80 Plates In My Kitchen & How Emily Used Every Single One of ‘Em

So last weekend, I had Emily and Melissa down to do 80 Plates: Central and South America.  We started out planning to do just Chile and Mexico, but then Emily thought, “what the heck!  Let’s toss in El Salvador to round things out!”  We divided up the ingredient list and after a delay of a couple of weeks due to Snowmageddon, we were ready to roll!  Melissa came down to party too, since there is no party like a cooking party :)

My request was to learn to make empanadas, which is one of my favorite foods at my favorite Mexican restaurant, Pancho Villa.  Emily had an empanada recipe from Chile, so we decided to use that, and she brought a chalupa recipe from Mexico and we decided that would be our Mexican dish.  She also had been wanting to try horchata, a rice drink that is quite popular in Central America, and we decided to try that for El Salvador.  Thus, we had a menu.  Melissa ran to the store and contributed salsa, guacamole, and sour cream, and the party was on :)  Oh, and to celebrate EMILY’S BIRTHDAY, she made a Tres Leches cake, and we finished prepping it here.

DISCLAIMER:  Leah was cuh-rank-ee during this whole afternoon, so consequently I didn’t do the picture taking or a whole lot of cooking.  I’m doing my best here, people, work with me!

We started out by making the empanada dough.  I will include the recipe at the bottom, as this is a recipe from the same cookbook Emily provided when we did 80 Plates Ecuador.  The crust was a mixture of butter, flour, baking powder, salt, egg, and water.  My stand mixer was put to work to put it all together.

Once she formed it into a ball, it went into the refrigerator until we were ready to bake the empanadas.  Meanwhile, I worked on the filling.  It required finely cubed steak, chopped onion,   cooked together in a bit of oil until tender.  I chopped up onions and the steak and got to cooking! Once it was done, I added cayenne, oregano, flour, salt and pepper, then let it cool in the pan off the heat. 

Then we decided to pour the liquid over the Tres Leches Cake, which translates to “Three Milks Cake”.  The three milks in question were evaporated, sweetened condensed, and heavy cream.  We did use fat free evaporated and sweetened condensed milks, but what can you do about the heavy cream, really?  So Em mixed them together, and we were all going to take turns doing some ladling onto the cake.  Emily got the first ladleful on there and screamed, “Stop!  We’re supposed to poke holes in it first!” and we all busted up laughing.  Alright, it was funny at the time, ok people?!

(I should note that she had already baked the cake before she got to my house, and she used The Pioneer Woman’s recipe for it.)

So she and I got forks out and we poked holes in the cake, and whaddaya know, it absorbed the milks much better!  We all took turns with the ladle and soon the cake was swimming in sweet, delicious milk.

 

YUM!

We set that aside and used the  extra milk that was left over to make the the horchata.  Emily decided to make up her own recipe to an extent, as the recipe she had called for soaking rice in water for hours, straining it, and then blending the hell out of it to make rice milk.  Why bother when rice milk is readily available?  Basically all that was required was to pour the rice milk and the other milks into a saucepan with some sugar and cinnamon and regular milk and heat it up!

Once that was done, we put it in the freezer and let it cool off for a while.

This was all taking some time, mind you.  When Emily first arrived, she, Michael, and I all spent a couple hours catching up on all the hot gossip since we’d seen each other in October (was it that long ago!?).  Then Melissa arrived and since they didn’t know each other, they had to become fast friends.  Meanwhile, we had a 10 month old squealing at us.  And we were trying to make 3 or 4 different things at once!!!  It was wonderful chaos in the kitchen :-)

So, now it was time to stuff the empanadas and get them baking so we could make the chalupas.  I had vetoed the idea of putting olives in the empanadas, since I don’t like olives, and on Michael’s behalf, we agreed not to let raisins into the empanadas.  We added cheese and hard boiled eggs and while I rolled out the dough, Emily stuffed the empanadas and got them oven ready!  And look!  She brought me a real rolling pin!!!!!!  WAHOOO!!!!  No more using a wine bottle!!!!!

 

Yum!  A quick brush with some egg yolks and we were ready to roll!!!

Time to turn our attention to the chalupas.  Again this was a Pioneer Woman recipe, and we did make a modification for The General:  he didn’t get refried beans, while the rest of us did.  Emily was fully in charge of the chalupas as by now, the only thing keeping Leah calm was me sitting on the basement floor playing with her.  I felt like a heel in that I wasn’t helping and I wasn’t really learning, but I did make the chalupas again this week for dinner, so I can say honestly I have made them now and know how.  In addition to a traditional Mexican cheese blend, we used a Queso Fresco, which is a delicious crumbly Mexican cheese.  And we did use fat-free refried beans.

The directions are pretty simple, you fry up your corn tortillas in a little bit of oil on the stove until they are crispy on both sides, but haven’t turned brown.  I don’t know about Emily, but when I made them later in the week, I found that turning them pretty regularly and keeping the heat consistently on medium was the key to making it work.

Once the tortillas are are cooked, you spread each one with some refried beans and then top them with the cheese!  Then into the oven they go under the broiler until the cheese gets nice and bubbly.  We did keep a close eye on them while they were in there because broiling is very tricky and things burn very quickly.

Finally, it was time to eat!!!!!  I took the obligatory group shot of my guests:

…and we dished up and dined.  From the left, you can see the chalupas, the horchata, and the empanadas.  YUM!!!  It was time for The General’s obligatory first bite and he decided to go with the chalupas:

 Everything was absolutely DIVINE.  YUM!  I so enjoyed our tour of Central and South America on this one.  The horchata was very sweet and creamy, but the cinnamon was a nice touch too, kind of like an egg nog.  The chalupas were crispy and cheesy and gooey and delicious.  The empanadas were very filling and the crust was perfect while the filling was delicious. They had a real kick to them courtesy of the cayenne pepper.

After we stuffed ourselves, I made up some whipped cream to go atop the cake.  Leah decided to help by eating her first beater, and fingerpainting an obliging Melissa with whipped cream!  (God, I know she’s my kid, but she is SO STINKIN’ CUTE!)  Then Emily frosted the cake and added cherries to the top!  We put in a birthday candle since it was her birthday the day before and then it was time to eat some cake!

 

Oh my, what can I say about Tres Leches cake?  I have always been very hesitant to try it on account of the fact that I don’t tend to like things that are squishy from being in a liquid, but this was a-ma-zing!!!  YUM!!!

So all in all, an excellent meal with excellent company.  Hooray for cooking from south of our borders and thanks to Emily and Melissa for a wonderful Saturday!  Can’t wait for “ladies night”!

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Recipes

Horchata

1 box vanilla rice milk
1/3 can evaporated milk
1/3 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 T cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in sauce pan and heat over medium until cooked through.  Chill thoroughly.  Serve over ice.

Empanadas Chilenas

Crust:
1/4 lb. butter
2 c. flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 lg. egg
1/4+ c water

Cut butter into small cubes and mix with dry ingredients.  Mix in egg with flour mixture.  Slowly mix in water until dough is semi firm.  Shape into a ball and refrigerate at least 15 minutes.

Filling:
1/2 lb. boneless beef round steak, cut into 1/4 inch cubes (Chilean style) or 1/2 lb. ground beef (Argentina style)
1 c chopped onion
2 T cooking oil
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t oregano
Salt and Pepper
2 t flour
3 T raisins
1/3 c sliced green olives with pimientos
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped

In skillet, cook beef and onion in oil about 5 minutes until tender.  Add in spices and flour, remove from heat and let cool.

Assembly:

Divide dough into 8 portions and roll each portion into a 6 inch circle.  On half of each circle, place 3 T meat, 1 t raisins, some olives, and some eggs.  Fold over remaining dough and press edges closed to seal.  Brush empanadas with egg yolk.  Bake in 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

Ecuador and Emily!

So a few weeks ago, I was looking back over the 80 Plates blog and saw I had a couple comments--my first comments ever! I was so excited! I opened the first and it was from my friend Emily. I've known Emily for nearly 5 years, although we haven't hung out a whole lot, mainly because I've been down here and she's up north, but thanks to the magic of Facebook, we've reconnected! So her comment read that if I ever wanted Ecuadorian recipes, I should let her know. I dropped her a line that, yes, I would love to have some and would she want to be a guest chef? She said she would, so we made plans and this weekend she came down and we caught up, hung out, cooked, and ate! :-) I was doubly excited about this, because Ecuador is a country I hold very dear to my heart. My family hosted an exchange student from Ecuador from 1995-1996 and he is still very much a part of our family. So to taste a dish that my brother Franc might enjoy was very exciting indeed.

Emily's mom married an Ecuadorian fellow back in the day and put together a cookbook with a bunch of recipes from all over Latin America. Emily brought it with her, and as you can see, we all had a nice giggle over the old school Print Shop cover of "La Cocina Hispana". Emily selected two of her favorite recipes, Pollos Borrachos (Drunken Chicken) and Tia Nicolina (Corn Casserole) and a new one to try Crema de Chocolate (Chocolate Mousse). She has generously agreed that I can share the recipes here, so at the end, I'll post the recipes for you to try if you want to! Emily also generously provided all the groceries and when Leah got crabby from her cold, Emily did most of the cooking. Emily is officially one of my heroes of 2009!

We decided to start with the Crema de Chocolate since it needed time to rest after being made. The recipe calls for just 5 ingredients, so it's super simple to make. I got to work melting chocolate and butter together while Emily separated the eggs. She was really excited to get to use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, and I was somewhat surprised that it didn't find its way into her bag at the end of the night--it was love at first mix! :-)




After the chocolate was melted and the whites were whipped with some sugar, we tempered the egg yolks with a bit of the warm chocolate so we wouldn't make scrambled eggs. Eventually, Emily had about half the chocolate in with the eggs and the eggs were good and tempered and not scrambling, so we put the chocolate-egg mixture into the pan with the rest of the chocolate and cooked it again for a couple of minutes. Once it looked right, it was time to add the egg whites!




We folded the entire thing together until it become a wonderful mousse. Emily topped it with a bit of orange peel (I didn't know they sold that in jars in the spice aisle!). It was then supposed to chill for several hours, but we only had about an hour and a half till supper time, so we decided to put it into the deep freeze.





Then we moved on to Tia Nicolina, the corn casserole. This was not a terribly difficult dish to make, mainly because Leah started throwing a total hissy fit in the midst of the preparations and Emily took over :-)

I helped with the food processor bit, though! I processed 2/3 of the corn into shrapnel which was fun. I think processing frozen things is good for sharpening the blades too, so that was a bonus. (Or at least, my manual suggests occasionally chopping up ice cubes in there to keep the blades sharp.)



Emily meanwhile beat butter in a dish until it was fluffy, and then added cornmeal, brown sugar, cream cheese, and salt to the corn I had processed and the whole corn that had been left alone. It was really starting to smell just fantastic! She let the mixer do the hard work towards the end, and I don't blame her one bit! That's what that stand mixer is for!









Once that was completed, it was time to assemble the casserole! Emily explained that what would typically be done was that the casserole dish would be lined with corn husks, the filling would go into the husks, and then the husks would be folded over top of the casserole and that would be how you would bake it. She declined to do that this time, so we went ahead and used aluminum foil in place of the corn husks. To assemble the casserole was quite simple. She poured in one half of the corn mixture, and then spread green chilis over top of it. Then she sprinkled a half pound of Monterey Jack cheese (can't be bad!) and covered it with the remaining corn mixture. Voila, it was ready to bake for one hour!






The final piece of the Ecuadorian puzzle was Pollos Borrachos, or Drunken Chicken. Emily describes this as her ultimate comfort food, the thing she goes to when she needs a taste of home. Again, I was more or less forced to take a back seat in the kitchen by my cranky daughter, but Emily was an awesome sport about it and said she really enjoys cooking so she was happy to do it. (Leah is back in training to become human this week! You're in my army now, Kosior!)

In a Dutch oven, Emily heated up some oil and sauteed some onions and parsley that she had chopped up, along with some sesame seeds that she had not. What cracked me up about her cooking style was that she said she needed a tablespoon of seeds and when they got away from her and more like a quarter cup went in the pot, she shrugged and said something to the effect of, "That's how I roll." I have to get on board that train--I would have been attempting to pick out sesame seeds and somehow measure them!

Once that was done, Emily added a pile of chicken thighs. They had to be browned on all sides, so it took a while. Leah decided Emily needed help, so she guarded over the ingredients while Emily cooked.



Once the chicken was cooked up nicely, it was time to add spices. These were cinnamon, bay, cloves, and to make the chicken drunk, Emily added white wine. She said sherry would be more traditional, but she didn't have any on hand and white wine works fine. She also added vinegar and a bottle of olives, because she loves olives--only 16 were called for total, but she tossed in all of them, juice and all!



And then it was time to let everything do its thing and cook!! When it emerged from the oven and from the stove top, none of us could wait to dig in. The chicken made the kitchen smell so warm and inviting. I usually am not too sure if I'm going to like a savory dish made with spices I typically associate with baking, but one sniff and I knew I was going to love this chicken. The corn casserole was also smelling fantastic!




Our happy dinner party...



Michael's ceremonial first bite and my plate...




Oh. My. God.

It was amazing beyond all expectations. The chicken tasted so warm and happy and I can definitely see why you could find comfort in it. It tasted like home at the holidays. The corn had a real zippy flavor and was cheesy and warm and melty and crunchy. I had 3 helpings. I couldn't help it! It was so good!

It was with great sadness we finished but excitement in that we knew the crema was waiting for us! We removed it from the freezer and it was looking just fine. We dished it up and served it with a little bit of light Cool Whip--you know, because we are calorie conscious! :-) The chocolate was smooth and rich and heavenly--you would NEVER know that it had been made with eggs. It was like the best chocolate mousse I've ever tasted, and I usually make mine with heavy cream. It was a lot denser than a typical mousse. The only thing we all agreed upon was that we couldn't really taste the orange peel. Emily suggested that next time she makes it, she's going to add the orange peel in with the chocolate when it's melting to try and infuse the flavor throughout the chocolate and I think that will probably work!



Muchas gracias, Emily, I so enjoyed our visit and your cooking lesson! I'm super excited that Emily has volunteered to come back and teach me to make empanadas for Mexican night :-) Keep an eye out for a future episode starring this talented gal!

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As promised, here are the family recipes we prepared.

Crema de Chocolate

8 ounces sweet baking chocolate
1/3 c. butter
4 eggs, separated
2 T sugar
Finely chopped orange peel

In a small, heavy saucepan, melt chocolate and butter together over low heat, stirring constantly. Beat together egg yolks, and gradually stir about half the chocolate mixture into the yolks. Return all to saucepan and combine all chocolate with egg mixture. Cook and stir for 2 more minutes until thick and glossy. Cool to room temperature.

Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Add sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Fold in chocolate mixture and chill for several hours. Serve topped with chopped orange peel and whipped cream.

Pollos Borrachos (Drunken Chicken)

2 3 lb. broiler fryers, quartered
1 1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/4 c. oil
3 onions, sliced
1/4 c. chopped parsley
2 T. sesame seeds
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1/4 t cloves
1 c white whine OR sherry
2 T vinegar
16 green olives

In large pan or Dutch oven, heat oil. Saute onions, parsley, and sesame seeds till onions are soft. Add chicken and cook over medium heat until brown on all sides. Add spices and cook a minute or two. Add alcohol, vinegar, and olives and simmer covered for 45 minutes until chicken is tender.

Tia Nicolina

3 cups frozen corn or 12 ears corn on the cob, corn removed
1 c. butter, room temperature
3/4 c. fine yellow cornmeal
1/4 c. brown sugar
3 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 t salt
1/3 c. heavy cream
1/2 lb. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
4 oz. green chilies

Heat oven to 375. Puree 2 cups of corn in food processor in several batches. Beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in cornmeal, sugar, cream cheese, and salt. Stir in reserved corn kernels and corn puree. Blend in cream. Pour half corn mixture into baking dish lined with corn husks. Smooth top. Cover with chilies and cheese. Add remaining corn mixture and fold husks over top of casserole to cover. Bake 1 hour.