Costa Rica: 39/52

Patacones (Deep Fried Plantains)

Living in Brooklyn, we regularly see bunches of plantains at the grocery store, but have never really thought to purchase them – until now! For Costa Rica week tried our hand at patacones, which are twice fried plantains. Soft on the inside and a little crispy on the outside, they’re the perfect (healthy-ish?) snack!

The Dish

The recipe comes courtesy of Cooking with a Broad. It’s a very simple recipe that can be summed up by a few steps.

1. Cut plantains into 1/4 inch thick pieces
2. Fry until light brown
3. SMASH
4. Fry again

We served the patacones with pico de gallo to add some color to the dish (we followed this simple recipe from All Recipes)

 

Did we mention that it was a dollar for 4 plantains? +1 for capitalism

Pre-smash plantains have no idea what they’re in for

The Verdict

We’d venture to say that ANYTHING deep fried twice turns out delicious, and plantains are no exception. The outer edges of the patacones are crispy while the thicker inside parts have a consistency similar to yams or potatoes.

We served them with pico de gallo initially but actually found sour cream to be a better complement. Either way you prefer them, eat them quickly as they tend to get soggy over time. The day after we made these, we heating the leftovers up in a frying pan, and they were back to their crispy delicious selves.

Post-smash plantains know how delicious they are

Iraq: 38/52

Dolma

Dolma can refer to a family of stuffed vegetable dishes originating in the Middle East, but this week we’re trying the Iraqi variant which uses grape leaves. Featuring cilantro, parsley, and mint, it’s a healthy and flavorful snack that’s also really fun to make!

The Dish

We halved this recipe from Saveur. We didn’t have apricots or red currant jelly so we substituted with more raisins and strawberry jam. Also, if you’ve never purchased grape leaves before they can be tough to find – we found ours near near the olives.

Doesn’t get much healthier than this, folks

The Verdict

The stuffing in this recipe is the real deal – the rice soaks up all the chicken stock and provides a great savory contrast to the sweetness of the raisins and jam.

The recipe simply said to drain and rinse the grape leaves, but next time we’ll probably soak them for 10-20 minutes and then rinse, as some other recipes call for. We found that these grape leaves were still a bit too brine-y.

Also, the wrapping process can be a bit tricky since the grape leaves are shaped like, well, leaves, and don’t always wrap around the stuffing completely. We tried double wrapping some of the dolmas to get a better seal, but they were tougher to eat so we don’t recommend it.

Some learning pains with this recipe, but we know exactly what to do to improve next time!

Italy: 36/52

Tagliatelle Pasta

E has wanted to make her own homemade pasta for years. S didn’t know that homemade pasta was even a thing. When Italy came up on our list of countries, pasta was the obvious choice. This was easily one of the most fun (and physical) recipes we’ve tried so far!

The Dish

We have learned that pasta is more about technique rather than the recipe (it’s just flour and egg). We grabbed the “recipe” from the Italyum blog which has great pictures to guide us through the floury mess.

Somehow this becomes pasta

The beginning of the science experiment

How Tony Soprano got those abs of steel

No fingers were lost in the making of this pasta

The Aftermath

The Verdict

You’re going to need (KNEAD?!) a lot of space and a good amount of time for this recipe. Kneading the dough and then rolling it out were fairly laborious processes – by the end S and E were both pooped!

With that said, the entire process is a lot of fun. It almost feels like some sort of arts and crafts project until you realize at the end that you can eat what you’ve created.

We didn’t want to mask the flavor of the pasta with any strong sauces, so we opted for a simple pasta dish with tomatoes, basil, and parmesan cheese. Delicious!!

 

Venezuela: 35/52

Salsa Carioca

E was out of town for work, so S rolled up his sleeves and gave this relatively simple Venezuelan salad a shot. The hot sauce dressing gives this salad a nice kick, and you really can’t go wrong when avocado and tomato are chilling together in the same dish.

The Dish

We pulled this recipe from Varada’s Kitchen. It’s as simple as cutting up all the vegetables, mixing together a dressing of hot sauce, vinegar, and olive oil, and tossing them all together.

 The Verdict

This is a great recipe to have in the back pocket. It’s more filling than a regular salad of leafy greens but just as easy to make – aside from hard boiling the egg, the entire process probably took less than 10 minutes. One note: go a little light on the onion (lighter than what the recipe calls for) – your loved ones will thank you.

Cambodia: 34/52

Phnom Penh

S and E are not eating the capital of Cambodia… today. We did, however, make a delicious noodle soup dish that carries its name. Phnom Penh is a pork-based noodle soup, topped with pork meatballs, shrimp, and other wonderful fixins. The pork stock takes awhile to prepare, but we are happy with the results!

The Dish

Our recipe comes from the Rasa Malaysia blog (also featured in Indonesia: 16/52). The dish starts off with a homemade pork stock. E scored some pork bones from our local grocery store (carefully avoiding the knuckles and snouts) and set off to boil some bones for 3 hours with some aromatics.

Next, the base is enhanced with coriander seeds, Sichuan peppercorns, white peppercorns and cloves. Top it off with rice noodles, mini pork meatballs, shrimp, bean sprouts, fish sauce, crispy shallots, cilantro and a squeeze of lime (say that 20 times fast). At this point, E is getting mighty proud of her extensive spice/condiment cabinet.

 

The Verdict

This dish is super comforting and reminds us of the Pho we would eat on cold winter days or when we were hungov…or in the snow. The extensive prep for the broth pays off and we still get that tingly feeling from the Sichuan peppercorns. S is all about the extra shrimp and pork meatballs.

This dish left us slurping and asking for seconds!

Assembling the “phnom”-enal dish

(ph)nom (ph)nom (ph)nom

New Zealand: 33/52

Beef Wellington

Beef Wellington has been on E’s list of cooking goals (dreams?) for quite some time. Beef with mushrooms, wrapped in puff pastry. Let’s be honest, many of E’s dreams include puff pastry. Beef Wellington hails from Wellington, New Zealand, obviously. Wellingtons are a staple of the Kiwi diet and often served with a hefty helping of Marmite.*

*Disclaimer: Like the KFC chicken recipe, the origin of Beef Wellington is strongly debated in the culinary world. We’d like to believe it is actually from New Zealand and not named after an English Duke. Plus, E couldn’t muscle the courage to make a dish with Marmite, so this was the better alternative… Sorry NZ.

The Dish

The recipe did in fact come from a NZ source! We opted for beef over the lamb version. E brined the beef before wrapping in sautéed mushrooms and puff pastry.

Call it a glorified hot pocket if you want, but it’s darn tasty

 

The Verdict

The Wellingtons were a success! The beef remained moist and (mostly) medium rare. The mushrooms had a hint of dijon which added a nice zestyness to the dish. We served these with some oven-baked swiss chard topped with breadcrumbs and Swiss cheese for a balanced meal that any cardiologist would be sure to approve! (okay, maybe not).

M is mesmerized by that golden flaky Wellington

 

Brazil: 32/52

Salpicão

Two weeks of Olympic coverage of the Rio Games had us eager to try out this week’s dish, Salpicão, or Brazilian Chicken Salad. Salpicão is a popular side dish packed with color, crunch, and flavor. At first, E was skeptical of the odd mix of ingredients. S had his fork ready.

The Dish

There are a lot of variations of Salpicão, but this one is from the book “This is Brazil: Home-Style Recipes and Street Food” by Fernanda de Paula and Shelley Hepworth. The recipe is worth sharing here:

Mix together:

smoked chicken breast, 2 shredded carrots, 1 diced green apple, 1/2 diced red onion

…stay with me here…

and 6.5 oz frozen corn , 3.5 oz frozen peas, 3.5 oz green olives, 1/2 c of raisins, 1/2 cup mayonaise. Top with crispy/fried julienned potatoes, chives and parsley.

corn, olives and apple in one recipe… who knew?

The Verdict

Somehow, all of the different textures and flavors work perfectly together. This is a dish of contrasts that all work to complement each other, and the sum is definitely greater than the parts. The dish is best right after the potatoes have been fried up – it’s a french fry salad of sorts that is way more sophisticated and delicious than it sounds!

succulent chicken, crispy potato, and zesty olives. So good!

 

Peru: 30/52

Pollo a la Brasa

How on earth could we not do Peruvian chicken on Peru week? This dish involves a little bit of labor, but it is well worth it. This roasted chicken for 6… erm 2, is served with a spicy “green sauce”.

The Dish

The recipe is simple, but takes some time. First, the chicken is marinated for at least 6 hours in a blend of spices, garlic, olive oil (ours is from our trip from Spain!) and lime juice. Then it’s roasted in the oven ’til it is crisp and juicy.

The “green sauce” is a mix of jalapeno, cilantro, lime, mayo and yogurt for a cool/spicy sauce. The recipe makes a hefty portion, but we were glad we didn’t skimp on any ingredients.

Put the spice cabinet to work — paprika, cumin, oregano, pepper, sugar and salt make up most of the marinade

The Verdict

We somehow managed to cook a whole bird in our teeny little oven. The marinade worked wonders on the bird. We’ve all made dry, tasteless chicken before, and this was the complete opposite – juicy and full of flavor. Next time we might try roasting at 425F a little longer than the 20 minutes the recipe called for to get the skin even crispier.

The green sauce was a revelation, with its spicy kick and creamy texture. We had leftovers from this meal and made some chicken burritos and salad with the green sauce, and it may be our new favorite condiment.

If Norman Rockwell ever painted Peruvian chickens…

 

M waiting patiently for a nibble of crispy skin

 

Jordan: 28/52

Mouttabal

Mouttabal! Yeah, we had never heard of it either. In the states, Baba Ghanoush, a similar eggplant based dip, is more well-known and available. But this blog and year is about trying new things, so we gave it a shot!

The Dish

We followed the recipe from this blog post here. We were excited to roast the eggplant on our stovetop, as it’s a technique we often see on cooking shows but have never really tried ourselves. The recipe called for 30 minutes of stovetop roasting, but we split that time between stovetop and oven, as constantly turning the eggplant can get pretty exhausting!

Time to whip out the Tahini from the back of the fridge!

 

Sous chef M helped retrieve the fresh parsley out of our little herb garden

 

Grilling on the stovetop. As fun as it looks!

The Verdict

Mouttabal is a dip, so of course we served it with some lightly baked pita bread.

Like Baba Ghanoush, Mouttabal is smoky (thanks to the stovetop roasting) and the primary ingredient is eggplant, but the comparisons pretty much stop there. The tahini and yogurt make it a much creamier, heavier dip than Baba Ghanoush, not unlike hummus, and it seems like a very versatile dish.

Easy to make, simple ingredients, and delicious. We’ll keep this one around!

Philippines: 26/52

Bihon Pancit

It’s noodle time. Bihon Pancit is a popular sweet/savory street dish from the Philippines made with rice noodles. There seem to be hundreds of different varieties, but for our version we opted for chicken and veggies from our local farmers market.

The Dish

Our recipe came from Pickled Plum. We included baby bok choy, carrots, scallions, onions, garlic and chicken. The dish is finished with a dash of sugar, soy sauce, and oyster sauce.

The Verdict

The noodles soak up all the chicken broth and sauces so they come out tender and full of flavor. The oyster sauce gives it a slight fishy taste, and yet the dish was light and refreshing – perfect for the CAT days of summer (that one is for M).

Like everything else noodley, Sriracha is the perfect condiment to this meal!

Satisfying, slurpy noodles