CHILE - There's something fishy going on!

And so now on to Chile, our final country in South America!

The shape of Chile is a distinctive ribbon of land 4,300 kilometres (2,700 mi) long and on average 175 kilometres (109 mi) wide, stretching from the world’s driest desert – the Atacama in the north, to the ice fields of Patagonia in the south. With the Pacific ocean off it’s west coast and the Andes on the east, seafood is a prime part of the diet.

There’s something fishy going on in Chile!

Arriving from the icy cold glaciers of Patagonia, we spent 3 days aboard the good ship NAVIMAG ( a cargo ship converted to carry passengers) with our destination of Puerto Montt in Chiles Lake district. The harbour town is famed for it’s seafood, caught fresh each day and brought in to the fish market. A wander round there was certainly an experience! Lots of weird and wonderful shellfish, crustaceans and fish. The stallholders keenly give you samples as you go round, so we braved some (others we politely skipped!!)

Quite a selection of shellfish!

Giant mussels

King Crab

What on earth is that?!

and look what comes out the middle!!

Dry it, string it up and there you have the local delicacy - Picorocos

Curanto
One of the local specialities of Puerto Montt is a seafood dish called Curanto. It is traditionally made by digging a big hole in the ground and adding heated stones and then layers of mussels, cockles and other seafood,  covered with a huge leaf on the plant Nalca, then  a layer of chicken, sausage, another layer of leaves, then vegetables and cakes of sausage and seaweed. Covered over with more leaves it is than cooked away for hours to make a tasty soup. Served with lemon and bread, it was a pretty hearty lunch!!

CHILE - Coffee with legs (Cafés con piernas)

Another particular Santiago custom is Coffee on Legs.  There are lots of coffee shops around the city and business district, mainly favoured by male clientele due to the coffee being served by waitresses in very short skirts!! Maybe we went too early in the morning, or went to the wrong one, but Dean was a bit disappointed by the  glamorous grannies! Sorry no photos!!!

I did find this on Youtube though!! We didn't go anywhere quite like this!

WARNING - This contains explicit footage!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjih8qr0pY

CHILE - Hearty snacks in Santiago

And so here we were, our final stop in South America – Santiago. Again being in a big city food was available everywhere!! One of the favourites in Santiago was the good old Empanada. A wee bit different from the Argentinian and Bolivian version, the Chilean ones - apart from being folded in a different way, have spices as well as olives, raisins and a hard boiled egg.

Recipe for Chilean Empanadas -

makes 12 (from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/chilean-empanada/detail.aspx)


Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound ground pork
3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped black olives
1 cup water
1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 cup lukewarm milk
1 cup shortening, melted
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs, beaten

Directions
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat; cook the onion, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper in the melted butter until the onion is golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the ground pork and cook until completely browned, 7 to 10 minutes more; drain the fat from the skillet. Stir the eggs, raisins, and olives into the mixture. Whisk the water and cornstarch together in a small bowl; pour into the skillet and stir until the liquid thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.
Whisk the milk and melted shortening together in a bowl until evenly blended. Stir the flour and salt together in a separate large bowl. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and whisk until well mixed into a dough. Set aside to rest for 10 minutes.
Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Place the dough onto a lightly-floured board and roll to about 1/8-inch thick; cut into circles with a round cookie cutter or glass. Drop equal portions of the pork mixture into the center of each circle. Fold each circle in half and press edges with a fork to seal. Brush the tops of the empanadas with beaten egg.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes.


Other Chilean dishes we tried -

Carne los pobres - basically steak, chips topped with fried eggs! Dean was in heaven!

Pastela de choclo - a huge bowl of maize, chicken, minced beef, olives and cheese baked in the oven. There was no way I was finished this, it was bigger than my head!!

Italiano – basically a hot dog with avocado, mayo and tomato ketchup – the colours of the Italian flag!

CHILE - A light refreshment

To beat the heat of the city, stalls over town sell the refreshing drink Mote con Huesillo.  We'd first seen this in street stalls in Bolivia and had wondered what on earth it was, some shrivelled potato at the bottom of a glass of foosty looking water! Didn't look too appetising! The Chilean version was much more inviting, especially on a hot day!!

JJ and Dean enjoy a mote in the park

Here is it's definition courtesy of Wikipedia -

Mote con huesillo is a traditional Chilean summer-time drink, known as the “refreshing national drink.” It is a non-alcoholic beverage consisting of a sweet clear nectar like liquid made with dried peaches (huesillo) cooked in sugar,water and cinnamon, and then once cooled mixed with fresh cooked husked wheat (mote).[1] The sweet clear nectar is usually made with sugar, but can also be supplemented or replaced with honey. When the drink is served without the dried peaches, it is called a “descarozados.” On occasion, it may also be served with dried prunes, however this is less common.


Our last helados from Rosa’s famous heladeria. This was THE best dulche de leche ice cream I’d tasted!!

Worth the wait?

This was THE best dulche de leche ice cream I’d tasted!!

And our last Pisco sour!!

Well, that's us for South America, many a new dish sampled from frogs to llama, chocolates, ice cream, steak, wine and lots and lots of cakes!! Many ideas to try out back home!!


So now on to the Antipodes, first stop New Zealand, famous for lamb, pies and the great debate of who is the owner of the Pavlova - The Kiwis or the Aussies?? Will just have to sample them both to find out which is best!!

ARGENTINA - Muchos Carnes

Argentina
So now on to country number 3 and to find out what culinary delights it has on offer.

BEEF
Argentina is renowned for producing the world's best beef, and consumes more per capita than any other country (70kg per head!!). As well as the prime cuts, they don't waste anything, with Parillas (steakhouses)offering mixed grills (Parilladas) containing chorizo sausage, costillas (ribs), chinchulines (small intestines), tripa gorda (large intestines), mollejas (thymus gland or sweetbreads), ubre (udder), rinones (kidneys) and morcilla (blood sausage).  Hmmmm?! Might try the morcillas as a comparison with Stornoway Black pudding, but think I'll leave the rest to Dean!!

Why is it so good?

When the Spaniards came over to Argentina, bringing cows with them, they attempted to colonize the large pampas areas, which although didn't prove easy for the Spaniards (and they moved north to Peru), the cows loved it! Freely roaming  and feasting on the lush fertile plains of  pampas grass, and today, without the corn, antibiotics and hormones of American and European beef herds, makes it a much tastier meat!
Traditionally families get together on a Sunday either at their homes or in parks and have asado’s (barbeques). Luckily for us lots of the hostels also put on asado’s, so plenty meat to sample! By far our best osada experience was in El Calafate, where we leant the fine art of cooking meat! Sure puts our little disposable barbies to shame!!

The gauchos get the fire going and prepare the meat.

Coming along nicely!

Just a wee bit more heat!

Perfecto!!

ARGENTINA -The national drink - Mate

Drinking Mate with Santiago

Another of the Argentinian traditions is the drinking of mate (pronounced mah-tey). Everywhere you go you will see Argentinians carrying thermos flasks for their favourite hot drink. Again it is a fine art, and one that has taken Dean a good lot of practice and advice from the locals!

Mate is a drink (almost like a green tea) made from the dried crushed leaves of a holly like plant - the yerba. What you will need for a perfect mate are the yerba, a gourd (drinking vessel made traditionally of a dried pumpkin like plant, though can also be wooden), a bombilla ( a metal straw with filter on the end)  and a thermos of hot water of the exact temperature (not boiling!), then follows the very complex instructions below!!

1. Heat up a pot of water to 83 degrees (Do not boil!) Apparently according to our yerba-maister you can tell 83 degrees by the sound of the air bubbles!?) Once at this temperature put into a thermos flask.
2. Into your gourd pour the yerba mate leaf to about 2/3rds full. Cover with your hand and turn  it upside down and tap it a couple of times to mix the leaves.
3. Holding it at a 45 degree angle so the mixture is along one side of the gourd, add some luke warm water to the bare side of the gourd to wet the mate, and let it sit for about a minute.
4. Then add in the hotter water from the flask to the gourd until almost full.
5. Cover the top of the metal straw (bombilla) with your thumb and firmly push in to the bottom of the gourd (not stirring).
6. Sip from the bombilla until all the water has gone, refill with water and pass it to the next person.

The perfect mate is a fine art! Water too hot and the yerba will taste burnt and bitter. Mate drinking is a real tradition and part of the Argentinian social culture. Friends get together to drink mate, sharing round the cup, almost like smoking a pipe and passing it on .

One person ( the cerebador) is responsible for making the mate. He will make it and pass it to the first person to drink. If they want more they will hand the gourd back to the cerebador to refill, and if they've had enough will say 'Thank you' and hand it back to the cerebador who will then prepare another one for the next person, and so on, through day and night!

Packets of Yerba and gourds

Dean gets the taste for it!

ARGENTINA - The Swiss , the Welsh and the Germans of Bariloche

Bariloche in the Lake district of Northern Patagonia is a ski resort town and has a real alpine feel to it. It is the main ski resort town of Argentina with the resort Catedral about 10km along the road.
The Swiss settled here, so there are many alpine features, wooden chalets, fondues, strudel and chocolate. A wander round town was a sweet-toothed paradise!

Swiss strudel

Bariloche - A chocolate lover's paradise!!

 and of course ice cream!!

The Welsh


As well as the Swiss, the Welsh settled in Patagonia (wanting to get as far away from any neighbours as possible!). They mainly headed to the east of Patagonia to form the towns of Gaiman and Trelew, but we managed to find one Welsh descendent near Bariloche with a lovely guest house and tea room. Perfect location, right at the end of our 25km cycle!!

Welsh afternoon tea

And the Germans

And one for the road home. Many little artesan breweries have popped up around Bariloche!

Luckily we were here for a few days, so plenty time to walk and cycle in amongst all the eating and drinking!!

To get in the mood for Christmas!

Recipe for chocolate and dulce de leche truffles

120g / 4 oz vanilla/plain cookies, or sponge cake (madeira)
100g / 3.5 oz chocolate cookies
250g / 9oz dulce de leche
50g / 1.5 oz dark chocolate (grated)
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 tablespoon hot water
Alternatives for coating:
50g dessicated coconut, chopped almonds or vermicilli
30g cocoa powder

1. In a bowl, crumble the biscuits/sponge.
2. Dissolve the coffee in the hot water.
3. Add all ingredients and mix with your hands until a good firm mixture.
4. Divide into small portions and roll in to balls about the size of a nut.
5. Roll in the toppings and serve in small paper cases.

ARGENTINA - Wine and Chocolates in Mendoza

The area of Mendoza is famous throughout the world for the production of great quality Argentinian red wines especially Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon.  There are hundreds of wineries around the region, producing wine mainly for export.

The growing of vines began with the Jesuits developing vinyards  in northern Argentina over 500 years ago, then with the arrival of the Spanish, French and Italian, all bringing with them their own varieties in the 19th century, the wine industry really took off.

Mendoza is a perfect area for vines due to a number of reasons – Sunshine - it’s pretty constant summer! It’s in a dry desert area with very little rainfall, so water is regulated and piped in from the snowmelt of the Andes.  Altitude – There are varying altitudes around Mendoza, with some grapes growing better at higher altitudes than others. Mendoza is between 900m and 1800m perfect for its Malbec! The final reason is the variance in temperature between night and day. Warm days encourage sugar production and allow the grapes to develop a nice thick skin, and the cool nights ensure good acidity levels.

With all those facts after touring round the wineries by bike, we had good chance to sample quite a few!!

A nice wee Rose with the vinyard's son.

The vines of Mendoza

We spent a great day cycling around the wineries of Chacras near Mendoza, and ended the day at a lovely little rustic chocolate shop - . The owner Nora grows all her own fruit, bakes her own cakes, jams and pickles, and makes chocolates (from her Swiss husband’s family recipes handed down through generations), and the highlights – home made Dulce de Leche and liqueurs.  Whilst we were there a real bad storm was brewing outside, blowing up dust and bringing down trees so Nora insisted we stay, and with a plate of chocolates and a glass of home made absynthe how could we refuse!

Nora’s Dulce de Leche - 4 hours hard work stirring milk and sugar  in her copper pot!

Some good strong absynthe after all those wines!

A great place to seek refuge from the storm!

Buying a jar of chocolate dulce de leche, which I’m hoping makes it to Australia for Christmas, Nora recommended making a caramel flan (like egg custard/crème caramel) with it which is popular to have on Christmas Day, so fingers crossed!

Meanwhile outside....!

Recipe for Flanes de Dulce de Leche
250g / 9 oz sugar 220g dulce de leche
50ml water 3 eggs
500ml milk 3 egg yolks
1. Place in a pan 150g (5oz) of the sugar and the water. Boil until dissolved into a caramel. Divide the liquid into the dishes and leave to cool.
2. Heat the milk along with the dulce de leche and half the remaining sugar (50g), stirring until dissolved, then remove from the heat before it boils.
3. Beat the eggs, yolks and the rest of the sugar, then pour on top the cool milk mixture without parting the mix ???? Check the Spanish translation!!
4. Colar ??? and separate into the dishes.
5. Place on a baking tray of hot water as a ban-marie and cover with foil.
6. Place in the oven at 170 C for 20 – 30 mins if separate dishes, or 40 – 50 mins if a large flan.
7. Chill until ready to serve.

Serve with caramelised nuts –
200g / 7oz nuts 100ml water
200g / 7oz sugar
1. Place the nuts on a baking tray and toast in the oven (180C) for 5 mins.
2. Put the sugar and water in a pan and on the heat stir until a thick syrup is formed.
3. Remove from the heat and add the nuts.
4. Keeping of the heat, stir with a wooden spoon until the nuts are coated in the white sugar.
5. Serve along with the flan.

Camp Food
Just incase you think we’re doing a lot of fine dining in Argentina, this is how we normally eat – a tasty camp feast of noodle soup and crackers!!

camp kitchen

What a feast - super noodles, sausage, pasta sauce topped with cheese!!

ARGENTINA - Sweet toothed Argentinians

The Argentinians love their sweets!
Alfajores (which I thought were quite a novelty in Peru and Bolivia) are everywhere here. At first trying the different kinds was great, with versions of jam, Dulcce de leche, Oreo cookies, Milka chocolate, and ones smothered in milk, dark and white chocolate, however after many a 20 hour bus journey with alfajores for breakfast, they are starting to lose their appeal!!

shelves full of alfajores!

Nevertheless, here’s a recipe for some chocolate alfajores.

Double Chocolate Alfajores

Para las tapitas (For the biscuits):
150g / 5 oz softened butter/marg 4 tbsp milk
150g / 5 oz sugar 300g / 10.5 oz plain flour
2 eggs 1 tsp baking powder
100g dark chocolate Drop of vanilla essence

1. Cream together the butter & sugar.
2. Add the eggs one at a time continually beating.
3. Melt the chocolate.
4. Add the melted chocolate, vanilla extract and the milk to the mixture.
5. Lastly, add the flour and baking powder and stir together to form a dough.
6. Form in to a big ball and refrigerate for about an hour.
7. Roll out and cut into rounds of about 6cm.
8. Place on a baking tray and bake at 180 C for 8 – 10 mins.

Para el rello (for the filling):
200g 7 oz milk chocolate 100g 3.5 oz cream
1. Finely chop or grate the chocolate in a bowl.
2. Heat up the cream and add the chocolate.
3. Leave to rest for 20 seconds, then mix together into a chocolate cream (or ganache).
4. Leave to chill for an hour, then pipe or spread onto the biscuit and sandwich 2 together.

Para la cobertura:
300g / 10.5 oz dark chocolate 50g / 1.5 oz butter
1. Melt together the chocolate and butter.
2. Spoon on a generous measure of chocolate and spread over the biscuit using a knife.
3. Leave to chill and set, and there you have it an indulgent Argentinian Alfajore!

The result should be like a round version of a Penguin biscuit!

ARGENTINA The Italians

The Italians

As well as the famed beef, and great wine, Argentina also has a huge Italian influence - bringing with it a love for pizza,  coffees and  ice cream. Sampled many a heladeria along the way!

This was the smallest one you could get!!!

Can't decide?? Just have two!!

Street food

Everywhere you looked in the North Western town of Salta were signs for Empanadas! A favourite snack for the local taxi drivers, the baked pasties filled with beef of cheese were delicious!

Empanadas and Tomales.

Around the World in 80 Cakes

Around the World in 80 Cakes.

Well, at long last I've got round to posting this, my own blog of our travels featuring the food (and especially the cakes) we sample along the way! As you may know I am partial to both eating & baking the odd cake, and whilst I am away travelling and not able to get into the kitchen myself, thought I'd like to track down the local delicacies, sampling them, and where possible collecting recipes so I can try  them out when I get home.

Please try them out if you like (and let me know if they work!), or if you have any recipes from the country's we visit (or anywhere else in the world!) please pass them on and I'll add them to  my list! My aim is to get 80 cakes from around the world by the time we get back, so here goes!!

BOLIVIA - Salt from Salar de Uyuni

Salt from Salar de Uyuni

One of the highlights of our trip so far has been the trip we took around the south west corner of Bolivia from the rocky wilderness of Tupiza to the Salar de Uyuni saltflats. We went through some of the most amazing scenery I have seen - snow capped mountains, golden deserts, lush oasis', bubbling mud geysers, smoking volcanoes, lagoons of green, white and even red, and wildlife - llamas, condors, flamngoes and chinchillas.
The salt flats of Uyuni are huge, covering an area of 2000 square km. Salt is manufactured from the salt flats, dried and packagedup for household use. Many of the buildings are built using solid salt bricks. This was one of the most unusual places we ate dinner!

Dining in the Salt hotel

No soft carpets in this hotel!

Porfidia's Queque de Naranja


On this trip we spent 4 days with Friederike  and Emily (from Germany and Australia), our guide Segundino and wonderful cook Porfedia. Porfedia fed us so well, conjuring up all sorts of goodies in the middle of the desert! The highlight of which was breakfast on our last morning, at the Island Huas (Isla del Pescado),

Porfedia had magically prepared us a beautiful heart shaped cake!!

Porfedia had magically prepared us a beautiful heart shaped cake!!

Recipe for Porfidia's Queque de Naranja (Orange cake)


1/2 kg Self raising flour
6 eggs
teaspoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of oil
orange juice and zest from 1 orange

Mix together in a bowl, then pour into tin and bake on low oven (150) for about 20 - 25 minutes.

What a setting for breakfast!

Part of our staple diet in South America
Inca Kola

Our favourite South American sweet - Sublime bars

Porfedia - our favourite Bolivian cook!