baked plantains

BRW, Caribbean and Central America, p 623

I followed the recipe exactly w/ 3 plantains. The sugar and the butter didn’t penetrate or coat the plantain as well as I’d hoped. Next time, I think I’ll gash the flesh many times horizontally, in addition to the large split down the middle.

tajadas de platanos (fried sweet plantain strips)

SCC, p 147

We followed the recipe, except we left out the cheese. They were delicious, but I need a bit more practice frying. The plantain chips didn’t brown quite evenly, and some even burned a touch.

avena

I tried to make avena for Juliana. We found a recipe on the internet, which I modified slightly. The result was too thick and not as sweet as Juliana likes.

what we did

• 1 c oatmeal
• 5 c milk
• 3 tbs sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

We ground the oatmeal fine and then boiled everything for a while.

what we’ll do next time

• 1/2 c oatmeal
• 4 c milk
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbs sugar (4 tbs for a more authentic sweetness)

synopsis of the past month

Though I took a leave from posting, we didn’t take a leave from cooking. Foods we’ve prepared in the last few weeks include:

• blackberry jam
• blackberry cobbler (2x)
• corn on the cob
• roasted peppers (2x)
• biscuits
• steak w/ Peruvian seasoning
• Peruvian mayonnaise
• pineapple-coconut rice
• Mexican steak and mushroom stew
• caramelized onions
• hummus
• fried rice
• ganache-frosted brownies
• truffles
• huevos rancheros

Also, we had friends over and tried the ratafia that I started at the beginning of the summer. It was slightly thick, boozy, and tasted of peaches and honey—delicious! Finally, I have some plans for the future:

• use the rice cooker for grits and oatmeal
• make Bittman’s new no-knead bread recipe
• make a soaked cake
• to make something with butternut squash

Descriptions are below.

desayuno colombiano

We continue to work through Bittman’s The Best Recipes in the World, and we recently prepared a meal that tested at least one recipe’s authenticity of flavor: arepas y huevos con hogao, un desayuno tipico colombiano.

hogao

Hogao is a Colombian sauce. The version we make isn’t strictly traditional, but is fast, easy, and pretty tasty.

1 large onion, diced or pureed (or 2 medium onions)
2 medium tomatoes, diced or pureed (or 1 large tomato or 1 28 oz can tomatoes or …)
1 clove garlic, minced (or 2 cloves… or 3 cloves…)
salt to taste

We mix everything together, put it in a skillet, and cook until the excess water has boiled away. What we’re left with is a versatile condiment that goes well with steak, eggs, rice, arepas, and almost any other Colombian entree or side dish.

Bittman double feature – changua and spinach cooked in yogurt

Last night we made not one, but two Bittman dishes, one from each of his cookbooks that we own.

• changua, a.k.a. egg drop soup (Colombia, CEV, p 154)
• spinach cooked in yogurt (Middle East, BRW, p 463)

Colombian improvisational dinner

Every now and then, Juliana and I get to house sit for one of our professors (they need someone to watch the pets). The main benefits for us are 1) free laundry and 2) a nice kitchen all to ourselves! We make a point of cooking as much as we can while we’re there, and this time we had great success with one of our dinners. The main dish for this meal was a quasi-original concoction. It was strongly inspired by a Colombian recipe called gallina guisada con coco (pg. 84 of La Cocina Colombiana), which translates as “stewed hen with coconut”. As a side, we had similarly flavored black bean cous cous. Combining the stew with the cous cous made great leftovers!