fruit

Fruit, Chocolate and Guinea Pig

~ donquioaty ~ Leave a comment

Wherever he goes DonQui likes to sample the local cuisine. Ideally he is hoping to discover new foods and sample different tastes that he would not get at home. For him, this is one of the greatest joys of travelling.

To this end he has booked a morning food tour with the delightful Yadira. DonQui learns a lot about Ecuadorian food — especially the plentiful tropical fruits, most of which are completely unknown to him. Yadira is an extremely knowledgeable and friendly guide. On the walking tour with several delicious food stops she also explains some of Quito’s history to DonQui which helps give him perspective on the places he visits both on the tour and later.

Being a bit of a chocoholic the tasting at Yumbos Chocolate on San Fransisco Square is an absolute delight. DonQui learns much about their sustainable, fair trade production and the fact that Ecuador’s Arrriba cacao is considered to be the best in the world. Most of it is exported to Switzerland, Belgium and Germany to form the basis of those countries’ exquisite chocolates.

He buys a few bars to take back home with him.

The next day DonQui books a leisurely lunch at Inés restaurant.

The starter of Bola de verde (Plantain filled with pulled pork, carrots and peas with a peanut sauce) is both a visual and taste delight — probably the highlight of the meal as starters so often are.

This is followed by Brujo encocado (Scorpion fish with coconut sauce, yellow rice and caramelised coconut). The Scorpion fish is similar in texture to cod but slightly meatier and with a delightful delicate taste which goes so well with the coconut sauce.

Then DonQui tries smoked guinea pig croquettes. They are presented with no small amount of theatre on a bed of branches and leaves (their native habitat) in a glass bowl filled with smoke.

So what does guinea pig taste like? Well nothing like chicken. The meat is darkish and the taste and texture is perhaps a bit like a cross between duck and rabbit. DonQui would not go out of his way to seek it out again but he did enjoy it and was glad to have had the opportunity to sample something new and different.

Finishing off the meal is a delightful chocolate concoction with sweet corn cream, a touch of banana vinegar and caramelised corn (maize). As with everything else it is absolutely delicious.

It is not just fine dining that DonQui enjoys. He has also become quite partial to Empanadas — fried pasties stuffed with cheese or meat and the dough made from plantain flour.

Another favourite is humita — a pre-Columbian dish of fresh ground chocio (large kernel Andean maize) with cheese steamed in a corn husk.

Gooseberry Crumble

~ donquioaty ~ Leave a comment

Returning from his travels in Spain, Italy and Tanzania, DonQui finds his allotment burgeoning with all sorts of delectable fruits and vegetables.

 

strawberry cropThe beans and kale are coming along nicely while the soft fruits are better than ever. Before he went away the strawberries produced an excellent crop. Now it is the time for the gooseberries and raspberries.

gooseberries

DonQui likes gooseberries – or ‘goosegogs‘ as his Mum used to call them. They bring coltish memories. As they are not often found in the shops these days he is happy to find a good crop waiting for him. A bit that on their own, gooseberries require a bit of cooking and added sugar to bring out their full potential so DonQui decided that a gooseberry crumble is in order.

 

To balance their tartness, DonQui decides to add some apple to the mix.

In the past whenever DonQui has made crumble the topping has tended to be rather soft and insipid. This time he takes a different approach and it works brilliantly, giving a nice crispy top to the fruit mixture.

Here is DonQui’s recipe. He apologises in advance for his vagueness on measurements but that is how he is. DonQui experiments and judges according to feel which makes it difficult to translate into a fail-safe recipe:

For the topping

a good slab of unsalted butter
a nice dollop of golden syrup (maple syrup would be a more expensive but excellent substitute)
about a table spoon of demerara sugar
a good scoop of jumbo oats
an equal sized scoop of plain flour
a sprinkling of chopped hazelnuts

 

Heat oven to 140C. Melt the syrup and butter together in a small saucepan.

mix

Mix the dry ingredients into the melted butter mixture (away from the heat) and stir through well. You should be looking for a moderately dry crumbly constituency. If too wet add some more oats and flour

crumble mix

Spread the mixture over a baking sheet and cook for 5 mins at 140º until it starts to go golden, then mix about, turning it over, and cook for about 5 mins more until it starts to go crisp but not burning.

crumble baked

The crumble mix can be kept in the fridge for several days. The amount that DonQui made was good for two crumbles, the second one he made the following day using the left over topping mix. By the way this mix makes a rather delicious snack on its own.

For the fruit mixture
1 eating apple (don’t use a cooking apple as the whole point is to reduce the tartness)
lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice
a couple of tablespoons of golden caster sugar according to taste
A nice pile of gooseberries. You can add other soft fruits such as raspberries and currents to go along with the gooseberries. DonQui added a handful of raspberries and a couple of blackcurrants.
a teaspoon of arrowroot mixed with water

applePeel, core and chop the apples – throw them into a saucepan with a squeeze of lemon juice to stop them browning. Stir in the sugar and cook gently, covered, until the apple begins to soften.

Top and tail the gooseberries and add to the apple along with the lemon zest and any other soft fruits. Cook covered for 2-3 mins until they too begin to soften and leach juices but not to the point that they burst. Stir in the arrowroot and remove from the heat as soon as it begins to thicken. The fruit mixture can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days or it can be frozen for much later use.
crumble done

Tip the fruit into a baking dish and scatter the crumble mix on top. Bake for 10 mins until piping hot through. Serve with buckets of custard!

raspberrie crumble

The following day DonQui enhanced the leftovers with some raspberries for a second go at it.