The Flavors of Costa Rica

After six months of selling panini lunches, and smelling like burnt olive oil, we finally raised enough money to embark on our senior class trip to Costa Rica. We spent the first part of the trip near Monte Verde, in the cloud forests of San Luis. The service portion of our trip was done on a bio dynamic farm where we prepared beds, dug holes for coffee plants and spread coffee husk compost around coffee roots. The second portion of our trip was for relaxing; we stayed outside of Tamarindo in the hotel Las Tortugas which was located on the beach but also had its own pool and hot tub. Throughout the trip my classmates and I were introduced to the delicious traditional meals of Costa Rica, enriched with the fresh produce of Costa Rica's fertile agriculture.


We stopped for lunch after our arrival in San Jose at a restaurant literally translated as "The House of Corn." The avocados were ripened to perfection - a rare treat for us New Yorkers. The food was fresh and delicious; I could already tell this was going to be an unforgettable trip.

This was my main course: chicken with sauteed peppers and onions, fresh salsa with tortillas, refried black beans and corn. Everything arrived on plates of plantain leaves. The homemade salsa was a fresh component to the meal with a sharp kick of cilantro. Many of us were surprised by the corn because, as Americans, we automatically expected the juicy American sweet corn that we are so accustomed to. The corn served at this "House of Corn" was not our familiar sweet corn but what we would call "cow corn" here (which is regularly served to cows in the US). This was not surprising to me because street vendors in Turkey market the same tough but flavorful corn in little trolleys at parks and street corners.

For dessert, we were offered complimentary rice pudding which was flavored with a perfect blend of cinnamon and cardamom. The spiced pudding vaguely reminded me of Indian rice puddings but the spices were less potent and did not include the distinctive saffron.

Before we arrived at our hotel, we also stopped by a small street-side shop which sold fresh fruit, dulce de leche candy and pastries as well as coconut water in small plastic bags. I bought a mango and was intoxicated by its delicious scent for the rest of the bus ride!

Banana plants were a common sight amongst the tropical plants thriving on the biodynamic farm.

This photo was taken wit my classmate, Brogan O'Donnell's, superior camera.

I didn't get many opportunities to try the desserts of Las Tortugas but I knew I had to try the coconut flan when I read it on the menu. If there is one thing I have learned about Central and South American cuisine it is that they have perfected and mastered flan. This coconut flan was no disappointment; it was rich, creamy, and caramelized with a tropical twist of coconut. Mmmm!

Photo: Brogan O'Donnell

These banana pancakes were a breakfast favorite. I never thought of cooking the bananas into the pancake this way and was pleasantly surprised by the creamy caramelized flavor that cooked bananas bring to this otherwise ordinary American breakfast. I will definitely try this technique our next pancake-featured breakfast.

In the heat of Tamarindo, natural smoothies were very popular hydrators and we tried almost every flavor on the menu - watermelon, starfruit, blackberry, iced tea, lemonade, mango, banana, and guanabana (the restaurants special mixture of local fruits). My favorite was the watermelon smoothies which I don't have a photo of but I can try to describe - imagine all the refreshing goodness of a cold ripe watermelon simplified and de-seeded into a smoothie, ready to be slurped up in a few divine minutes through a straw.

Sugar Cane

This presser was used to extract sugar juice from the sugar cane by crushing it.

As the cane was crushed, it would excrete this sugar water which needs to be boiled and refined thoroughly until it reaches the the recognizable sugar state.

This option of sucking on the fibrous but juicy cane is also favorable. I must admit that I preferred chewing and sucking out the sugar this way more than drinking the sugar water already extracted by the press. It was surprisingly refreshing and felt like I was sucking on some tropical fruit rather than the source of common baking sugar.

Jan demonstrating:)

Candied Violet Macarons for Brogan

Coconut Apricot Birthday Cake for Galen

Gateau Royale for Jessica

Ingredients

• 5 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into pieces
• 2 oz. sweet butter, cut into pieces
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. (3 oz.) sifted cake flour
• 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 c. raspberry preserves
• 4-5 oz. almond paste
  

Bittersweet Chocolate Glaze

• 6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, cut into pieces
• 4 oz. (1 stick) sweet butter, cut into pieces
• 1 tbsp. light corn syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line bottom of 9x2-inch round cake pan with a circle of parchment or wax paper.

Melt together chocolate, butter, and 3 tbsp water in a barely simmering water bath over low eat, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir until completely smooth. Set aside.

Beat egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar together until pale and thick. Stir in warm chocolate mixture; stir in flour. Set aside.

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar in a clean, dry mixing bowl at medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually sprinkle in remaining 1/4 cup sugar, beating at high speed until stiff but not dry. Fold on-fourth of whites gently into chocolate batter to lighten it. Fold in remaining whites. Turn batter into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick or wooden skewer plunged into the center comes out just dry. Do not over bake.

Cool cake for 10 minutes in pan on a rack. Run a small knife or spatula around the edge and invert onto cake circle.Peel off parchment. Invert once more onto a rack so that the cake is right side up. Save the cake circle. Cool cake completely on the rack before using. Cake may be prepared to this point, wrapped well, and kept at room temperature up to 2 days in advance, or frozen up to 3 months. Let come to room temperature before glazing or serving.

To Assemble the Cake: Place cooled cake right side up on cake circle. With a serrated bread knife, split cake horizontally into 2 thin layers. Set upper layer aside. Spread bottom layer evenly with half of preserves. Place top layer on preserves and spread with remaining preserves.

Roll almond paste between 2 sheets of plastic wrap until about 1/8 inch thick and at least 8 inches in diameter. Cut almond paste into a neat 8-inch round; save the scraps for another use. Center almond paste round on top of cake.

Glaze cake with Bittersweet Chocolate Glaze. Once glazed, do not refrigerate the cake.

Bittersweet Chocolate glaze: Place chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a small bowl. Melt gently in a water bath over low hear, stirring frequently until almost completely melted. Do not overheat the glaze; there is no need to warm it above 120 degrees F. Remove glaze from water bath and set aside to finish melting, stirring once or twice until glaze is perfectly smooth; do not whisk or beat. Use glaze at 90-92 degrees F. Pour evenly over cake and gently spread it evenly with a spatula. Leave torte at room temperature after glazing.

(From Alice Medrich's Cocolat)

Jullienned Pear with Vanilla Jam

This was my first jam experience and my mother helped me through it. It was much simpler than I expected and rewardingly delicious. This recipe is from Christine Ferber's Mes Confitures.

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 lbs. (1.2 kg) William or Bartlett pears, ripe but still firm
• 3 3/4 (800 g) granulated sugar
• 7 oz (200 g) Green Apple Jelly
• Juice of 1 small lemon
• 2 vanilla beans

Peel the pears, remove their stems, core them, halve them, and cut them into thin julienne. In a preserving pan, combine the pears, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla beans, split lengthwise. Bring this to a simmer. Pour into a ceramic bowl. Cover the fruit with a piece of parchment paper and refrigerate overnight.

Next day, bring the mixture to a boil in a preserving pan. Skim. Add the apple jelly, return to a boil, and continue cooking on high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring gently. Skim again if need be. Remove the vanilla beans and divide pieces of them among the jars. Return to a boil. Check the set. Put the jam into jars immediately and seal.

Topsy-Turvy Apple Pie

Sasha's apple dessert request was ironically the most problematic. This apple pie was my second attempt at Sasha's dessert. When I flipped the pie over, not all of the toffee topping transferred and it looked pretty messy, so once again we decided to eat some before we realized that we could have fixed the top with some extra sauce. Just like the apple cake, I didn't want t0 give him a a partial dessert so I ended up offering it to my family and giving a few slices to my pie-loving neighbors. Though it was not the prettiest pie I've ever encountered, it was definitely yummy - the toffee topping coupled perfectly with the baked apple slices. We found this recipe in a Pilsbury cookbook.

Glaze and Crust

• 2 pie crusts (for top and bottom)
• 1/4 c. packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. butter, melted
• 1 tbsp corn syrup
• 1/2 c. pecan halves

Filling

• 2/3 c. granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 c. thinly sliced, peeled apples (4 medium)

Topping

• whipped cream, if desired

Heat oven to 425 degrees F. In a 9 inch pie plate, mix brown sugar, butter and corn syrup. Spread evenly in bottom of pie plate. Arrange pecans over mixture. Place 1 crust over the mixture in pie plate.

In a small bowl, mix granulated sugar, flour and cinnamon. Add apple slices and toss until they're evenly coated. Fill the pie pan with the slices, making sure it is level. Cover with the second pie crust; seal edge and flute. Cut slits in several places in top crust.

Place pie on sheet of foil on middle rack in oven; bake 8 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F; bake for 35-45 minutes longer or until apples are tender and crust is golden brown. Immediately run knife around edge of pie to loosen. Place serving plate upside down over pie; turn serving plate and pie plate over. Remove pie plate.

Serve warm or cool with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!

(If the caramel does not coat the pie nicely, make some caramel sauce and touch up the unfortunate spots.)

White Chocolate Raspberry Tort for Abby

I was aware of Abby's love of white chocolate for a while. I remember one lunch when she bought a bar and I was slightly surprised because I don't know many people who can eat that much white chocolate by itself. So when Abby's turn came around I thought what better companion to white chocolate than raspberries? The tangy raspberries offset the richness of the white chocolate while the bittersweet tart grounds the ensemble. This tart is from The Art of the Tart by Tamasin Day-Lewis but it has been slightly modified by my mother (I used the recipe from my mother's blog).

For the Chocolate Pastry Crust:

• 1 c flour
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbs confectioner's sugar
• 4 tbs cold butter, cut into small chunks
• 1 egg yolk
• A few tbs ice water

For the Filling:

• 1 c creme fraiche
• 1 c heavy cream
• 6 oz white chocolate, cut into small pieces
  
• 1/2 lb raspberries
• A little cocoa powder for decoration

Preheat the oven to 400F. Grease a 9" tart pan. Sift the flour, cocoa and sugar into the bowl of your food processor. Add in the chunks of butter and process briefly. Add the egg yolk and a tablespoons or two of water, and process just until the dough coheres. Wrap and refrigerate the dough for half an hour (I didn't). Roll on a surface sprinkled with some cocoa powder and line your prepared tart pan. Bake the pastry crust blind with beans for 20 minutes, and 10 minutes more without the beans. It should be crisp and slightly browned. Cool.

Bring 1/3 c of the whipping cream to boil. Pour it over the pieces of white chocolate and stir until completely melted. Refrigerate for a few hours. Whip the remaining 2/3 c cream until thick. Combine it and the creme fraiche with the white chocolate mixture, and stir until the filling comes together uniformly.

Crush some of the raspberries lightly so that they release some juice. Line the cooled pastry crust with the berries. Pour the filling, and use a spoon to smooth it over the fruit. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before you dust the tart lightly with cocoa powder and serve or decorate the top with white chocolate curls by scraping thin slices with a knife (the white chocolate curls better when the it is slightly warm). The consistency and flavor definitely improve after a night of refrigeration.