As I write this my fingertips are still smeared with the grease from the "patacones" and "bolones de queso" that Andrea (AKA: Ecuadorian candy, ethnic food chef, best roomie ever..) made for us...and boy, were they gooood. These little discs of savory, crunchy, greasy, gold are popular snacks in Ecuador. The first are simply plantain slices fried in oil, smashed down and fried again. Add salt and you've got the more exotic version of home fries. The second were about the same, but instead the plantain is first broiled, then mashed around a core of soft cheese (she used a mozzarella), creating little plantain balls. Then, you guessed it, into the oil. After letting some paper towels absorb the excess oil, and sprinkling them with salt...it's time to munch. They're crispy on the outside, slightly soft in the middle, and just plain satisfying.
And then there was the salad. Yum. She diced and sautéed onions and tomatoes until they were soft and saucy (very professional culinary vocab, I know). Let the mixture cool a bit, while I grated the left over mozzarella. Then we added both to the bowl of lettuce and topped with a splash of lemon juice. Our poorly supplied kitchen lacks forks so we got creative and began using the plantain discs to scoop the saucy salad...I don't think we spoke until we were done eating it all. Not that it took us very long to devour it.
Needless to say, for the little effort we have put into cooking, what effort we have put in has created some amazing results.
Our first time was just 2 weeks ago (we only have access to the kitchen on weekends) when we made steak with a sautéed veggie medley of tomatoes, mushrooms, squash, onions, and garlic. The great success of this meal was the discovery of cheap bags of spices from the little fruit stands that are open late. For less than 50cents we got 3 bags of chimmi-churry, oregano, and a curry. We rubbed the steaks with a concoction of these spices, mustard, and oil...while the veggies and spices with soy sauce cooked down in another pan. While those were going we made a simple salad of these awesome buttery greens and tomato with lemon juice. Ecuadorian candy whipped up a huge batch of creamy guacamole, and we assembled the plates. Needless to say when we walked into the kitchen, we were not the only ones admiring our impromptu dinner.
Maybe I have a future in culinary after all.... but I guess we'll just have to keep testing things to make sure I'm not mistaken!
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