White chocolate & raspberry cake

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the base of 2 x 20cm round, loose-bottomed cake tins. Put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof mixing bowl, set over a pan of barely simmering water and allow to melt slowly, stirring occasionally.
2. When the butter and chocolate have melted, remove from the heat and allow to cool for 1-2 mins, then beat in the eggs and sugar with an electric whisk. Fold in the flour and raspberries.
3. Gently pour the mixture into the tins and bake for 20-25 mins or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (the raspberries may leave a residue on the skewer, so don’t be fooled by their juiciness). Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool in the tins for 10 mins before turning out onto a wire rack.
4. To make the ganache, put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl with 100ml of the cream, set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir until the chocolate has melted into the cream and you are left with a smooth, glossy ganache. Leave the ganache to cool to room temperature, then beat in the rest of the cream.
5. When the cakes have cooled, sandwich them together with the chocolate ganache. Add a pile of rasberries and blueberries if you have them in the middle for decoration. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.

Carrot, Tomato and feta Soup

Surprisingly tasty, really simple but it's important to follow the steps and not improvise like I normally do which will alter the flavours.

Serves 4-6

onion 1, large
groundnut or vegetable oil 5 tbsp
carrots 400g
vegetable stock 1.5 litres
tomatoes 500g

feta cheese, 200g

Peel the onion, chop it roughly, then let it cook over a moderate heat in a large pan with half the oil. Roughly chop the carrots. When the onion is soft and translucent add the carrots. Let them colour very slightly, for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly.

Pour in the stock, bring to the boil, then lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Let the soup cook for about 30 minutes on a low to moderate heat, with the occasional stir.

Chop the tomatoes and put them in a shallow pan over a moderate heat with the remaining oil and let them cook down to a slushy consistency.

Blend the soup to a smooth texture in a blender or food processor. Stir in the cooked-down tomato and season with salt and black pepper.

Divide the soup between bowls, then crumble the feta cheese and add a small amount to each bowl. It’ll soften, but not melt. A pinch of sour saltiness with your sweet soup.

Boacado de la Reina

Has rainy season started to get you down? Can you only get as far as the tiendita on the corner of your street because the thought of spending the afternoon traipsing up to la Demo through streams of water fills you with dread? Need some homemade comfort food to satisfy your sweet tooth and you can’t face another packet of las galletas Chichis? This has to be the simplest dessert you can make with all of the ingredients easily available from your local tienda.  Guatemala’s superior version of bread pudding this month’s recipe must be tried!

Note: You will need an oven for this recipe. Find out which of your friends has an oven before you start this recipe!

Ingredients

 ·      Two cups of milk (full fat works best)

·      One cup of sugar

·      One teaspoon of vanilla extract

·      Four teaspoons of canela en polvo

·      One cup of raisons known as  ‘pasas uvas’ if by chance you can’t find them at the tienda, every market seller will have them, usually next to el frijol y arroz

·      Bread crumbs made from bread from the day before – it’s preferable to make these yourself but you can buy ‘miga de pan’ by the packet at most stores, and certainly in Xelapan

·      Half a cup of chocolate para tomar grated.

Instructions

 1.    Heat the oven to 190 oc

2.    Prepare the breadcrumbs making sure all the bread is broken up and smooth

3.    In a large mixing bowl pour in all the milk and add the breadcrumbs little by little, mixing them together until all the milk has been absorbed by the bread. Leave for five minutes and then add all the other ingredients

4.    Mix well and then pour into a medium sized square cake tin or over-proof dish

5.    Cook for around 30 minutes in the oven. Because the knife will never come out clean to test if  the mixture’s ready touch the top to see if it has a spongy consistency.

Bocado de la Reina is usually cut into squares and served cold, or wait until its at least lukewarm if you’re impatient and want to serve it straight out the oven. It goes perfectly with a chocolate caliente to warm those wet, rainy afternoons.

Corn Chowder

This is a great comfort food when you need subtle favours and a heartwarming dish. If you live in a country that has fresh corn readily available I would suggest using corn on the cob to bring a bit more flavour to this dish.

Ingredients

• 1 stalk celery
• 1 medium onion
• olive oil
• ½ teaspoon fresh or dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 cups of whole milk
• 1 cup of veg stock
• 1 medium Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cut into little cubes
• 3 spring onions
• 2 cups frozen corn
• ¼ cup chopped,  parsley

Method

Finely Chop the celery and onion. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Add the celery, onion, and thyme. Stir until the vegetables start to brown. 

Sprinkle the flour over the veggies and stir for a few more minutes. Pour in the milk and stock, add the potato and bring to a boil, stirring the whole time so the soup doesn't stick to the pot. Cook until the potatoes are tender, but not mushy – this will take around 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, trim the ends off the spring onions and slice them thinly. When the potatoes are tender, stir in the corn and spring onion. Bring the soup back to the boil, then serve seasoning with plenty of salt and pepper. 

Caldo de Res: Guatemalan Beef Stew

 One thing to note with ‘caldos’ (stews in English) is the Guatemalan obsession of cooking their vegetables whole. Why waste all that time chopping veduras into bite-sized chunks when you can cook them in their entirety? This nutritious Guatemalan ‘caldo’ is available in most comedores or mercados but tastes even better homemade, especially if you just got your fresh produce from domingos organicos. Huisquil (a hard round veg with a green prickly skin) love it or hate it tastes at its best in any kind of caldo so if you’ve got one lurking at the back of your cupboard and you have no idea what to do with it, this may just be the recipe for you!

I’m never too sure which cuts of beef to ask for; I’m told Costilla de res o hueso de paloma work well for this recipe but if you tell the butcher which dish you’re preparing they usually know which cut is best to use. You ideally want beef sold on the bone in order to make a really tasty stock; if not you’ll need to add a stock cube to give it some extra flavour.

The vegetables and quantities listed below are just a suggestion, add whatever is available to you.

Should serve 4-5 people

·       1 pound of a whole cut of beef

·       Oil for browning the beef

·       1 small tomato with an ‘x’ cut in one end

·       1 small onion peeled with ‘x’ cut in one end

·       2 whole celery stalks (apio)

·       1 red chile pimiento, seeds removed and halved

·       1 yuca root, peeled and cut into chunks. If you can’t find yuca a couple of piece of calabaza or ayote works equally well thrown in with the skin on

·       2 whole carrots, peeled

·       1 huisquil, peeled, cutting out the core and quartered

·       2 corn on the cobs broken into halves

·       ½ a small head cabbage, quartered

·       4 whole small potatoes, peeled

·        

la salsa:

·       4-5 chiltepe chiles (the tiny green ones)

·       ½ a diced onion

·       About half a quetzal of chopped cilantro

·       jugo of 1 lime

Preparation

1.Cut the beef into portions, roughly one per person and leaving the bone attached to some of the meat. If this is difficult, cook the cut whole and divide up when ready to serve.

2. Heat some oil in a large pot or pressure cooker (without using the lid), add the beef and begin to brown turning frequently to cook on every side.

3. When the beef is almost browned add all the vegetables.

4. Add enough water to almost cover the vegetables; don’t be afraid to add more water later if it needs it. Cover the pan and cook on high heat to bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to low, add plenty of salt and pepper and the stock cube should you need it. Simmer until the beef is tender and the vegetables are cooked.

For the Salsa (for those that like it hot)

6.Toast the chiltepes until brown on every side, this is traditionally done on a comal but can be done in a frying pan without any oil, careful they don’t jump out and burn you! Put them into a chirmolera (they’re about Q15 or less in the market but every ligit host family should have one) if not use the back of a heavy cooking utensil to grind them up a little.
7. Add the diced onion to the chiltepe, the washed and chopped cilantro, and the limejuice. Mash briefly and set aside.

8. When the caldo is ready, serve in big bowls dividing up the meat and veg fairly with plenty of tortillas (black are always my preference) with the bowl of salsa and a plate of chopped lime slices and a couple of avocados quartered for the truly chapin experience.

Platanos en Gloria

If there’s one piece of fresh fruit you’re guaranteed to find in any ‘tiendita’ it’s a plantain, or ‘platano’ and contrary to what you might think the blacker their skin is the more delicious and ripe the taste. So, should you been persuaded into buying the 5 por Q5 deal outside of the demo or you cannot take any more fried plantain for breakfast, here’s a no nonsense dessert that will satisfy those of you who have a very sweet tooth when even a fresh mango wont cut it. 

I haven’t seen this served so often on the street but honestly it’s the most delicious when cooked at home and served fresh. A simple dish to indulge in when fresh fruit just wont cut it.

4 plantain (it roughly works out one per person)

one cup of orange juice (a bag from the lady on the corner would be ideal)

10-15 cloves

tbs of butter o magarina

1 teaspoon of oil

2 ramitas of canela

honey

Instructions

1.    fry a large tablespoon of butter in a large frying pan. You can use margarina but butter tastes better if you can splash out

2.    when the butter’s melted add the whole peeled plantain. Stick 2-3 cloves into the flesh of the plantain and break the two canela sticks in half and add to the pan so the spices infuse with the butter and start to brown the platano over a low heat, turning over occasionally to fry on all sides, this show take around 10 minutes.

3.    Once lightly brown on every side take out of the oil and sit on some kitchen paper to drain a little, leave for a couple of minutes.

4.    Chop up the plantain into slices as thick as you would like(not too thin)

5.    Turn the heat on and add the slices to the oil. Pour over the juice, a good dollop of honey (more if you like it super sweet) and fry the slices for another 5-10 minutes, browning a little on both sides and pouring over some of the juice when turning to get the flavor.

6.    The sauce will become a nice caramel-like sauce

7.    When cook, turn the heat off, leave to sit for a minute or two and serve on plates with a dollop of cream, sprinkle of canela powder and spoon over the sauce.

SRefined sugar free and made with fresh OJ and fruit, what else could possibly justify such indulgence?

Grilled Mackerel with a Sweet Soy Glaze

• 4 mackerel fillets 
• zest and juice 1 lime, plus extra wedges to serve
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• butter, for greasing
• steamed baby bok choi or spinach to serve

For the sauce

• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and cut into matchsticks
• juice 1 lime
• thumb-sized piece ginger, grated
• 2 tbsp muscovado sugar
• Half a red pepper finely sliced

1. Score the mackerel fillets a couple of times on the skin, then lay them in a shallow dish ready for grilling. Sprinkle with the lime zest and juice, and leave to marinate for 5-10 mins.
2. Place all of the sauce ingredients and the red pepper and spinach in a small pan with a splash of water and gradually bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 mins to thicken slightly, cook for another  then remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Turn the grill to its highest setting and place the mackerel on a greased baking tray, skin side up. Sprinkle the fillets with the olive oil and some sea salt, then grill for 5 mins until the flesh is opaque and cooked through.
4.  lay mackerel fillets on  a plate, drizzle with the sauce and serve with a wedge of lime and rice.