Daniel Joelson, author of Chilenismos and Tasting Chile, is with us today to share a hearty traditional recipe perfect for holiday gatherings. Daniel writes:

My wife and I are excitedly packing our bags for a trip in late December to beautiful Chile, where we will bask in the sun and celebrate the New Year with fireworks on the beach as the Southern Hemisphere’s summer explodes into full swing.

But first, we need to cook some good old-fashioned Chilean comfort food as we try to keep bodies warm and bellies happy in frosty Washington, DC. With family and friends soon to descend upon our home for the holidays, we have started to arm ourselves to the hilt with a wonderful array of shellfish and different types and cuts of meats. All of these will come together so that we can titillate our guests with one of Chile’s national gastronomic treasures, the Curanto, which is typically eaten during the wintry months at big family get-togethers and for special occasions.

The most traditional version of Curanto is prepared over hot rocks in a burning pit in the ground. In fact, curantu means “abundance of rocks” in Mapudungun, the language of Chile’s indigenous Mapuche peoples. However, for the Curanto recipe below, rather than digging up a big hole in your backyard and charging it with heat, you only need a large pot and a stove. With the hearty flavors and the rich pork in this dish I like a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Syrah, which can stand up to the mighty Curanto.

Curanto en Olla (Pork and Shellfish Stew)
Serves 6

Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 chicken (1 1/2 to 2 pounds), cut into 4 pieces
1 pound pork chops (about 3 medium chops), cut into several pieces
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
12 ounces semi-spicy sausage, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 small onion, finely chopped into thin 1 inch strips
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped; or half red pepper and half green pepper
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh celery leaves
2 cups white wine
8 mussels, in their shells, cleaned and scrubbed
8 littleneck clams, in their shells, cleaned and scrubbed
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken and pork chops. Heat half of the oil in a pot over a medium flame. When hot, add the chicken pieces and lightly brown them on both sides. Remove the chicken from the pan and lightly brown the pork slices on both sides. Remove the pork and then brown the sausages on both sides.
2. Remove most of the fat from the pot, reserving 2 to 3 tablespoons, return the chicken, pork, and sausages to the pot and add the onion, carrot, bell pepper, garlic, celery leaves, 1 cup of water, and ¼ cup of the wine.
3. Cook, covered, over medium-low heat, shaking the pot, and adding a bit of wine every few minutes for a total of 20 minutes. Gradually add 1 ¾ cup more wine and ½ cup more water.
4. Add the mussels, clams, and parsley, continuing to mix. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve in a large bowl or casserole dish. Provide your guests with both a bowl and a plate so they can cut the meat.

Daniel Joelson is author of Hippocrene’s Tasting Chile: A Celebration of Authentic Chilean Foods and Wines

Guest blogging for Hippocrene Cooks this week is Cherie Hamilton, Hippocrene's globe-trotting specialist on the food cultures and cuisines of Portuguese-speaking countries around the world. Cherie's much-praised cookbook, Cuisines of Portuguese Encounters, was recently reprinted in an expanded edition (with over 70 new recipes) and truly crosses borders as it examines the distinct cuisines Portuguese explorers, colonists and missionaries left behind them as they crossed the world's oceans.

Cherie's first recipe this week comes from Brazil:

This recipe from Brazil is one that I usually recommend for an easy dessert because it has only five ingredients. Legend has it that Portuguese nuns, who were well-known for their tasty egg custards, brought this recipe with them to Brazil. Coconut, which is not native to Portugal, was added later by African slaves. Quindim is a very sweet dessert that was popular during slavery times in the masters’ houses of the sugar plantations in the north of Brazil. These dessert cakes were served at family dinners and elaborate parties. Baked in small individual pastry tins, or muffin tins, they are then inverted and served in little silver paper cups for a festive touch. As the quindim cooks, the coconut rises to the top and forms a light brown crust. When inverted, the coconut is on the bottom and the yolks form a golden dome on top. This recipe can be doubled and baked in an angel food cake mold or a Bundt pan. It is then called a quindão, which means “big cake.”

Quindims should be prepared the day before serving to allow them to chill overnight (or for at least 4 hours).

Makes one dozen.

1 cup extra-fine sugar
¼ cup (½ stick) butter or margarine, softened
9 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1 cup freshly grated coconut (or fresh unsweetened coconut)
Melted butter or margarine for tins
Sugar for dusting tins

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Place the sugar and butter in a medium bowl. Beat the mixture until fluffy. Add the egg yolks and the whole egg, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Fold in the coconut and mix well without beating.

Brush 12 muffin tins, or 24 mini muffin tins, with the melted butter and dust with the sugar. Fill the tins almost to the top with the custard. Place the muffin tin in a baking pan. Pour hot water into the pan to a depth of 1 inch making a bain-marie. Bake the quindims for about 35 minutes, or until they are firm and slightly golden.

Cool for 10 minutes on a rack. Remove the cakes from the tins and place the coconut side down in silver paper cups or on a serving dish and chill overnight, or for at least 4 hours.

Photos courtesy of Tom Wallace.

Questions? Leave a comment!

Our last guest posting from Patricia looks into new, unique ways to use chimichurri--a South American herb sauce commonly served with carne asada.

Here's a tip: next time you make chimichurri (there's a recipe for it in my book, Secrets of Colombian Cooking), change the oil for plain, non-far yogurt to create a creamy light chimichurri.

Surprised? You will love this recipe. Use it to dip carrot and celery sticks, add it to salad dressings and season meats with it.

Take a boned turkey breast or a whole chicken and place ½ cup of this mixture into the cavities and between the skin. Refrigerate overnight. Salt and pepper the outer skin of the bird and bake in a preheated oven at 325ºF (for turkey) or 425ºF (for chicken) for 1½ hours. Serve the rest of the sauce at room temperature on the side with the cooked turkey/chicken.

Enjoy! Please write to tell me about your experiences with this recipe!

You can also find a place on my website, www.creativeculinary.net, where you can find a new recipe from the book posted every month. Click on the picture of the book and find a selection of recipes from Secrets of Colombian Cooking, laid out in step-by-step format.

Turkey Chimichurri, Before and After

Today Patricia continues guest blogging on Colombian cuisine, with an introduction to healthy, all-natural fruit juices, right in time for the summer!

Take a look at some of the wonderful fruit you can find nowadays in specialty and Latino markets. I recently found feijoas, which are a kind of guava, along with gooseberries and passion fruit.

feijoa, gooseberries, and passion fruit

Here's a tip on making passion fruit pulp: cut the fruit in two, scoop out the pulp with seeds, place it in a vase and mix for 10 seconds with an immersion blender. Pass it through a sieve and then freeze in ice cube trays. One ice cube will be enough for an 8-ounce glass of juice. When frozen, place the passion fruit pulp, water, crushed ice and sweetener back into the vase and mix with the immersion blender. Then, enjoy the most wonderful frapped passion fruit juice this summer. Add some mint and freeze into pops for the afternoon heat. Buy exotic fruit and freeze the pulp as ice cubes to keep at hand all summer long.

For more tips on preparing other wonderful tropical fruits as juices that are full of vitamins, check out the juice chapter in Secrets of Colombian Cooking. If you have doubts about any certain type of fruit, go to cookingcolombia.com and check out the page on Colombian fruit and vegetables, where many of them are photographed for you to see.

This week Hippocrene Cooks shines light on the flavors of Colombia, with guest postings from Patricia McCausland-Gallo. Patricia, who formerly worked as a journalist in Colombia, is a veritable wealth of information on the country's cooking techniques, which you can scroll down and see in action for yourself!

The recipe I enjoy most in Secrets of Colombian Cooking is Cazuela de Mariscos al Coco or Crustacean Chowder. An original of the Colombian Pacific, it is usually prepared with clams from the ocean called piangua (or cockles), squid, shrimp and conch.

Conch is usually very hard to cook, and you will see fisherman hitting the shellfish meat with wooden hammers to break the tight muscles and soften up the meat. Squid, on the other hand, could be cooked for just 50 seconds and it would be enough, but here it cooks long enough for it to re-soften and leave a delicious flavor and texture in the final dish. The coconut milk in the recipes keeps the seafood at its peak even after 45 minutes of cooking time.

This is an ideal one-dish meal, along with a green salad, and can be a great Valentine’s day dinner, or a perfect meet-your-in-laws dish. You will have them on your side forever after they eat this marvelous soup! For those of you who would like to make it lower in calories, all you have to do is change 2 cups of coconut milk for 2 cups of 2% milk. It is a lighter version, yet delicious too.

You can also use the seafood that you have locally, or buy a mixture. In the picture of the recipe on the left, I added mussels just minutes before serving. Bring the Pacific flavor into your home and enjoy a wonderful meal. Serve it in coconut halves after a day at the beach in the summer, when the children need a hot soup to warm up their bodies.

Just try it once and you'll be hooked on it for life.

4 to 6 servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 cup grated red bell pepper (grated on the large holes)
2 pounds raw shrimp, cleaned and deveined
½ pound raw squid rings, cleaned
½ pound piangua or clams, cleaned
½ pound raw conch pieces or oysters
1½ fish bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons garlic paste
1 teaspoon color or Sazón Goya with Saffron
1¼ teaspoons salt
¾ teaspoon pepper
4 cups coconut milk
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons flour
¼ cup white wine
1½ tablespoons minced cilantro
1 tablespoon minced parsley

NOTE: You can use a 2½ to 3-pound bag of mixed seafood in place of all the individual ones.

1) In a large, heavy pot or caldero over medium-low heat, place the oil, onion, red pepper, seafood, bouillon cubes, garlic, color or saffron, salt, and pepper. Cook for 12 minutes.

2) Mix the coconut milk, milk and flour together to a smooth consistency. Add them to the pot; simmer over low heat for 15 minutes more.

3) Next, add the wine and simmer for 15 minutes.

4) Sprinkle with cilantro and parsley and serve.



Need advice on substitute ingredients, or want to share your experiences with this recipe? Leave a comment for Patricia!

If you have trouble viewing the video, please click here.
Video and photos courtesy of Patricia McCausland-Gallo.