La Crema

This is my adaptation of a Cointa classic, la Crema. She typically mixed some zucchini, auyama (pumpkin, more like squash), leeks, scallions, garlic, and salt, boiled it for a while, and then blended it into a puree. I did the same but used a butternut squash in place of the auyama (close enough) and spiced it up with some berbere. Don't like to overuse it, but until recently I had not been in possession of my entire spice collection and berbere adds some really good flavor to a wide variety of things. The highlight was using the immersion blender for the first time (gift from Carolyn) and blending the soup right in the pot. Such a handy little device, you can just rinse it under the faucet and bam it's clean! Much simpler than a traditional blender, thanks Carolyn! I have also used it twice already for smoothies. This soup was a little too hot for yesterday, but I ate a bunch of it chilled today and it was fantastic. This guy also ranks pretty high up there on the long-term satisfaction scale.

Chicken Bacon Empanadas

Going off of the advice of la Señora Norris, I have finally recreated the Venezuelan empanada. I picked up a chicken at Aldi ($5) and cooked it overnight in the crock pot with some salt, pepper, and a little bit of lemon juice. For the dough, I found some instant (precooked) corn flour at Cub ($2-$3 for a giant bag that will last me years), threw in a little bit of salt and sugar, and then added water until the dough globbed together. For the filling, I fried some bacon, chopped it up, and mixed it with about a cup of chicken along with cumin, pepper, and more lemon juice. The empanadas needed about five minutes each side frying in bacon grease. I can't remember exactly what Norris put in her sauce, but I mixed mayonnaise with cilantro, cayenne pepper, and red pepper and it turned out great with just a little bit of heat. I have a gallon of chicken and a giant bag of flour so the next step is mass producing these guys. I recently read Minneapolis' City Ordinances regarding food carts which quickly killed my empanada food cart idea I have had for the past couple months. So it looks like for now I'll be making them for myself and maybe friends. I'll probably mix in a little bit of corn, onions, and cheese and play around until I get a good balance. This round was absolutely delicious; the taste of the corn flour brought me right back to the Plaza Bolívar in la Parroquia. 

Egg Sandwich & Grapes

This guy is pretty standard, nothing special. I just wanted to do a sample of my ideal breakfast. The egg is something I sort of adapted from Venezuela. Our second host mom made us these fantastic breakfast arepas with eggs in this fashion. She would usually just throw in some green onions and salt and fry it up. Super simple, but the green onion/egg combo is just so prime. I started adding spinach into the egg mix; I like frozen spinach so I can use a little bit at a time over an extended period, but I have actually been using canned spinach, which becomes less terrible when cooked. I also spruced it up with ham and pepperjack cheese, and then threw it on toast. I can usually cook up one of these guys in about ten to fifteen minutes, so a great breakfast every day is within reach!

Kale Chorizo Soup

Although I had not tried this one before, Aunt Mary recommended it so I figured it was a good bet. I skipped the bay leaves, but otherwise followed the recipe pretty closely. As the title would suggest, I opted for the chorizo, but in the future will probably cook it separately for a while since I got quite a bit of fat in the final product (although that did add some good taste). Sweet potatoes were definitely a highlight as well.

·         1 pound smoked kielbasa or Polish sausage, or chorizo (bulk)

·         3 medium Sweet potatoes, chopped

·         2 medium onions, chopped

·         2 tablespoons olive oil

·         1 bunch kale, trimmed and torn

·         4 garlic cloves, minced

·         1/4 teaspoon pepper

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         2 bay leaves

·         1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained

·         1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed  and drained

·         1 carton (32 ounces) chicken broth

·         In a Dutch oven over medium-low heat, cook the sausage, potatoes and onions in oil for  15 minutes or until sausage is heated through, stirring occasionally. Add kale; cover and cook for 2-3 minutes or until kale is wilted. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer.

·         Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for about an hour or until potatoes are tender. Discard bay leaves. Yield: 14 servings (3-1/2 quarts).

Turkey Wild Rice Salad

I first tried this guy up at the cabin with Mary & Tom and thought it was fantastic. I picked up a ready to cook turkey breast at Aldi, and then cooked it over night in the crock pot. It was a little on the pricey side ($7-$8), but just so tasty and simple. The only thing I couldn't find at Aldi was the wild rice, which is also kind of on the pricey side? I ended up using an 8 ounce package of wild rice and then doubling everything else since I had so much turkey and grapes. Even after doubling the grapes, I added some more because it's just not quite perfect until you get the amazing combination of the turkey and the grape in every bite. Per Mary's tip, I substituted lemon juice for the vinegar which worked great. It made about a gallon, and I polished it off in a weekend.

Original recipe makes 12 servings

• 1 (6 ounce) package wild rice
• 3/4 cup light mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

• 2 cups cooked, cubed turkey meat
• 1/4 cup diced green onion
• 1 cup seedless red grapes
• 6 ounces blanched slivered almonds

1.     Cook rice according to package directions. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

2.     In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir in rice, turkey, onion and grapes until evenly coated with dressing. Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.

3.     Before serving, sprinkle slivered almonds over the top of the salad. 

Chickpea Salad and Yucca

Per the recommendation of my Aunt Carolyn, I have opened up the carved block to my hopefully interesting food creations. In the future, I would like to broaden the scope to include all of my adventures and integrate this reflecting and writing process into my life, as it is something I really enjoy. So here we go: In retrospect, a glass of white wine would probably have been a better choice for this chickpea salad, but Summit's Horizon Red Ale worked just fine. I modified Bon Appetit magazine's recipe by substituting feta for the parmesan and opting for more lemon juice and a little less olive oil. The yucca was pretty simple: I picked up a couple roots from Cub, boiled them for about fifteen minutes, and then tossed on some berbere, an African spice recommended to me by Carolyn.

Ingredients

• 1 15- to 15 1/2-ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed, drained
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small garlic clove, pressed
• 1/3 cup (packed) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Coarse kosher salt

Preparation

• Combine rinsed and drained chickpeas, chopped fresh basil, chopped Italian parsley, fresh lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, and pressed garlic clove in medium bowl. Add grated Parmesan cheese and toss gently to blend all ingredients thoroughly. Season chickpea salad to taste with coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. DO AHEAD Chickpea salad can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Serve salad chilled or at room temperature.