LATIN CUISINE - WEEK 5

Latin Cuisine week 5

This week was really exciting for me in Latin Cuisine as we were going to be making tamales, which I really like. I have made tamales many times in Las Cruces. Homemade tamales are a special treat and a "labor of love" as they are not an easy task. It is common for families to get together to make tamales in order to get everyone working and make the whole process simpler. 

I enjoyed class this week but just as in World Cuisine it seemed a little unfocused. I think the reason for that in Latin is the lack of understanding working with dough. It is a bit mysterious to me. I am hoping after taking baking and pastry I will have a better understanding of how dough works and ways to work with it. 

Anyhow, here's the menu

Ceviche de Pescado:

This is the classic ceviche that comes to mind when someone talks about ceviche. It is raw fish that is cold "cooked" by acids from lemon or limes. The flavors of the lemon and lime mixed with cilantro is good and a classic combination in Latin food. However, I found the texture to be not so desirable. The texture was raw and almost slimy. I have heard that the longer the fish marinates the tougher it can get and am wondering if perhaps our ceviche would have been better if left to marinate longer. I somehow neglected to get a photo of this dish.

Plantano Frito:

These are fried plantains. Plantains have an interesting flavor, I am not sure how to describe them. The texture is similar to bananas as they are very closely related to bananas. These are simply fried and retain the flavor of the plantain pretty well. I think they would be excellent with some sort of creamy sauce that has either sweet-ness or a bite to it. I think of something like a pineapple cream salsa. Maybe something to try next time.

Tamales:

The recipe we had for class called for spinach and cheese filling, but we also had some pork leftover from the previous class. One group made spinach and cheese tamales and our group made red chile pork tamales. We made them in the traditional sense as they were rolled and steamed with the husk. I have seen tamales that have been sort of folded up like a little package and while they look fancy, I'd have to side with the traditional presentation. These tamales we made tasted great, I was worried about the masa as it can be difficult to work with and we had a hard time putting it on the corn husks correctly. 

Pabellon Criollo: Caraotas Negras, Carne Mechada y Arroz:

This is an interesting dish. It has black pot beans, shredded beef and rice. The presentation is supposed to be a representation of the Venezuelan flag. which is blue yellow and red. I am not sure how that is supposed to work, but I am betting the Venezuelans know. Anyhow the black beans and rice are simple and have been made many times. The beef was a flank steak that was shredded and then sauteed briefly with tomatoes and other things and it turned out very tender. We served some of the red chile puree on the plate for those like me who love red chile. 

Orange Flan:

We made this in week 1 or #, I can't remember. Either way it is still excellent. We did not have a dessert in this weeks menu so we chose to make this dish again. It was just as before, very good.

This is a fried pig's ear. We had the ear cooking with the beans for flavor and decided to try it fried. It was pretty awful and more of a joke than anything. It is pictured here with a parsley garnish just for fun. Bon Appetit!.....um, no thanks