Pollada

This easy chicken dish requires four ingredients and can be done in about 15 minutes. It's basically a chicken rub. I learned this recipe from my Ecuadorian roommate.

Ingredients for the rub:

• salt
• pepper
• paprika
• cumin

1. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the chicken breast. You need about two parts paprika to one part cumin. You just need a dash of salt and pepper on each side. Rub the ingredients in.

2. Heat some oil on a skillet. To make sure that the skillet is hot enough I would recommend sauteeing some red onions first.

3. Place the chicken onto the hot skillet and cook it on both sides for about 2-3 minutes. You don't want the chicken to cook completely through!!!

4. After both sides have been browned put a lid over the skillet and shut off your flame. Make sure the heat doesn't escape!!! The heat needs to be trapped in the skillet to make sure that the chicken is complete cooked through.

5. Wait about 10 minutes and the chicken should be done by then.

If done correctly there shouldn't be any pink visible and you should have one of the juciest pieces of chicken breast you have ever tasted. Enjoy!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

Spinach- about 3 cups, chopped

Garlic Cloves- 2 large cloves minced

Mozzarella-200 g, shredded

Cream Cheese- 200 g

Artichoke hearts- 4 to 6 finely chopped

Sour Cream-200 g

Bacon- 4

Optional: Another cheese

1.       Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.       Take the slices of bacon and place them on a hot skillet. Cook the bacon to your desired crispiness. Place the bacon on a paper toweled plate.

3.       Using the skillet with the leftover bacon grease cook the garlic, artichoke hearts and spinach until the spinach has reduced to half its size.

4.       In a separate bowl mix together the sour cream, mozzarella, and cream cheese. Also take the bacon and cut them or crumble them into smaller pieces.

5.       Take an 8 x8 baking dish and toss in the cheese mixture, spinach mixture and bacon. Make sure the three are properly mixed. Make sure the mixture isn’t going over the edges. That would involve some messy clean up!!  

6.       Place the dish in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. The top may be a little golden, do not over bake!!

Roller Coasters

This is a relatively simple recipe for some fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls, or roller coasters as Shander likes to call them. I swear getting him to call them Vietnamese Spring Rolls is almost as hard as teaching him to call Lizzie´s brother and dad his future brother-in-law and future father-in-law. He currently calls them his brother in waiting and father in waiting, something which Lizzie, Jessie, Katie, and I have been trying to correct with no success. 

Ingredients for the rolls:

• 1 lb. Chicken
• ½ cup Soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• Pinch of Red pepper flakes or 1 small chilli
• Rice noodles
• Carrots, grated
• Cilantro
• Basil
• Rice paper
• ½ a bouillon cube

Ingredients for the sauce:

• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp hot water
• Tsp garlic powder or a clove of minced garlic
• Pinch of red pepper flakes.

For the Chicken:

Cut the chicken into thin strips. In a medium sized bowl mix together the chicken, soy sauce, sugar and red pepper flakes. Marinade for at least 30 minutes. After 30 minutes you can sauté the chicken.

For the noodles:

Take the rice noodles and bouillon cube and cover with hot water until the noodles are completely submerged. Boil the noodles for about 3-5 minutes until al dente.

To assemble the rolls:

Make sure that you have a bowl of hot water. Submerge the rice paper in the water. Depending on the quality of your rice paper sometimes it just needs to be quickly submerged and other times you may need to keep the paper in the water for a minute. Place the rice paper on a clean work surface and place the chicken, rice noodles, carrots, basil, and cilantro in the middle. Fold the three sides so that it looks like an envelope and then roll the whole thing.

To make the sauce:

Toss all of the ingredients into a skillet and simmer for about 3-5 minutes. Make sure that everything is mixed well. The sauce is rather sweet but the spiciness will help balance that out. 

                                       

Pork Afritada AKA Yummy Filipino Stew

Ingredients:

·         500 g Pork, or meat of your choice cut into smaller cubes

·         3-4 Potatoes

·         2-3 Carrots

·         200g Tomato Paste

·         Cup of vegetable stock  

·         1 tomato

·         1 red bell pepper

·         3 minced garlic cloves

·         3 bay leaves

·         1 white onion

·         Can of peas

·         Tbsp paprika

1.       Salt the pork cubes. Toss in a wok with some oil and paprika.

2.       Toss in the garlic and the inions.

3.       Make sure the meat is browned on all sides and then add the stock, tomato and bay leaves. Simmer for 5 minutes.

4.       Add the potatoes and cover the wok for 5 minutes.

5.       Add the carrots, peas and tomato paste and cover again for 10 minutes.

6.       Add the bell peppers and let simmer for 2-3 minutes.

7.       Salt and pepper to taste. The stew should be done when the potatoes are at your desired tenderness.

8.       Serve over steamed rice.

Coconut Lentil Soup

So I accidentally bought 2 kilos of lentils at La Vega one day thinking that I would probably go through it quickly. But after my second batch of lentils and rice for the week I soon got bored. I remembered this restaurant that Nancy, Elizabeth, and I used to frequent in Denver that served this great lentil soup. I decided to try my hand at making that soup. After scouring the internet for possible recipes I came up with nothing. This recipe is the first and probably only one I have ever concocted that has absolutely no bases on someone else’s recipe. This is my most requested recipes. I don't have a picture because I always forget to take one. By the time I remember to take one everyone has already devoured it.


Ingredients:

• 4 cups soaked lentils

• 4 cups broth (vegetable, chicken, whatever you have on hand)

• Can of coconut milk

• 1 red onion

• Pinch red pepper flakes

• Tbsp paprika

• 2 tbsp garlic

• 2 tbsp cumin

• 2 tbsp ground ginger

• Pinch of salt

• Pinch black pepper

1. Sauté the onions and garlic.

2. Mix in the lentils, the broth and all of the spices.

3. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 minutes until the lentils are really tender.

4. Next pour into a blender and blend in batches. If you don’t have a blender you should be able to use a potato masher.

5. Put your pureed lentils back into the pot and add the can of coconut milk. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. You can experiment with the flavor a bit by putting in more of the spices.

I honestly don’t keep track of how much of each spice I put into the soup. I just keep experimenting until I get the taste that I like.

Notes:

• I've tried putting a cup of pumpkin. If you do this I recommend adding two more teaspoons of cumin and a little nutmeg.
• This recipe is very forgiving and you can really get away with a combination of different spices.
• Make sure you buy coconut milk and not the coconut mix stuff that's intended for pina coladas.
• If you want it to be a little spicier I would suggest some curry paste.

Pesto Pasta

Pesto ingredients:

• Cup of chopped up fresh basil

• Half cup of fresh parsley

• ¾ cup nuts (walnuts, peanuts, pine nuts)*

• 2 cloves of garlic

• Half cup chicken/vegetable broth**

• 1/3 cup olive oil

• Pinch of salt

Other ingredients:

• Pasta

• Half a red onion

• 2 tomatoes

• 1 avocado

• Parmesan cheese

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a blender until you have a paste.

2. After you drain your pasta use the same pot and put a little oil or butter in it.

3. Quickly sauté your chopped red onions and tomatoes.

4. Turn off the heat.

5. Mix together the pesto, red onions, tomatoes, avocado, parmesan cheese.

This recipe is very versatile. You can add chicken, shrimp, or meat when you sauté the onions. I would suggest adding a little pepper and maybe a pinch of red pepper flakes if you want to add the meat. You could also sauté some asparagus, spinach, or any other vegetable you might favor. I usually add more than one avocado because it costs about $2 for a kilo here in Chile (or 3 kilos for $2 depending on which guy you boy from). I’m pretty much living in avocado heaven. If you boil a whole bag of pasta you'll probably end up using about 3/4 of the pesto paste.

* Most pesto recipes call for pine nuts. I have yet to come across them in Chile so I just use whatever nuts I have in my pantry (usually walnuts and peanuts)

**You can also just mix half a bouillon cube with half a cup of hot water.