Food
Semana Santa
The Easter weekend here in Costa Rica was quite the event, with nearly the entire country grinding to a slow halt for one of the most revered religious holidays of the year. Let’s go over the events.
Monday through Wednesday are know as Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday and Holy Wednesday. The next day is called Maundy (Holy) Thursday. Following these days we have Good Friday, which is normally a fast day, so only one meal permitted. On Holy Saturday, once the sun goes down, this is officially the beginning of Easter. Easter Sunday is the time when parties and feasts occur in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Here at Costa Rica Outward Bound, we had a small celebration of our own which included some secret family recipes of staff member Wendy. We enjoyed quite a spread as you can see below.
A full table of delicious foods!
And the cook herself, Wendy!
Wendy works hard while Jesus hardly works
Patacones!
Most days, but especially when it gets close to lunch time, some of the staff in the office find themselves staring at pictures of food and perusing food blogs. This day is certainly no different, with most being entranced by the delicious offerings of patacones, a delicious treat traditional to Costa Rica. This tasty dish is often served as a side dish or as a starter, and is nothing if not delicious! Recently a tasty recipe was found via a fun blog called “Eat Run Read”, where some folks on a trip to Costa Rica were taught a tasty recipe for the dish, and did their best to recreate it. Find what looks to be a well executed recipe below!
Patacones with Black Bean Dip
For the plantains:
- Slice 3 plantains about ¼ inch thick.
- Heat vegetable oil about ½ inch deep in a frying pan.
- Add plantains, only one layer at a time.
- Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, using a slotted spoon to turn them. (3 minutes is approximate – turn them when browned.)
- Remove from oil onto a paper towel.
- Sprinkle with salt.
For the black bean dip:
- 1 can refried black beans
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- Chili pepper or hot sauce if you want it.
Heat all ingredients in a saucepan, stirring until hot and smooth.
Enjoy!
Costa Rica never looked so good
Feliz Accion de Gracias!
Life in the Costa Rican Rainforest is a fantastic cultural experience for the expatriate staff at Outward Bound. However at times some of the foreign staff here will bring over their own cultural traditions. And with the larger number of American staff, so comes Thanksgiving along with them! Although only attended by a smaller international group, the official Costa Rica Outward Bound Thanksgiving was by all accounts a massive success here on base, complete with numerous dishes and a hearty display of cooking prowess by the organization’s very own Donna White. A true Thanksgiving by all standards, the evening showed all the tell tale signs of a successful meal as no one was able to move for 1-2 hours after finishing their food.
 |
| Donna does her thing! |
 |
| The final product, and yes, it was delicious! |
One More Quinoa Recipe!
Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
2-3 tablespoons peanut butter
2 teaspooons cinnamon
1 banana
¼ cup raisins
2 cups water
Directions:
1. Boil quinoa in a rice cooker or saucepan with water until all water is absorbed (about 20 minutes).
2. Melt peanut butter and cinnamon together in small saucepan.
3. Mix peanut butter with fresh quinoa and add chopped banana and raisins to taste. You can also experiment with mangos, strawberries and nuts.
Makes: About 4 servings, Preparation time: 5 minutes, Cooking time: 20 minutes
Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Recipe!
We recently spoke of some tasty and healthy recipes from our very own health food aficionado, Monica Chen. This installation of recipes for Quinoa will be sure to please, as it certainly does here on the Costa Rica Outward Bound base. Having spent many months in the region of South America where Quinoa comes from, Monica is well versed on this versatile food and is always happy to share a recipe. Here is one recipe that was enjoyed by the folks here at Costa Rica Outward Bound!
Roasted Vegetable Quinoa
Ingredients:
3-5 small yellow potatoes, cut into bite-size pieces
1 large red onion, bite sized
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup eggplant
2 parsnips, bite sized
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari
1/4 cup balsamic vingear
1/2 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup quinoa
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spread the vegetables onto a baking sheet.
2. Mix together the soy sauce, vinegar, oil, garlic, sugar and pepper in a small bowl and drizzle evenly over the vegetables, coating as many as possible.
3. Cook the vegetables for about 1/2 hour-45 minutes, or until they are a light golden brown and a little crispy on the edges.
4. Meanwhile, bring vegetable stock to a boil. Stir in the quinoa, turn down the heat and cook at a light simmer for 20-25 minutes.
5. Once the vegetables and quinoa are done, gradually fold the vegetables together with the quinoa in a large bowl.
Makes: About 4 servings, Preparation time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 30-45 minutes
Monica digging out a log in South America, but we all know she's thinking about Quinoa!
More Recipes from Costa Rica Outward Bound!
One of the best parts of Costa Rica Outward Bound is learning more about the fantastic people that are a part of our organization. One such member is programming intern, Monica Chen, a passionate runner and health food aficionado. Monica hails from Berkeley, California and brings with her a love for cooking quinoa, a staple of South American Andean diets. Not too long ago, Monica took the time to cook staff a quinoa feast and, needless to say, we are all hooked!
Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah), originating from Peru, is used as a grain (similar to rice or couscous) because of its cooking characteristics. Cultivated varieties of white, black and red quinoa are protein-packed and excellent sources of vitamins, minerals and fiber. With an almost perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids, quinoa is a favorite staple item for many people, particularly those following vegetarian and gluten-free diets.
Monica has worked as a kitchen manager for the Berkeley Student Cooperative and regularly cooked quinoa for hundreds of people every week. Thus we are lucky to have her share some of her favorite quinoa recipes with us!
Quinoa Salad
Ingredients:
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
1 carrot, diced
6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 scallion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small cucumber, sliced
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
dash cayenne pepper
dash cumin
salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Boil quinoa in a rice cooker or saucepan with water until all water is absorbed (about 20 minutes). Set aside to cool.
2. Combine all chopped veggies and drained beans with lemon juice, oil, vinegar and spices.
3. Toss with quinoa, add salt and pepper, to taste and serve. This salad tastes great with hot sauce!
Makes: About 2 servings
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Recipes from Costa Rica Outward Bound!
Here at Costa Rica Outward Bound headquarters lunch is often a time for the staff to share stories of their time on course over a nice group meal. On certain days, that group meal is good enough to really get the group talking, and today was no exception! A recipe for fried chicken by instructor Josh Mason made the day’s lunch extra special and is as simple and delicious in the kitchen as it is at the campsite. Check it out!
Ingredients:
4 Chicken Breasts
4 Eggs
3 Cups of Flour
Garlic Salt
Chili or Cayenne Pepper
Salt
Pepper
Additional Seasoning
Vegetable Oil
To Prepare:
• Wisk eggs and mix with equal parts water in a bowl
• Mix flour and garlic salt, chili/cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, and any additional seasoning (use each seasoning to taste) in separate bowl
• Heat vegetable oil in frying pan at high setting (enough oil to submerge chicken strip)
• Cut chicken breasts into 3 inch strips
• Dip chicken strips into egg/water mixture and then coat in flour/seasoning
• Fry in oil until golden brown and cooked fully
Eat and enjoy!
Cooking With Plantains
Many of our students leave course, wanting to relive their glory days in Costa Rica when they experienced unique activities, connected with the environment, challenged themselves, practiced Spanish, learned new skills, self-evaluated, stayed in shape, and/or ate incredibly tasty and amazing local food.
While we can’t provide solutions for every one of these nostalgic desires, we can at least help alleviate the memory-lane strain. One way of doing this is helping you cook some of the local food at home for yourself and your family/friends.
The first Tico food item you can easily learn to prepare?
Plantains.
There are two very common – and easy – snacks/desserts to make from plantains: maduros y patacones.
Differences: Patacones (shown in the photo above) are in the shape of a sand dollar made with unripened green plantains, and maduros are ripe plantains cut long-ways. Patacones are on the salty side, and maduros are on the sweeter side.
For a recipe to patacones, go to our newsletter article by clicking here.
For a recipe to maduros, here are the instructions:
INGREDIENTS: ripe plantains, brown sugar, cinnemon, frying oil
PREPARATION: slice plantains long-ways into thin strips, heat up a frying pan with a layer of oil in it
COOKING: fry slices of plantain in the oil, sprinkling brown sugar and cinnemon to taste; fry until browned
So go out and find some plantains to fry. If you request more recipes from your experience here, please 1) request them on our Facebook fan page wall at http://www.facebook.com/crrobs, 2) go to our newsletter archive (each one has a Tico recipe), or 3) send an email to crrobs@gmail.com for a specific request.
¡Buen provecho!*
*a Tico phrase used before meals with the same meaning as the common French phrase “Bon appetit!
Girl Scouts Make Tamales
Yesterday was the longest these 13-14-year-olds had ever spent cooking, preparing, and waiting for dinner. That’s what happens when your meal of choice is the Costa Rican tamale.
- Morning (after breakfast): used machetes and knives to cut big, broad leaves from banana trees
Afternoon, hour #1: boiled meat; cut up banana leaves into long strips; used meat broth to make the corn meal paste; boiled rice; prepared fire to boil leaves in large pot- Afternoon, hour #2: rolled and tied banana leaves; boiled rolled leaves for one hour
- Afternoon, hour #3: cleaned and cut potatoes, red peppers, carrots, and cilantro
Before dusk: removed banana leaves from pot, untied them, unrolled them, and dried them; rolled corn meal paste into balls- Dusk: on criss-crossing banana strips, smushed one ball of corn meal; layed meat, rice, and vegetables on banana leaves; folded leaves corner-to-corner and tied rope around each tamale
- Evening: boiled tamales for two hours
- Night: opened tamales to let cool for fifteen minutes; then eat! Buen provecho!
