Honduran Blueberry-Lemon Cake

Lemon cake with Honduran blueberries

Ah, we need a break from all that seriousness, don't we?

Doesn't that cake look yummy? Before I came to Honduras, blueberries were my favorite fruit. Now I would have to say that mangoes are on top with blueberries being a close second. Imagine how happy I was to find that blueberries are grown in Honduras! Then imagine how sad I was to find that most of the crop is exported.

You can occasionally find blueberries in La Ceiba, where they are incredibly cheap compared to US blueberry prices, but a little more expensive compared to tropical fruits. However, blueberries aren't well known here so sometimes the store's supply isn't as fresh as it should be.

Lucky me, I have a connection so I get some nice fresh Honduran blueberries every once in awhile. I hoard them away in the freezer and dole them out like they are made of gold. Honduran blueberries are similar (or the same?) as the rabbit-eye blueberries grown in Texas: big and juicy. Combine those berries with some big, fat, juicy Honduran limes or lemons, if you prefer, in a sweet, moist cake and you have blueberry-lemon heaven.

I felt like baking a cake not long ago. I started searching my cookbooks for a lemon cake recipe (one of El Jefe's favorites). Then I remembered my blueberry stash in the freezer and a Lemon-Blueberry cake recipe I had made long ago. It was a lower fat-lower calorie cake recipe.

I started making it, when it occurred to me: Is my Catracho going to be satisfied with a low-fat, low-sugar cake? I don't think so! In fact, after he saw the cake later, his happy face turned downtrodden when I started telling him that I had a recipe from a low-fat cookbook. Then I went on to explain that I modified the recipe to fatten it up, which cheered him up considerably. Yes, that is shameful, but if you are going to eat dessert, it might as well be the real thing.

Here is my recipe. I hope you enjoy it:

La Gringa's Honduran Blueberry-Lemon Cake

3 1/2 cups sifted flour
2 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
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3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup mantequilla blanca (or sour cream)
1 tsp. vanilla
-------
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
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3 tbsp. lemon zest, divided use (~4 medium lemons)
1 1/2 - 2 cups cups fresh or frozen Honduran blueberries
1-2 tbsp. sifted flour

Glaze
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp. of lemon zest from above

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 10-cup bundt pan or, I'm guessing, two loaf pans or maybe 1 1/2 to 2 dozen cupcakes. This cake rose quite a bit so whatever you use, don't fill it more than about 2/3 full.

Combine 3 1/2 cups of flour with baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Combine milk and 1/2 cup lemon juice and let sit for about 5 minutes until it thickens. Add mantequilla and vanilla and whisk to combine. If using sour cream instead of mantequilla, I think I'd add an extra 1/4 cup of milk. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat sugar and eggs about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add softened butter and beat another 2 minutes. To the sugar mixture, alternate adding about 1/3 of the milk mixture with 1/3 of the flour mixture at a time, beating on low speed with each addition until blended. The batter will be thick.

Place blueberries in a colander, rinse if necessary. No need to thaw them if frozen. (It's preferable not to thaw because the juice then sometimes turns your batter grey). Shake off excess water and sprinkle berries with 1-2 tbsp. sifted flour. Toss the berries in the colander to lightly coat them with flour. Gently fold the berries and 2 tbsp. lemon zest into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 50-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, invert the cake onto a wire rack to finish cooling. While still a bit warm, but not hot, pour the glaze over the cake. For loaf pans, I'd check the doneness of the cakes at about 40-45 minutes and for cupcakes, at about 20-25 minutes.

Glaze

Sift the powered sugar into a small bowl. Add 2-3 tablespoons or so of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of lemon zest. Stir well. Add more juice until the glaze is the consistency you like. (Truth is I forgot to measure the juice.) Drizzle over slightly warm cake.

Enjoy!

If you try this recipe, please let me know how you like it. By the way, I call this Honduran blueberry cake not because it is a Honduran recipe but because it has Honduran blueberries – just to be clear. Of course, it would work with any type of blueberries.

Blueberry tip: Don't wash blueberries before freezing. Spread on a cookie sheet to freeze and then place into a plastic freezer bag. They will freeze separately better that way allowing you to measure out what you need, but more importantly, the skin tends to become tough if you freeze them after washing them.

Pizza grilling tips

Makes me want to go make one right now!

See You must try grilled pizza for my basic grilled pizza instructions and then read on.

It is so much easier to figure new things out if you first see it done, no? That is always true for me. Thankfully in the internet age you can do that!

YouTube has some videos on grilling pizza that you might find helpful, especially for seeing what your cooked dough should look like. Steve Raichlen shows the appropriate enthusiasm for grilled pizza. (Ignore the lake of olive oil in which he stretches the dough – you really don't need that! A small amount of flour or oil on a pastry board will do.) This video by BBQ Pit Boys makes me laugh – a real man's guide to making grilled pizza (notice he uses a small machete to cut it). He tops the pizza dough before cooking, but I still suggest using the two step method of cooking the top first. BBQMyWay has another manly-man video – listen to the crackle! It's true. Ours crackles like that when we cut it. It is a beautiful sound.

Click to enlarge these photos

If you don't have an outdoor grill, check out Laura Vitale's video on grilling pizza on a stove-top grill. If you are a homemade pizza virgin, Laura has another video that goes through the whole dough making, sauce, and baking process. Don't let making dough intimidate you. Pizza dough is much more forgiving than bread dough.

If you prefer Spanish, here's a video for you. This one includes preparing the dough. YouTube has other pizza a la parrilla videos in Spanish, too.

For the grill, I recommend the two-step process rather than topping the raw dough at the beginning as some videos show. I think that you'll get a much crisper, more evenly cooked crust using the cook-turn-top-cook method. I also think it is easier for the beginner.

Watch a few of these videos and you'll see that there are no hard and fast rules for grilling pizza. It is an art, not a science.

El Jefe's tips

In discussing all of this with El Jefe, since he is the main pizza chef here, he pointed out that there are a lot of variables. Differences between grills is a big one. Another big variable is the thickness of the dough. He said that a thin crust will burn a lot faster than a thicker one, so you may need to use a slightly lower temperature if your crust is very thin.

Square - for a change. Isn't it a beauty?

We haven't found it necessary to oil the grill grates or the dough disk before grilling, but you might want to oil your grates the first time if you aren't sure whether or not it will stick. Do make sure the grates are clean, though, as any bits of crud from your last barbecue will stick to the dough.

He also told me about other temperature adjustments he sometimes makes, but since that might only apply to those who have the same kind of grill that we do, I have another idea for beginners.

Make a small extra disk of dough from your same dough batch, stretched or rolled out to the same thickness as your pizza dough. Use that to test your grill temperature and cooking time. In the beginning, El Jefe oiled the grates before putting the dough on the grill but after a time he discovered that our well-used grill has developed a nice, shiny, non-stick coating from lots of use so he doesn't do that anymore. If your test crust sticks too badly, you can either oil the grates or oil the bottom of the dough before placing it on the grill. If it cooks too fast or too slow, adjust your grill temperature accordingly.

Keep it cool

One bit of advice from me is that a slightly firmer dough is easier to handle on the grill, though a soft dough is not impossible after you get some experience. If you live in a hot, humid tropical climate with an un-airconditioned kitchen, keep your dough cool after shaping. Cover it with a barely damp towel and/or plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge if you can't get it on the grill right away. The dough will be easier to handle when cool. We find this particularly true for doughs containing sourdough starter.

More tips on grilling pizza

Here are some quick tips Chef Jefe and I (the dough lady) can give you based on our experiences:

Tip #1 - Don't let the shaped dough stick to your peel or baking sheet. Use lots of corn meal, semolina flour, or regular flour on your transfer device. On smaller pizzas or if the dough is being fussy, sometimes we just pick the untopped disk up from the pastry board with our hands and drop it onto the grill. Use care if you try that.

Tip #2 - Don't go too big. Until you get the hang of manipulating the dough onto the grill, two medium to small pizzas are much easier to handle than one big one. Similarly, don't go too heavy on the toppings.

Tip #3 - Give it a rest. If you are having trouble rolling or stretching your dough, give it a rest for 5 or 10 minutes and then continue shaping. Dough springing back is a sure sign that the gluten needs to rest again. Be sure to cover it with a damp towel or plastic wrap so that it doesn't dry out during its nap.

Honduras-shaped pizza (not intentional)

Tip #4 - Live with less than perfect circles. When the dough slides off the peel to the grill, it tends to stick to the hot grates of the grill and get somewhat misshapen. Unless you are very lucky, you won't be able to push/pull it back into shape before the dough sets. Just remember, if it isn't a perfectly round Pizza Hut pizza, it is a 'rustic' or 'artisan' pizza which makes it even more valued.

Be prepared

Tip #5 - Be prepared. Have all of the toppings ingredients and implements ready to go grillside before you put the dough on the grill. There really is no time to go searching for something in the kitchen once you have put the dough on the grill.

Tip #6 - Don't go anywhere. Your dough should only need about 2 to 4 minutes on the first side. If it takes longer, that means that your grill was not hot enough. Grills are not as accurately temperature controlled as an oven, especially if it is a charcoal grill. The crust will miraculously tell you when it is ready to turn: if the dough sticks to the grates, it isn't ready so don't force it. As the dough cooks, the grates will release the dough so it's easy to check the bottom for doneness.

Tip #7 - Know your hot spots. If your grill has hot spots, be sure to avoid them if possible. Rotate the pizza once on each side so your crust cooks evenly and doesn't have burned spots. You can rotate more often, but remember that every time the grill is opened, it will be losing heat.

Tip #8 - Import your pizza flour from Italy and use only San Marzano tomatoes, which grow on the volcanic plains to the south of Mount Vesuvius, and mozzarella di bufala Campana, made with the milk from water buffalo raised in a semi-wild state in the marshlands of Campania. -- Just kidding! (That is actual advice that I read somewhere.)

Grilled meat-lovers pizza
Can you tell who was manning the meatball bowl?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I want all my friends to try grilled pizza! I highly recommend it. I'm pretty sure that once you've tried pizza on the grill, you'll never go back either. I'd love to hear your experience if you try it. Please come back here to tell us about it. And if you have any questions that you think that El Jefe or I might answer, please feel free to ask away in the comment section below.

You must try grilled pizza

Grilled Pizza - It couldn't be better

Grilled pizza? Who knew? Not me. I didn't see how it was possible to bake a pizza on a barbecue grill. Wouldn't the dough fall through the grates? Wouldn't it burn to a crisp? In looking for the perfect pizza dough (more on that below), I kept running across people raving about grilled pizza. Apparently it is the next best thing to having your own wood fired brick pizza oven.

Meatball pizza - click to enlarge

El Jefe thought I was kidding when I suggested we try it. "Pizza on the grill? Are you sure?" "No, but let's try it anyway." We are converts now. I don't think I would ever bake a pizza in the oven again. There is just no comparison of the taste and texture of a grilled pizza versus home oven baked or even pizza chain pizza. Really. You just have to try it to see for yourself. Another interesting thing is that I've always liked thick crust pizzas, but now I prefer a crispy thinner crust.

I'm not going to give a pizza dough recipe. There are so many recipes out there that claim to be the 'perfect' dough so just try some and see what suits your fancy. One that I like is the recipe that came with my Zojirushi bread maker, but I've tried several different recipes and they all turned out great on the grill, each a little different in taste and texture. I sometimes set aside a portion of dough from my sourdough bread recipes to use as pizza crust. If I come up with a recipe that stands out over the others, I'll post it. In the meantime, I'm enjoying experimenting with different dough recipes. I've read that in the US, you can buy prepared pizza dough in a bag at the grocery stores and that it is good, too. The one thing you won't want to use is a pre-baked crust.

Almost as fast as take-out pizza

Most pizza dough recipes make two crusts or more, or a larger pizza than we need for two of us, so after the first rise, I freeze the extra dough in disks in resealable sandwich baggies sprayed with a little cooking spray inside. Then I put those bags into in a freezer bag. Just pull out a baggie of dough and let it thaw in the fridge overnight if you have time or leave it on the counter at room temperature for spur of the moment pizza. For the size we use (usually about 10-12 oz. of dough), it usually thaws within a couple of hours. I get panicky when my pizza dough stash gets down to one ball.

Thawing the frozen stuff

You can also store any extra dough in the fridge for three days or maybe up to a week some say. Refrigerating the dough for at least a day or two adds to the depth of flavor. If you do that, be sure to oil the dough and wrap it well so that it doesn't dry out. Freezing the dough doesn't alter its quality at all. Don't get too carried away though. Plan on using the frozen dough within a month or two for best results, especially if you are in a country with frequent power outages.

Tomatoes, onions, garlic mostly

Speaking of freezer stashes, we've gotten so organized that we really can have pizza at the spur of the moment with freezer stashed pizza-sized batches of dough, sauce, pepperoni, meat balls, and grated cheeses (mozzarella and parmesan). I like to buy the big sticks of pepperoni and slice it with my Cuisinart. I think it is much cheaper that way.

Quick whiz with the hand blender

I've made pizza sauce with a base of tomato puree, canned spaghetti sauce, fresh tomatoes, canned diced tomatoes, and every combination of those ingredients that I've had on hand. I usually saute garlic and onions, add Italian seasoning and a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper. Some people just use sieved canned tomatoes. It's all good. Depending upon your tomato source, you might want to add a teaspoon or two of sugar to combat the acidity. You will want a thick sauce so it doesn't make the crust soggy. Of course, you can make it really easy by buying prepared pizza sauce in a jar. It is even available in the major cities in Honduras, but it is more economical to make your own.

Ready to freeze

I usually make a large batch of sauce and freeze it in pizza sized amounts for quick pizzas. I pour serving-sized portions into custard cups and then freeze them. When the sauce is frozen, I dump the frozen disks into a freezer bag. When you are ready to make pizza, pull out what you need and put it back into a custard cup to thaw. With some preplanning, you can literally make your own pizza in the time it would take to have one delivered.

General guide to grilling pizzas

Just as a general guide to grilling pizzas, I'll outline the steps that we use. First, our grill is an infrared heat grill. It loses heat VERY quickly when the lid is opened. Your grill may behave totally differently and you may need more or less time. I don't have any experience grilling pizza on a charcoal grill, but I do know that you want hot coals, not flames, and that you probably need to build the fire on one side and leave one side 'cool'. The thickness of your pizza (both of the dough and the amount of toppings) will also affect the time needed.

Second, we don't have a pizza baking stone so we are cooking the dough directly on the grill grates. Baking stones work great if you have one, but of course, the pizza will brown without the grill marks. If you have access to a big comal over a wood burning fire, that would be perfect, too. Cooking the dough is not that different from cooking tortillas.

Pizza toppings ready to go

One of the keys to a good grilled pizza is to be organized. Prepare all of your topping ingredients and put them in little bowls (or big ones!) on a tray that you can carry outside. El Jefe keeps a small plastic squirt bottle (formerly for soy sauce) filled with oil for all of his grilling. It's much easier to get the quantity you need that way and you don't have to worry about dropping the bottle. Also put a brush for the olive oil, a big spoon to spread the pizza sauce, and tongs or a spatula on the tray. If your grill doesn't have a shelf, pull up a table or chair on which you can put the tray.

Preheat the grill on one side to its highest setting (15 minutes on our infrared gas grill). El Jefe usually turns the temperature down a notch at this point (from 'preheat' to 'sear' or medium-high). Slide the dough from the pizza peel or the back of a baking sheet directly onto the hot grates. Close the lid and grill for 2 to 4 minutes. If possible, peek in from an opening in the back to keep an eye on the dough's progress rather than opening the lid to check. When it is ready to turn, the top will not be browned but will show some 'firming up' and will look drier than the dough originally looked. You may see some big bubbles in the dough and that's okay. The bottom should be lightly browned with some nice dark brown grill marks.

Pick up the partially cooked dough with the peel, a big spatula, or your fingers (be careful!). Flip the crust over onto the "off" side of the grill and brush the top (formerly the bottom) with olive oil. The olive oil helps to prevent the sauce from making your dough soggy. Top with sauce and your other ingredients. We like to put a little cheese under the toppings and more on top of the toppings to 'glue' them down. Work quickly so that your grill doesn't cool off too much. Slide the topped pizza back over to the direct heat side and close the lid.

Cannot get a good photo at night!

If you are making more than one pizza or your grill doesn't have more than one heat zone, you may find it more convenient to remove the crust to a pizza pan, a flat edged baking sheet, or a pizza peel, to top it at the table and then return it to the grill. We did that when we had a pizza party for nine people. We needed to keep the assembly line going and maintain the grill hot by keeping the lid closed, and, most importantly, we didn't want the kids to burn themselves on the grill while they were topping their pizzas. Kids love to make their own pizzas!

After topping the pizza, return it to the hot side of the grill and grill for another 2 to 4 minutes until the cheese is fully melted and the bottom of the crust is nicely browned. I love those grill marks on the crust! If the crust seems to be cooking too fast (overbrowning or grill marks too dark) turn the temperature down just a little. The second side could take a couple of minutes longer depending upon how much heat your grill lost during the topping and how thick your pizza is.

Farewell

Goodbye Pizza Hut, Domino's, and Toto's (our only choices in La Ceiba). It was nice knowing you before I discovered homemade grilled pizza. I doubt I'll ever see you again. Farewell. Sorry, but I have a better pizza than you!

Is my excitement contagious? Are you itching to try it? Before you jump in, please check out the next article, in which I'll give you some more tips and resources to boost your self-confidence and make you drool for grilled pizza.

Pepperoni and peppers pizza

Chicken and avocado stuffed naan

La Gringa's chicken stuffed naan empanadas

I ran across a recipe for Indian naan bread that sounded good. Then I wondered if we could cook that on The Grill, too. Sure enough, I found a recipe for grilled naan and the accompanying photo looked delish.

Tried it. Loved it. You should try it, too.

Then I started playing with more grilled bread. One night we used naan breads for chicken fajitas instead of tortillas. Another night, we roasted some garlic – on the grill, of course, and made some garlic bread out of some leftover pizza dough topped with a little mozzarella/Parmesan mixed with some Italian seasoning. One time I made calzones with leftover pizza dough. Another time I added cumin seeds to the naan dough and we just ate it plain as a side dish.

Hot, fresh grilled bread. Tasty. It's hard to describe, but grilling bread goes so far beyond the flavor and texture you can get from the oven. It's quicker than the oven, too. I think this is another case of modern advancements not really improving upon the old ways – like machine made tortillas!

One day we had some leftover roasted chicken (El Jefe's unparalleled recipe made on The Grill, of course), and I had the idea to make some stuffed naan bread for lunch.

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Roasted pork leg, a Honduran favorite

Record breaking sales of pork, apples, and grapes

To show you how popular Christmas pork is in La Ceiba, this article in the local Ceibeño section of La Prensa reported that an estimated 72,000 pounds of pork were consumed by Ceibeños during Christmas week and that another 30,000 pounds were expected to be sold during New Year's week.

The other article reported that grapes and apples, other popular holiday food items, experienced a 30% increase in sales this year and a 15% increase in price compared to last year. I always thought the grape and apple tradition was odd given the wonderful tropical fruit available here, but maybe because they are both imported, that is why they are considered a special treat for the holidays. The article notes that grapes and apples are more in demand for Christmas, while tamales and torrejas (a donut-like dessert soaked in a sugar syrup) are more in demand for New Year.

The article notes that chicken is the more common fare for Ceibeños, though pork and beef are eaten year round, particularly in the form of pork chops (chuletas).

Below is a translation of my Honduran sister-in-law's recipe for roasted pork leg that she was kind enough to share with me the first time that I made one. I'm going to be so bold as to call it 'Honduran style' because it is, uh, from a Honduran living in Honduras, but I don't claim that there is only one Honduran style – anymore than there is one 'American style' chicken soup recipe. ;-) So if this isn't the way that your Honduran mother made it, please leave a comment to share other Honduran versions. I'd love to read about variations.

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La Gringa's Roast Pork Leg Recipe

Roasted Pork Leg – minus a few test bites by Chef El Jefe

I promised a roasted pork leg recipe and I'm not only providing you with the recipe I used this year, but also my sister-in-law's authentic Honduran recipe, as a well as a modified version of her recipe. Those latter two recipes will be in the next article. (I promise! Unfortunately, my sister-in-law's recipe was misplaced for a time, hence the delay in posting.)

Leftovers

For my recipe version below, I winged it by picking and choosing what sounded good from three recipes I found online, since none of my cookbooks have a recipe for whole fresh pork leg. I was looking for a sort of Caribbean flavor and I think it was achieved with lots of garlic and fresh ginger, as well as the bitter orange juice. I can tell you that it was served to Hondurans and they all loved it. The proof is shown by how much they ate!

Because I was winging it, I ended up with about 1 1/2 cups of unused marinade. El Jefe loved the flavor so much that a week later he went out and bought a smaller pork roast to cook on the grill with the leftover marinade. The proportions of this recipe have been reduced so that you shouldn't have a lot of excess marinade. Before you start marinating the meat, in a separate bowl, set aside about 1/3-1/2 cup for basting in the first couple of hours. After that, there should be enough pan juices to use for basting during the rest of the cooking time.

Speaking of cooking time, please use a thermometer and your own judgement. The USDA has lowered the recommended 'safe' cooking temperature for pork from 160ºF down to 145ºF with a 3-minute resting time, but remember that a pork leg is a huge hunk of meat with a large bone running through it so the temperature is going to vary a lot in different areas of the meat. While trichinosis has been mostly eliminated in the US, I have no idea the status in Honduras so I'd rather play it safe like Hondurans do. Knowing that most of my guests would have been appalled at pink meat, I preferred to ensure that the leg was fully cooked and tender.

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New Year's Day Lucky Blackeye Pea Soup Recipe

New Year's Day Blackeye Pea Soup
It brings luck!

There is a tradition in Texas that if you eat Blackeye Pea Soup on New Year's Day, you'll have good luck all year. Once I got started, I got all superstitious about it and couldn't quit. I was never a big fan of blackeyed peas, but I enjoyed this soup most every New Year's Day. When I first came to La Ceiba, it was dry red beans or canned black beans or nothing, but over the years, the variety of available beans has grown and we can get several kinds of beans and lentils now, mostly of the Goya brand.

When did a pound become 14 ounces?

I used to make this soup with smoked ham hocks which gave it a nice smokey flavor. Then I discovered Andouille sausage, which I absolutely love. The flavor goes very well with blackeye peas but we can't get either one here and I don't much like (or trust) Honduran sausage, having heard some bad stories. So trying to think of something to make a bean soup satisfying to my meat-lovin' husband, I decided to try plain, unsmoked pork hocks. El Jefe got a butcher to cut them but there was virtually no meat at all on them. Then J somehow left the bag of hocks out of the fridge all night. Yuck. I discovered them in the morning and the smell was off so out they went.

Smoked pork chops

El Jefe was desperate for meat in his soup. The only smoked meat I've seen is expensive imported hams or smoked pork chops so I said to go buy a couple of those if he had to have meat and I'd cut them up and add them to the soup. He came home with five pork chops, so... "Now we are having meat soup with beans!", I complained. Heheheh! Hondurans love their meat!

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Oreo Pops (recipe)

A month or so ago, I was looking for something on the internet, which led to something totally unrelated, which led to something else (Cake Pops), and then I stumbled upon Oreo Pops.

Maybe this is old news to those of you in the USA, but "Cake Pops" were something new to me. They are little dessert treats on a stick, like a sucker, and some talented people decorate them like you wouldn't believe! Cartoon characters, Santa Claus, animals, flowers, you name it (click for photos). It sounded like something fun but since I couldn't find sucker sticks or fancy decorating ingredients in La Ceiba and didn't feel like baking a cake, I decided to make Oreo Pops, or more accurately called Oreo Bites since I had to use toothpicks.

I had reservations as I thought these might be a little too sweet for my taste since the white Oreo filling is mixed in as well. Not so. They had a deep, rich chocolate flavor that wasn't overly sweet. The final texture is kind of like fudge, but not as sweet as fudge generally is. El Jefe liked them, too.

This is a great recipe for Honduras, especially for those of us not in the mega shopping areas, since it only has three ingredients: Oreos, cream cheese (which has been readily available in La Ceiba for several years now), and chocolate. I think it would also be a fun recipe for kids to make.

Oreo Pops

makes about 30-36

1 16 oz. bag of Oreos
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese
4-5 oz. semisweet, milk, or white chocolate*

*I used Bakers Semisweet squares, but you could use chocolate chips or Dove chocolate candies if you can find them, or even use plain chocolate candy bars if your selection of chocolate is limited. You could also use a little of two kinds of chocolate and drizzle a design of white chocolate over a semi-sweet coating or vice versa.

If you have a food processor, dump all of the Oreos in it and let 'er rip until the Oreos are fine crumbs.

If you don't have a machine, put the cookies a few at a time into a heavy sealable plastic bag and either using a rolling pin or your kitchen rock (you do have one, right?), and smash until the cookies are in fine crumbs. Place the crumbs into a medium-sized bowl. It looks a little like potting soil at this point.

Add 4-6 oz. of the cream cheese and run the machine for a few seconds at a time until the mixture begins to pull into a well-mixed ball. Or, if you aren't using a machine, mix in the cream cheese with a big spoon, spatula, or your hands, part at a time, until the "dough" is firm and will agreeably roll into a cohesive ball. Add more, a couple of ounces at a time, as needed. I only used about 6 oz. total, though most recipes call for the whole 8 oz. You want the mix to be about play dough consistency. Too soft and your balls will flatten out, too dry and your balls will crumble.

Pinch off an amount to make about a 1 to 1 1/4 inch ball. If I had sucker sticks, I would make them bigger. Roll the dough in your hands until it is a nice round shape. Place the balls on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and put it in the freezer for 15-30 minutes.

Melt your chocolate carefully in the microwave or rig up a "double boiler" with a bowl and a small pot. I like the double boiler so I could keep the chocolate warm for dipping. As it cools, it thickens and that isn't great for dipping.


Side Note: I've been having problems with chocolate seizing (getting hard and never melting in the microwave) lately — all the time! I don't know if it is the quality of the chocolate (note the photo, this chocolate has been melted in transit at least once and apparently stored under less than optimal conditions) or if it is just from the high humidity in the air. If you use a double boiler, be sure that no boiling water spatters into your chocolate as it will definitely seize.

If your chocolate seizes or seems too thick for dipping, stir in a teaspoon or two of shortening or manteca to thin it out a bit. Don't use butter — it will melt later. This time my chocolate did seize as you can see in the small bowl to the side. I tried to melt the congealed mass over the stove with no joy, so I added a bit of shortening, and a bit more, and a bit more, until it finally got to the right consistency. Though I wouldn't purposely add that much shortening if I had a choice, the finally taste really didn't suffer.

When the balls are firm and the chocolate is melted, take a toothpick, dip the end into the chocolate and then insert it into a ball. The chocolate is supposed to help keep the toothpick from falling out of the ball and it seemed to work. I never lost a single one.

Holding the toothpick vertical, plunge the ball completely into the melted chocolate to coat it thoroughly. I used a spoon in the other hand to help the chocolate cover completely and the back of spoon to scrape some of the excess off the bottom, but work fast as the chocolate will look messy if you play with it after it starts to cool. Do this one by one and place the chocolate covered balls back on to the wax paper (foil might work, too), but definitely do not place them on a plate as the chocolate will stick like glue.

If you find the balls are getting soft before you finish, put them back into the freezer for a few minutes to firm up again before dipping the rest.

Chill in the freezer until the chocolate is firm and enjoy! I'll bet you can't eat just one.

Another note: Most recipes for Cake Balls say to not store them in the refrigerator because the chocolate will 'weep' (form condensation on the outside). Here in the tropics, the chocolate would melt if I stored them at room temperature, so I stored the Oreo Balls in the freezer. I just put some on a plate and let them thaw for a few minutes before serving.

Question: Have any of you in the tropics had problems with chocolate seizing when there has been no chance of moisture being introduced by the cook? I melted many a chocolate in my previous air-conditioned kitchens and never had this problem before. Now I have the problem almost every time and I'd like to try to pinpoint what the issue is.

As always, please let me know if you try the recipe and how you liked it. ;-)

Sauted lobster with mushoom risotto

Lobster with mushroom risotto

El Jefe found a great little seafood store. Apparently it is primarily an export business but they have a little storefront where they sell to the public, too. We bought a ton of stuff. My favorite was the shrimp, the grouper, and, of course, the lobster.

I love lobster! But I have only once in my life cooked it, intimidated by the (US) cost, I guess. This was an accidental meal. I had planned to prepare the lobster differently based on delicious advice from some of my more lobster-experienced Honduran Facebook friends. I bought this frozen in a plastic bag and didn't really know what I had. The store had frozen lobster tails in the shell and these packages of lobster meat without the shell. I asked if they were pieces or whole tails and was told that they "were the same, just no shell". But upon thawing, I could see that they clearly were chunks, not whole lobster tails.

Changing plans, I decided to make a risotto with the last of my arborio rice from Los Andes in San Pedro. I kinda-sorta followed the Cook's Illustrated recipe for basic risotto. Are you at all surprised that I love the incredibly long and detailed Cook's Illustrated recipes? No, I didn't think so.

I changed the recipe by adding some canned mushrooms, which I had drained, rinsed, and minced. Oh, I can see you turning up your nose at canned mushrooms, but I have to say that even though they were lowly canned mushrooms, the long cooking added an incredible mushroom flavor to the risotto.

Mushroom risotto

2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 onion, minced
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup arborio rice
4 oz. canned mushrooms, drained, rinsed, and minced; or fresh
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups water, heated with the broth
1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup dry white wine, optional
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

To start, in a saucepan, sauté the minced onion with the salt in the hot butter until very soft about 10 minutes. Add the rice and and stir frequently for about 5 minutes until the edges of the rice begin to look transparent. Add the wine, if using, and mushrooms and stir and cook until all the wine has been absorbed by the rice and the alcohol evaporated.

The recipe says that using pure chicken broth will result in too strong a flavor because of the condensation and evaporation of the liquid so I used about half broth and half water as recommended. Add about 1 1/2 cups of hot broth-water liquid. Stir about every 3 minutes until the broth has been absorbed by the rice and the bottom of the pan is dry, about 10-12 minutes. (Stirring frequently is less important in the beginning.)

Add another half cup of liquid each time the rice absorbs the previous addition. Stir more than occasionally but not quite constantly, until the grains of rice are cooked through but still somewhat firm in the center, a total of about 10-12 minutes more.

Stir in the cheese, add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste and serve immediately in shallow bowls. (Mine needed no additional salt.) Food of the gods.

The lobster

With the addition of the second to the last bit of liquid to the risotto, I recruited El Jefe to supervise the stirring while I prepared the lobster.

I cut the larger lobster chunks into bite-sized pieces. In a frypan, I melted a tablespoon or so of butter and added a couple of finely minced garlic cloves (in Spanish, dientes — teeth). When the garlic aroma started wafting, I tossed in the lobster, sprinkled a bit of salt, and sautéed it over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes and then served it hot on top of the hot risotto with steamed green beans on the side.

This was my second time ever to cook lobster. I don't know why I haven't tried it sooner, except that the first time, I bought it frozen in the grocery store and it was absolutely awful and smelly, which I couldn't tell while it was in the frozen state. I had been afraid ever since to try it again.

The review

This really was food of the gods. The rich butteriness of the lobster with the creaminess of the rice was beyond compare. "Comfort food" came to mind as we were eating. Now that I know how good it can be, we'll be having it again before long. During dinner, there was a lot of moaning about "Oh! This is so good!".

Shrimp Kebabs (Pinchos de camarones)

Shrimp Kebabs (Pinchos de camarones)

Whether you call them kebobs, kabobs, kababs, shish kebab, brochettes, or pinchos as they are called in La Ceiba, Honduras, meat on a stick is an easy and quick, but impressive meal. Pinchos of beef, chicken or shrimp are a popular restaurant meal in La Ceiba and are simple to make at home, too, either by grilling outdoors or broiling in the oven. The variations are endless with any type of meat, vegetables, and flavorings. Oh, to add one more name to the list, one former restaurant in La Ceiba called them 'alambres' (wires) referring to the skewer. If you don't have access to your own kitchen, I recommend the pinchos at Expatriates Restaurant here in La Ceiba.

El Jefe would opt for beef any day but one of the many nice things about pinchos is that it isn't such a big deal to prepare more than one type of meat in the same meal. My personal favorites are chicken or shrimp, especially when I can combine them with fresh pineapple and lots of chiles.

As one of the Blogicito commenters mentioned recently, the local La Ceiba pineapples have been just out of this world in rich flavor during the past few months. I always love fresh pineapple but apparently the weather has been absolutely perfect lately for developing sweet, juicy, flavorful pineapples. No matter how green or yellow, how big or small, all have been outstanding.

You can assemble pinchos in advance and marinade them for an hour or so or even longer if necessary to help tenderize beef. Or just marinade the meat separately and assemble later. Be careful with shrimp, though, that you don't marinade them in anything that works as a tenderizer or you'll end up with super mushy shrimp. I made that mistake once with pineapple and shrimp appetizers, so to be safe, El Jefe insisted that the pineapple be on separate sticks. Since we were cooking them immediately, I don't think that it was really necessary, but, you know, he's the boss. ;-)

I like pinchos for parties because depending upon the crowd, people can prepare their own with the ingredients they like best. There are usually some who enjoy the cooking especially when it is outside on the grill — man territory. I think it is fun and it's good to take the pressure off the ladies for a change.

Here is a tip I learned from Martha Stewart: If you use wooden sticks, soak them in water for an hour or two prior to assembling the kabobs to prevent the tips from catching on fire. Here is a tip I learned from Gordon whats-his-name, the British chef/restaurant saver: Never reuse wooden sticks. Throw them out as they could contain bacteria and he might have to come and close down your kitchen.

These shrimp pinchos included chiles, onions, and tomatoes, just what we happened to have on hand. Since it only takes about 5-7 minutes to cook the shrimp, you wouldn't want to use any vegetables that need a longer cooking time. El Jefe had more onions on his pincho, but he thought the onions had a too-raw taste. The next time, I think I'll saute the onion pieces for a couple of minutes before assembling the pinchos. I've done that in the past, but didn't think about it this time.

Here is the 'secret' marinade I used: Lee Kum Kee Marinada de Pollo Teriyaki, available at most of the grocery stores in La Ceiba. I use this a lot, straight out of the bottle, including for Tex-Mex chicken or beef fajitas! I discovered it one of the first times I tried to make fajitas in Honduras and of course didn't have my favorite smoky fajita marinade from Texas. Out of desperation to pump up the flavor, I tried some of this marinade (Chinese-Tex-Mex?). It was surprisingly good, and surprisingly not so oriental-flavored as I expected. Just go easy on the salt in your recipe as this packs a heaping serving of salt.

We served the pinchos with steamed jasmine rice (YUM — what aroma and flavor!), and since we can never get enough pineapple, a fruit salad.

While the pineapples are at their peak, other recipes you might enjoy:

Pork and pineapple with chiles, garlic, and ginger

La Gringa's fresh pineapple ice cream recipe

Pork and pineapple with chiles, garlic, and ginger

This dish was much more colorful
than this photo shows :-/

Double posting — Two articles in one day. I just wanted to get the bad taste of that last article out of your mouth and put this good taste in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Necessity is the mother of invention. I had two beautiful, thick, boneless pork chops. I had planned to make baked pork chops with scalloped potatoes, which is one of El Jefe's favorite gringo ways to prepare pork chops. But when I went to the fridge, I discovered that I only had three tiny little potatoes — not enough.

Looking around, I had chiles galore, half an onion, .... oh, and those beautiful piñas that were given to us in El Gancho, Honduras, along with some cocos and cacaos.

(More on this story later)

I love pineapple with pork and so does El Jefe so that decided it. Pork and pineapple with chiles, garlic, and homegrown fresh ginger. Yum, yum, yum! The pineapple was absolutely outstanding.

Playing it by ear, I used 1 1/2 large chiles, 1 carrot, 1/2 onion, and initially, half of the pineapple, cut into chunks.

I trimmed off as much fat from the pork chops as I could and then sliced them thinly. Truth be told, one pork chop would have been enough, but I already had sliced them both, and El Jefe never complains about an excess of meat.

I cooked the onion and carrot until the onion was tender, then pushed it to the sides of the large pan while I browned the thin slices of pork, half at a time, along with the minced garlic and ginger.

I only used a bit of salt on the pork and none on the veggies, because the soy sauce I planned to use is so salty.

When the pork was almost ready, I added the chiles, because we like them on the crunchy side. At the very end, I threw in the pineapple pieces just long enough to heat.

El Jefe came along as I was cooking, saying, "Oh, boy! That looks good! I can smell it all the way upstairs. But it doesn't look like enough pineapple." We stuffed delicious Honduran pineapple pieces into our mouths as we discussed how much pineapple to use and then ended up just dumping the whole bowlful in. It was a smallish pineapple.

For the sauce, I used 1/2 cup of homemade chicken broth (from my stash in the freezer), 1/4 cup of water, a big spoonful of cornstarch, a couple of big glugs of soy sauce, the pineapple juice that had accumulated, and a couple of heaping tablespoons of hoisin sauce. I poured the sauce over the meat and veggie concoction and cooked it until thickened. Served over Basmati rice, it made about 4 servings.

It's a keeper.

Pumpkin pecan praline ice cream

La Gringa's pumpkin pecan praline ice cream

Yum! This was a good experiment with a holiday flare. El Jefe liked it a lot, too.

I followed my basic mango ice cream recipe except substituted a can of pumpkin puree for the mango, reduced the milk a little to adjust for the volume of puree, and added some cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.

Next time, I think I will leave out the pumpkin pie spice and just use about 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Initially, I only used half the can of pumpkin, but the pumpkin flavor was too faint, so I dumped the whole thing into the mix.

Pecans cost an arm and a leg here in La Ceiba so they are a special treat for us. I'm not giving the praline recipe for reasons explained below, but the next time that I get it to work, I will give you a recipe.

I cannot follow a praline or toffee recipe to save my life! I don't know why I always feel the need to adjust by adding butter or more corn syrup. It always tastes good, but this praline turned out incredibly sticky. I joked that it has the advantage of giving you a snack later on from all the praline stuck to your teeth. ;-/ Luckily, mixed into the frozen ice cream, it was delectably crunchy and not too sticky.

After the praline hardens, chop it into small pieces using a sharp chef's knife. You can store it in a plastic container at room temperature or in the freezer. I store mine in the back of the freezer because otherwise it just dwindles away day by day until there is nothing left. (El Jefe rarely looks in the freezer.)

This ice cream is great by itself, but since it isn't too terribly sweet, I think it would be good as a side to your pumpkin or pecan pie, too.

Let me know what you think if you try it!


If you are going to try this recipe in the tropics (or even if you aren't in the tropics), please check out my Ice Cream Making Tips, which I know from my years of ice cream making experience will help to avoid disappointment. If you are still on the fence about buying an ice cream maker — just do it! Check out my Ice Cream Maker Reviews where I give the straight scoop on ice cream makers.

Oh, yeah, and for the raw egg-phobics, you can easily change this recipe to a cooked egg custard based recipe by following the instructions in Custard Based Ice Cream.

Enjoy!