So, Ecuador ended up being a family affair. A few kiddos helped out in the prep and I was in the kitchen with DJ most of the day. It was actually nice to be in there with him, but I told him that if the weather was warmer, I would have bailed on him! I also secretly wanted to eat at a decent time and get ahead of the mountain of dishes that are always staring at me at the end of the night.
Here is Belle rolling out the dough to make the sweet rolls. However, when I wasn't looking, half of the dough was missing and she was eating it! #whereweretheparents
Kui and Belle helped shuck the corn.
Kui was in charge of flipping the corn on the grill.
So, I had to take a picture of this because I was laughing so hard when I turned around and saw this! Now, I have seen it all. He was trying to melt the sugar for the suspiros.
Here is the menu. Wow, my handwriting looks a bit terrible and slanted. I decided to use the markerboard side of the easel this time. We also found the flag downstairs. The kids ended up spending too much time outside and didn't dress up or prepare any song/play.
Arvejas con guineo
This is traditionally supposed to be split pea and green banana soup, but DJ couldn't find split peas. He used black eyed peas instead with the green bananas. I have to admit that this soup doesn't look very appetizing, but it is a very hearty soup, especially good for our meatless Lenten dinners.
Pan dulce de Ecuador
I ended up helping my boo with these sweet rolls. Don't mind the crazy distorted shapes. They went a little crazy in the oven. These were scrumptious. After they came out of the oven, I slathered them in melted butter and sprinkled them with sugar! I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to double the recipe. It made 30 rolls! Enough to feed our large family.
Llapingachos con ensalada de tomate y cebolla con aquacate
This Ecuadorian salad was a little iffy for me at first. It called for avocados. I wasn't sure how those would do with the tomato and onions. I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty it was and it paired great with the potato cakes (Llapingachos) that are seen in the picture below.
Maiz a la parrilla con cilantro queso fresco salsa
This picture has a few things, but I spoke about the top two above. The grilled corn was absolutely delicious. It was a special treat to have grilled corn so early in the year. DJ made this delicious sauce for it that had garlic, cilantro, and sour cream I think. Either way, I could have eaten 3 ears of corn, pregnant or not!
Empanadas de verde con queso
Ok. So these are empanadas made out of green plantain dough stuffed with cheese. OMG! I'm not sure what this man of mine was thinking, but these were an absolute disaster. He was putting raw hunks of plantain into the food processor mixed with grated plantains. The food processor didn't know what the heck was going on and just started making this horrible noise, stinking up the joint, and I'm sure if you looked hard enough, you could have seen smoke coming from the motor! Disaster, disaster, disaster! He added water and oil I think to make it into a mush he called dough. Then he bailed on it and gave it over to me to try and salvage it. I added almost 3 cups of flour to make it into something I could work with and then spent another 30 minutes picking out hunks of raw plantains. I mean how can you roll out your dough with huge hunks. Anyway....I was polite about the matter and just did my best. I managed to be able to roll them out a bit, stuff them with beans, cheese, and green onions, and fry them. We had to improvise and pour some of the sauce from the corn on them because they had an indescribable flavor. Yikes!
Suspiros
Ahhh.....dessert. DJ decided to make two for this country. He said that's how much he loves me. Ha! I made the cake below and he made these. P. U. R. E. sugar is all I have to say. These were delicious straight from the oven. They tasted like cotton candy. They hardened a bit and became a little less chewy the next day, but equally delicious.
Tres Leche Cake
So, don't laugh at this picture. DJ said that we need to spiffy up our pictures so he told me to take it next to the flowers (as if I'm going to become some professional food blogger or something!) Anyway, at least you can see the cake. It was very interesting to make. I wasn't sure what to think when I poured my milk mixture over the cake and it started to float in the casserole dish! After quite a few hours, I was pleasantly surprised to see that all of the milk had soaked into the cake leaving it very spongy. I toasted some coconut to go on top of the delicious whipped icing.
Mumbs has the next choice of country and guess what she chose?!?! CHINA! Stay tuned.
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