveling from Boston to the Dominical area – two flights, one layover, an hour at the rental car agency, then a three hour drive as the sun slipped over the mountains in a fiery blaze and we descended into a thick, tropical darkness. When we pulled up to the house we were staying in – which was at the end of a steep, unpaved driveway with trees closing in on either edge – we were all a bit frayed. Opening the car door the heat hit us like a smack in the face – even at night the temperatures were in the 90s – as did the incredible noise of the jungle after dark. Buzzing, whirring, hooting – an incredible cacophony of new sounds, amazing to listen to when you’re calm and comfortable, but enough to put you more than a little on edge when you’re in an unfamiliar place with the only light coming from two yellow headlights guiding you forward. That first night we slept a bit restlessly.

But the next morning was an entirely different story. We woke to find ourselves in a beautiful house with an expansive view sweeping down toward the ocean. Between us and the water were only tropical trees, giant red hibiscus flowers, toucans swooping back and forth from tree to tree, and puffy clouds still tinged with pink from the sunrise. I think that the view alone made the trip worthwhile.

We spent the majority of our short trip lounging in the plunge pool, looking out at the view and watching the birds (and occasional monkey!). I read an entire book, one that I bought in the airport in an atypically touristy move. But we also ventured out a few times – to watch the surfers at Dominical Beach at sunset, to hike the trails and beaches of Manuel Antonio National Park, and to a local waterfall and swimming hole with a smoothie bar at the top.

Dominical is a hippie surf town with lots of deeply tanned, dreadlocked gringos living in tents and small cabins along the coast, there to surf, eat vegan food, and embody “pura vida.” The beach is long, a little rocky, and has an intense riptide – dangerous for swimmers but perfect for surfers. Although we were definitely not Dominical’s standard crowd, we went just to hang out and watch the sunset (and stock up on groceries at the little market). On the way home, we stopped for drinks and perfect fish tacos on the patio at Por Que No?, where we sipped our margaritas and watched the last hint of purple sunset lingering over the darkening ocean.

Manuel Antonio, a teeny National Park on the coast, was a highlight of the trip. Despite the fact that it is extremely crowded, we managed to carve out our own space. We saw SO many monkeys – I think I counted 21, if I’m remembering my monkey-sighting competition with my brothers correctly. I actually enjoyed the park most on our walk back in the early afternoon, when many of the crowds seemed to have cleared out but the monkeys were still active (and sloths, if you can ever actually consider them active). In the more densely forested peninsula trail to Punta Cathedral, we were almost alone and saw a dozen Capuchin monkeys and five big, loud, Howlers. At one point the forest got so thick and the animals so close that it made us a little nervous – where in the rest of the park, we were in the majority seeking out the animals, we suddenly felt surrounded. It was cool. The boys absolutely fried themselves playing in the surf for an hour at midday, but according to them it was worth it. On the way out of the park everyone got a chilled coconut (locally, “Pipa Fria”) which was 100% the most refreshing post-hike drink. Beer, ceviche, and Cuban sandwiches at Claro Que Si, a nearby (and very good) restaurant with a gorgeous view from the patio, were next.

Close to where we were staying, just a few minutes away from the town of Uvita, there is a small waterfall and swimming hole that is absolutely worth a visit. The sun and heat are no joke in Costa Rica, and slipping into the shaded, ice cold water at the swimming hole was the most refreshed I felt the whole trip. We watched a group slide one by one down a 20 foot rock slide into the pool at the bottom, but none of us had the guts to try it. After sufficiently chilling ourselves, we walked back up the steep path to the open-air smoothie restaurant at the top, and slurped down ice cold fruit and ice cream smoothies.

The food in Costa Rica was unexpectedly delicious. I think I was expecting mediocre resorty food and what I got was the rich, flavorful Latin food I enjoy so much when I’m in Colombia and Ecuador, but with a more coastal flavor profile. I ate mostly fresh fish, mango, black beans and rice, and margaritas. Our most memorable meal was the one at Por Que No?, where we all ordered blackened fish tacos with rice and beans and mango salsa and they were absolutely perfect. And so that’s what I’ve recreated for you here. My homemade version was also delicious, although frying the fish proved to be a little tricky at first. My tips: make sure your oil is hot, as the fish cooks very quickly and too-cool oil will results in greasy, falling apart fish; only fry one piece of fish at a time; be very gentle when transferring the fish too and from the oil, especially after it is cooked – a metal skimmer may be the best tool to keep it from falling apart. Once you’ve got the hang of it though, the results will be well worth it.

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Fried Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa

It takes a little bit of practice to get the fish fry just right without your fish falling to pieces or drenched in oil, but once you’ve got it done, the result will be tender, flaky, golden brown fried fish. Serve wtih avocado, mango salsa, crema, black beans and rice.

Recipe adapted from Serious Eats. 

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4
• Cuisine: Costa Rican

Ingredients

• 1 c. cake flour
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 c. light-flavored beer (or seltzer)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 c. canola or peanut oil
• 1 pound fresh cod, deboned and cut into eight, 2-oz. fingers
• 8 small corn tortillas
• Mango salsa, recipe below
• Mexican crema, for serving
• 1 avocado, peeled and sliced, for serving
• 1 lime, quartered, for serving

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, black pepper, sea salt, and smoked paprika. Transfer half of the mixture to a smaller bowl and set aside. Add the beer (or seltzer) and beaten egg to one of the bowls, and whisk until you have a thick but drippy batter. If necessary, add more beer or flour until it reaches the right consistency.
2. Heat oil in a medium, high-sided saucepan (or deep fryer if you have one) until temperature reaches 350°F. Working one piece at a time, gently dip a piece of fish into the batter, let extra batter drip off, then roll the fish in the dry flour mixture. Remove the fish for ~30 seconds to let the mixture become tacky, then roll in the flour again (the double-dipping method helps the tacos become extra crunchy). Use tongs or a slotted spoon/skimmer to gently transfer the fish to the hot oil. Fry for about 1 minute, then gently flip in the oil to fry the other side (unless the fish is fully submerged, in which case don’t worry about flipping it). When the fish is golden brown all over, use tongs or a slotted spoon to transfer the fish to a paper-towel lined plate (be careful! The fish is super delicate here and it’s easy for it to fall apart if you go too fast). Season lightly with sea salt while still warm. Repeat until you have used all the fish.
3. To serve, place one piece of fish in each tortilla. Top with mango salsa, crema, avocado, and serve with a piece of lime. Serve immediately.

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It will come as no surprise to most of you that one of my favorite things about my frequently overwhelming travel schedule is all of the opportunities it affords me to eat delicious food. In the past 14 months I have been on 12 international trips, mostly for work, visiting Hong Kong, Ecuador, Canada, Italy, Malaysia, Ireland, Colombia, and Chile. Although right now thinking about it is sort of exhausting (particularly since I just got off a plane from Chile and I get back on one to Colombia in less than 2 weeks), I know how lucky I am to have these experiences.

I can tell you with certainty that none of these things are good for my waistline, but the three things I love the most about eating in Latin America are:

1. The juices (yes, please, I would like fresh passionfruit juice with every meal)
2. Enormous avocados served with everything
3. The soups

The third one was a little bit of a surprise to me – while I’d eaten plenty of Mexican food and Latin street food before I first traveled to Latin America, I had never even heard of all the incredible Latin soups out there before my first trip to Ecuador. I generally think of Latin America is a place with a pretty warm climate, which is why I never used to connect soup to Latin cuisine. Now that I’ve spent so much time in Ecuador, Colombia, and Chile, though, I can tell you that those high altitude nights can be seriously chilly… and a bowl of hearty, potato-based soup is exactly what you want to eat.

A while back I posted my favorite Colombian soup, Ajiaco Bogotano, a thick chicken and potato stew served with generous amounts of avocado and capers. Now, since there are finally fresh fava beans in the markets, it’s time for my favorite Ecuadorian soup: Locro. Locro de papa is an Ecuadorian soup based on the combination of potatoes and cheese – pretty much my two favorite food groups. I’ve had different variations of it in different parts of the country, but my favorite bowl was served in a tiny town outside the quilotoa lagoon, a gorgeous aquamarine lake in a volcanic crater in the Andes. I was actually miserable during my hike down into and back up from the lagoon, the only time I really suffered from altitude sickness, but I think that’s what made the bowl of soup waiting for me at the top so memorable. After two hours of counting my steps in sets of 50, holding back tears and barely able to breathe, sitting down at the long wooden bench and holding a steaming bowl of soup in my frozen hands was heaven. This bowl of locro incorporated lots of fresh fava beans into the usual potato-cheese combination, and now that’s how I like it best. Make it when you need a little bit of comfort on a spring evening.

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Ecuadorian Locro – Creamy Potato, Cheese, and Fava Bean Soup

Serves 4-6. Adapted from Laylita’s Recipes and The Kitchn. Serves 4-6.

• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 small onion, peeled and diced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp achiote powder
• 2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch dice
• 4 c. chicken stock
• 2 c. water
• 2 lbs. fava beans in their pods
• 1 c. whole milk or 1/2 c. heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 6 oz. crumbled feta or queso fresco
• 2 avocados, peeled and sliced, for serving

1. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, oregano, and achiote powder and saute until fragrant, another 2 minutes. Add the diced potato and saute, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and water, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Let soup simmer, uncovered, until potatoes are very soft, about 30 minutes.
2. While the soup is cooking, blanch the fava beans. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Remove the fava beans from their pods and blanch in the boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon and run under cold water. As soon as the beans are cool enough to handle, use your thumbnail to split the outer, pale green skin from the bean and pop the inner, bright green beans into a bowl. Set the peeled beans aside.
3. When the potatoes in the soup are tender, use a potato masher to roughly mash the potatoes in the soup until soup is thick with just a few chunks of potato. Add the peeled fava beans and cook for 2 more minutes, then remove from the heat. Stir in the milk or cream, the crumbled cheese, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cheese will not fully melt into the soup but should remain slightly chewy. Serve with the sliced avocado.

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I’ve been spending a good amount of time in Bogotá this year, and will continue to visit for work throughout the spring and summer. Unfortunately, my plans to take an extra day to explore the city on my last visit were thwarted by a combination of more snow (surprise!) and my plane catching on fire (don’t ask, but everything was fine), so I still haven’t seen too much beyond the area near my office. My initial impressions of the city are very positive – it’s fun and vibrant and I love the sunshine, the views of the mountains, and the vaguely German bungalow style architecture in the financial district. I also love the food, which is rich and hearty and full of avocados, plantains, beef, and potatoes. In particular, I’ve sort of fallen in love with ajiaco, a classic Bogotano chicken and potato soup that hits the spot every time.

I’m headed down to Latin America again this week, this time with a few days in Chile in addition to Colombia, but before I left I wanted to make some ajiaco at home for Trevor to try. The soup broth is fairly thick, like a stew, but still somewhat translucent, and flecked with the herb guascas, which apparently gives the soup its distinctive flavor. Chicken, potatoes, and corn on the cob are served in the soup, and capers, avocado, rice, and cream are served on the side for you to top as you go. It’s this last aspect – spooning bits of perfectly ripe avocado and plump capers on top of the hot bowl of soup – that really makes the meal special for me. Each time you bite into a caper it’s such an unexpected pop of salty tang against the creamy and hearty background flavors, I just love it.

Even a small amount of internet research will quickly reveal that making an authentic pot of ajiaco is basically a science, and one that doesn’t leave much room for experimentation. The thickness of the broth is typically created by the addition of papas criollas, a small Andean potato that dissolves into the broth. Since they’re hard to come by outside of Latin America, I used grated russets instead, and that worked well, although the soup wasn’t quite as thick as other versions I’ve had. From everything I read, using guascas is essential to the flavor of the soup, so I ordered some from Amazon in advance. For everything else I pretty much stuck to the traditional method, although I do prefer using frozen corn to serving the whole cob in the soup (I’ve had it both ways in Bogotá, so I think it’s fair to still call it traditional). It’s a bit time consuming to make the stock, but otherwise a very easy recipe, and the result was pretty close to, although not quite as good as, the Colombian version. I have a feeling this may be a new staple in our kitchen.

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Ajiaco Bogotano – Chicken, Potato, and Corn Soup with Avocado and Capers

A classic Colombian chicken and potato soup. Thick and creamy, it’s served with capers, avocado, and crema on the side so you can add toppings as you eat. One of my favorite Colombian recipes!

Adapted from these sources:The Kitchn, My Colombian Recipes, and Serious Eats. 

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 rotisserie chicken
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• 20–30 parsley stems
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated
• 3 medium red bliss potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 2 TBS dried guascas
• 3/4 c. frozen corn kernels
• 1/4 c. Mexican crema, for serving
• 2 avocados, pitted and sliced, for serving
• 1/4 c. capers, rinsed, for serving

Instructions

1. Use a fork to pull the meat from the chicken, setting aside in a large bowl. Place the chicken carcass, bones, and skin in a large stockpot. Cut the carrots and onions into rough chunks and add to the stockpot. Peel the garlic and cut in half, then add to the stockpot along with the parsley stems, salt, and black pepper. Cover the stock ingredients with water, using 3-4 quarts of cold water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then simmer until stock is rich and golden, about 3-4 hours.
2. Ladle 8 cups of the stock through a fine-mesh strainer into a different stockpot, discarding the solids left behind and saving any extra stock for a different use. Add the grated potatoes, diced red potatoes, and guascas to the stock and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer until the russets have completely dissolved and the soup has thickened, about 20-30 minutes. Add the reserved chicken meat, chopped into bite-sized pieces if necessary, to the soup and simmer for another 15 minutes. Add the corn and cook until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper, and serve immediately with the crema, avocados, and capers on the side.

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The Book: It seems that at least once a year, a cookbook that is more aptly described as an encyclopedia of a particular culture and cuisine is released. Gran Cocina Latina is a good example, as is The New Book of Middle Eastern Food, and to a certain extent even Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table. These books are much more than just exciting cookbooks, they’re reference books for chefs and travelers and budding anthropologists that contain hundreds of classic recipes along with a thorough communication of the culinary culture and history of a particular region of the world. Often these books become instant classics, essential books for any cook seriously interested in learning about other cuisines. This season I have two books of this type in my review pile, and the first is about a very specific place – the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. Yucatan: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition, written by David Sterling, is the product of his decades of culinary experience living in the Yucatan while running a cooking school there.

Starting the book knowing nothing about the Yucatan, except that it looks like a nice place to go on vacation, I quickly realized I was in the hands of an expert. I was easily drawn into the narrative of this ideologically isolated peninsula, even when that narrative had nothing whatsoever to do with food. History, geography, biology – you’ll get a little bit of everything with this book. Of course, eventually it all ties back to food and cooking, and I don’t know if there was a single recipe in this book that I wasn’t interested in trying. The recipes are mostly traditional, yet still presented in a creative and intriguing way – combinations like Roasted Quail with a Puree of Squash Seeds, Chaya, and Habanero and Zucchini and Squash Blossom Stew with Tiny Corn Pancakes are representative of what people have eaten traditionally, but totally new to me. I should note that as much as the 60-page ingredient primer will help orient you to traditional ingredients, many will still be hard to find for American cooks. Beyond that, many of the recipes will be time-consuming for those not accustomed to cooking with the major base ingredients of the cuisine, as sourcing or preparing the spice mixes, flours, and fats that are traditionally used will add to the total preparation time. However, once you have a few of the key pantry items built into your repertoire, I imagine the recipes become less daunting – there’s just a bit of a learning curve.

The Food: One of the goodies we brought back with us from Ecuador was a bag full of fermented cacao beans. As part of our trip we learned about the entire chocolate making process, even roasting and grinding our own beans before making the freshest hot chocolate ever. We picked up a half pound bag of the beans for $2.50 in a little souvenir shop later in our trip, and now I’m wishing we had brought more home with us, as whole beans go for $20 a pound on Amazon. When I saw the dessert recipes calling for freshly ground cacao paste in this book, I knew we’d found a way to put our beans to good use. This Mayan Chocolate Frozen Custard is one of the most intense ice creams I’ve ever tasted. Using a whole host of traditional ingredients – Mexican crema, freshly ground cacao, cayenne pepper, and a hand-ground spice mixture called recado rojo that includes achiote, garlic, and vinegar – it has a ton of different flavors, and a somewhat gritty texture from the ground cacao beans. And preparing all the components really gave our mortar and pestle a good workout. I realize that this description might not make it sound all that appealing, but it’s a really exciting recipe that’s definitely worth stepping outside of your comfort zone for. If you can find whole cacao beans, use them – the smell of freshly roasted cacao being mashed to a paste is otherwordly – but otherwise, you can use cacao nibs or bittersweet chocolate.

Recipe Shortlist: Venison in Red Squash-Seed Sauce; Maya Succotash of New Corn and Black-Eyed Peas; Mashed Plaintain Croquettes with Pork Cracklings and Goat Cheese; Lobster Tails in Charred Chili Sauce; Guava, Marschino Cherry, and Sherry Frozen  Custard; Chicken and Potatoes Stewed in Oregano-Black Pepper Sauce; Honey-Drenched Yuca Fritters

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Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Yucatan: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition from University of Texas Press, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Mayan Chocolate Frozen Custard

Recipe from Yucatan: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition. Makes about 1 1/2 quarts.

• 2 c. whole milk
• 2 TBS recado rojo (bought in a Latin grocery, or homemade)
• 2 c. creme fraiche (or heavy cream)
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. honey
• 3/8 tsp ground allspice
• 1/8 tsp cayenne powder
• 5 large egg yolks
• 8 oz. fresh chocolate paste, recipe below (or bittersweet chocolate, chopped)
• 1 TBS vanilla

1. Place the milk and the recado rojo in a blender and blend for 30 seconds. Strain the milk through a fine-mesh sieve into a heavy saucepan, discarding the solids that get caught in the strainer. Add the creme fraiche, sugar, honey, allspice, and cayenne to the milk. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture has just reached a simmer, then remove from the heat.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until they are pale yellow and frothy. While whisking the eggs, slowly pour 1 cup of the hot milk into the eggs in a thin stream, whisking vigorously to temper the eggs. Repeat with another cup of hot milk, then pour the egg mixture back into the hot milk mixture, whisking the milk as you do so. Still whisking, return the custard to low heat and cook just until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. It will still be fluid – about the consistency of a creme anglaise.
3. Once the mixture has thickened, strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding any solids. Stir in the chocolate paste or bittersweet chocolate until mixture is thick and chocolate is melted. Let cool, then stir in the vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or overnight. Once thoroughly chilled, process according to your ice cream maker’s directions.

Fresh Chocolate Paste

Makes about 8 oz.

• 1/2 lb. of whole fermented cacao beans

1. Place the beans in a dry skillet over medium heat. Roast, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and skins are cracking, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat. As soon as beans are cool enough to handle, peel the skins away from the beans and discard the skins. Return any peeled beans that are still brown as opposed to a deep blackish brown to the pan for a minute or two, cooking until they are all deeply browned.
2. Place peeled, roasted beans in a blender and blend until evenly ground. Transfer to a mortar and pestle in grind to a fine paste in batches.

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Ever since getting back from Russia, I can’t seem to get enough soup. I’ve been daydreaming about it: creamy sweet potato bisques, homemade chicken noodle spiked with chili oil, my mom’s El Cid chili with cornbread (for Sunday afternoon football watching), tangy tomato soup thickened with bread, and hearty bowls of Portuguese-style kale and linguica soup. I’ll take them all. Thankfully, soup is an easy, healthy way to feed yourself, so I can do more than daydream – I can make soup as often as I please. I find that making soup is the most intrinsic, relaxing form of cooking. There’s a rhythm to it, the chopping of onions and garlic, the sauteeing, more chopping, more sauteeing, adding spices, broth, root vegetables, stirring, simmering, smelling, stirring. When people ask me how they can start to learn to cook, I always recommend starting with soup. It’s wonderfully forgiving, and it’s hard to make a bad one. This soup – an Ecuadorian chicken and rice stew spiced with achiote, smoked paprika, and cumin – is no exception.

I really enjoyed making this last Sunday. Trevor had tickets to the Pats game with his coworkers, so I had a long, chilly afternoon to myself. I went running, caught up on reading, swung by the grocery store, and made this stew, all without feeling rushed or stressed. After four frenetic months moving, traveling, and adjusting to a different pace of life, the fact that I’ll get to spend the entire month of November at home, cozying up with Trevor feels like an early Christmas present. Last Sunday afternoon was the first time in months that I really felt slowed-down, and filling my house up with the rich, spicy smell of this soup just cemented that feeling.

As far as taste goes, this stew is a winner. It’s quite hearty, made thick and creamy by the addition of rice and potatoes, and just a bit spicy from a combination of smoked Spanish paprika, achiote paste, and a dash of hot sauce. The recipe, which comes from Jose Garces’ The Latin Road Home (I reviewed it here last year, if you’re interested – it’s a great cookbook), said it serves four, but I think this recipe makes a huge batch, at least 8 filling servings. Which means, not only is it delicious, but also economical for feeding a family. Give this one a try this fall, I think you’ll like it.

Ecuadorian Chicken and Rice Stew

Recipe adapted slightly from The Latin Road Home. Serves 8-10.

• 3 lb. bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, stem and seeds removed, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2 TBS whole cumin seeds
• 2 TBS achiote paste (I used a Latin spice mix with achiote in it that I found at Wholefoods)
• 1 tsp Spanish smoked hot paprika
• 2 TBS tomato paste
• 6 c. chicken stock
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 1 1/2 lb. fresh tomatoes, preferably plum, cored and cubed
• 1 c. long-grain white rice
• 2 lb russet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 3 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 lb. frozen peas
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 c. minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 c. minced fresh cilantro
• hot sauce to taste

1. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, and sear the chicken pieces in batches. Cook thighs until skin is crispy and golden brown on both sides, flipping over once, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
2. Lower the heat to medium, and add the onion and red pepper to the pot. Cook until softened and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin seeds, achiote paste, and paprika to the pot and cook, stirring, until spices are toasted and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste, then return the chicken pieces to the pot. Add the chicken stock and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Stir in the tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the rice, potatoes, and carrots, return soup to a simmer, then cover, and cook until chicken is falling off the bone and rice is fully cooked, about 40 minutes.
3. Uncover the soup and stir in the peas, oregano, parsley, and cilantro. Let peas heat through, then season to taste and serve with hot sauce.

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At 902 pages, I think that Gran Cocina Latina may be the only cookbook I own that can truly be referred to as a tome. It’s massive, exhaustive, focused – and incredibly exciting.

I won’t lie, I’ve been a little bit daunted by this cookbook. It sat on my bedside table for a few weeks, teasing me, during which time I opened it four or five times, flipped through it, drooled  a little bit, and then got nervous. I’ll save it for when I have more time, I kept telling myself, for this is a cookbook that clearly needs time. When I received my copy of Home Made Winter, I spent a lovely sunny Saturday morning in bed with it, drinking coffee and taking notes. Three hours later, I felt like I really knew the cookbook – I had bookmarked all the recipes I wanted to make, read every word Yvette had written, and absorbed the style and message of the book. I was satisfied. This book would take 3 dedicated weeks, if not more, to feel the same way. But I don’t want to scare you off! This book deserves the time. And besides, it’s the kind of cookbook you’ll have on your kitchen shelf for the next 20 years, so you don’t have to rush things.

Maricel Presilla is not your average cookbook author – she’s a scholar. And so, this book is not your average cookbook. It’s not about pretty pictures and glossy pages – it’s about learning. Learning how to cook truly authentic Latin American cuisine from the ground up. It’s literally packed with information – from how to select and prepare quintessential Latin ingredients such as plantains, yuca, and passionfruit, to the difference between avocado varieties, to deconstructing the infamous mole type sauces in order to master the technique for making them. Beyond the kitchen, there are legends and histories of the various countries as Maricel takes you from country to country, from the past to now. As a testament to the thoroughness of the education that this book will give you: the first 200 pages of the book barely make it through the flavor-building essential sauces and condiments that authentic cooking requires; every recipe is given a thorough head note, is broken down into manageable steps, and is clearly written; when an ingredient may be unfamiliar or a technique difficult to explain, simple black and white sketches serve to illustrate the process. Clearly, this book has been a long time in the making, and it shows.

The recipes themselves run the gamut, from the simplest of the simple, such as Simple Boiled Quinoa, to well-known classics, like Tres Leches Cake, to exotic and enticing recipes that would be a reach in difficulty for even a seasoned home cook, like Quinoa and Broccoli Rabe-Stuffed Calamari with Panca Pepper and Pisco Sauce. You’ll find almost every country and island on the continent well represented – Peruvian Purple Corn Punch, Brazilian Feijoada, Argentinian Beef Empanadas, Ecuadorian Shrimp Cebiche with Peanuts, even Puerto Rican Salt Cod Fritters. You could easily cook your way up and down the continent several times over, and probably find several new favorite meals along the way.

To get over my intimidation of this book, I opened it to the middle, read through 20 pages of recipes, and started cooking the recipe that inspired me the most. (Please note, this is extremely unorthodox for me. I like list-making and being methodical. Don’t expect such brash behavior from me in the future.) The recipe? Rice with Corn, Chickpeas, Green Beans, and Chorizo. Yes, I kind of just picked a recipe with five ingredients that I love in the name. This recipe also happened to be a two-fer, since you had to prepare the Green Beans with Bacon recipe separately to be included in the rice dish. Two done, 998 to go. (I made that up, but I wouldn’t be surprised…). Both recipes were solid – well-balanced flavors (and nutritional profiles), simple techniques, easy to execute quickly and well. The kind of things I’d make on a weeknight when I wanted something warm and filling and delicious but without any fuss. And these two are just a start… I can’t wait to cook my way through the rest of this book.

The bottom line: Gran Cocina Latina is an authoritative, exhaustive, and incredibly educational cookbook – think of it as The Joy of Cooking for Latin America. If you enjoy cooking or eating Latin food, this is a book that will likely be close at hand in your kitchen for the next 20 years. Typically I recommend cookbooks I like to a particular audience I think will enjoy them. This book is an exception – if you cook at all, do yourself a favor and buy this book. It’s a great resource for any level of cook and the information and recipes you’ll find within are more than worth the $25 you’ll pay on Amazon.

Disclaimer: W.W. Norton provided me with a review copy of this book free of charge, but as usual, all opinions are my own!

Rice with Corn, Chickpeas, Green Beans, and Chorizo

Recipe from Gran Cocina Latina. Serves 6-8 as a side.

• 2 c. long grain rice
• 3 TBS achiote-infused olive oil [I subbed regular olive oil this time around]
• 6 oz. Spanish chorizo, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, deveined, and finely chopped
• 4 medium plum tomatoes, fresh or canned, peeled if fresh, drained if canned, and finely chopped either way
• 1 c. fresh or frozen corn kernels
• 1 15 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed, or 2 c. plain cooked chickpeas
• 4 oz. Green Beans with Bacon [see below]
• 3 1/2 c. chicken broth

1. Rinse the rice in cold water, swirl with your hand, then drain in a sieve. Repeat several times, until water runs clear. Set rice aside.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the chorizo and saute until golden brown, about  5 minutes. Then add the onion, green peppers, and garlic, and saute until the onion is translucent, another 5 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes, corn, chickpeas, green beans, rice, and broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Once the mixture is boiling, reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until the liquid is mostly absorbed. At this point, fluff the rice gently, cover, lower the heat, and cook on the lowest possible setting for an additional 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit, still covered, for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and fluff the rice again before serving.

Green Beans with Bacon

Recipe from Gran Cocina Latina. Serves 4 as a side.

• 3 tsp salt
• 1 lb green beans, trimmed and sliced on a bias into 1 inch lengths
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 8 oz. bacon, cut into 1/4 inch dice
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 small yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 medium plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped [I used drained canned whole San Marzano tomatoes with good results]
• 1 TBS minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1. Add 2 tsp of the salt to a large pot of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the green beans and blanch for 2-3 minutes, until bright green. Drain, and immediately place the green beans in ice water to stop the cooking process.
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the bacon and cook until golden brown and crispy. Add the onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, parsley, pepper, and nutmeg, and cook for a few minutes just to meld the flavors. Stir in the green beans, then season with remaining tsp of salt. Serve immediately, or use in other recipes as required.

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