Laylita’s recipes

Secos are a type of stew and are very popular in Ecuador and other South American countries; these yummy stews are usually made with beef, goat, lamb or chicken; the meat or poultry is slow cooked in a sauce made from a combination of liquid like beer, chicha, fruit juice, or wine; vegetables such as tomatoes, onions and/or peppers; and various different seasonings, spices and herbs –garlic, cumin, coriander, achiote, cinnamon, cilantro, parsley, oregano, among others. The exact ingredients and quantities vary from one type of seco to another, as well as from one region to another, but the goal is always the same: to obtain a delicious tender meat that falls off the bones (if the meat has bones) with barely touching it and melts in your mouth, all inside a very flavorful sauce that has slowly absorbed each distinct flavor to create one amazing taste. The preparation of these great stews is very easy and simple, the only thing you need is a little bit of time because they take several hours to cook.

Seco de borrego, also known as seco de cordero, is very similar to seco de chivo or goat stew, in fact quite frequently the goat stew is made with lamb because lamb meat is much easier to find, but if you’ve tasted them both you know there is a difference; even if you use exactly the same vegetables, spices and liquids, the meat infuses its own flavor into the seco, resulting in a softer more subtle but very flavorful stew for the goat, and a much bolder flavor for the lamb. To further explain the difference in taste think of it in terms of the wine you would drink with it: a nice Oregon Pinot Noir would go perfect with the goat stew and a flavorful Washington Cabernet would go with the lamb stew. Of course I did not use exactly the same ingredients and spices for the lamb stew as I did for the last seco de chivo; this time I used a combination of beer, wine and naranjilla juice, while I used just chicha and naranjilla juice for the goat stew; there are also a few differences in the spices and herbs that were used, for example with the goat stew I used only cilantro, but for this lamb stew I added some parsley and oregano. For more details on the goat stew or seco de chivo, as well as some background information on some of the ingredients including panela, naranjilla and chicha you check out that post.

I really prefer to cook secos using meat that has bones in it, they give the stew a lot more flavor, but my husband doesn’t really like the bones, even though the meat is so soft that you can just peel it of the bones, and of course I think that one of the best parts of a seco is sucking the bones at the end, but I try to put in a few boneless pieces to keep him happy, you can ask your butcher for a combination of meat with bones and boneless based on your preferences. In Ecuador secos are almost always served with rice, which really helps soak up the delicious sauce, boiled or fried yucas, pickled red onions, avocado slices, a small salad and hot sauce.

Other recipes for secos

Seco de chivo or goat stew

Seco de pollo or chicken stew

Ingredients:

5 lbs lamb meat, with or without bones, cut in large chunks

2 red onions, cut in chunks

10 garlic cloves

1 tbs cumin

1 tsp ground mustard

1 tsp ground coriander seeds

Couple of sprigs of fresh parsley, cilantro and oregano

1 white onion, chopped in large chunks

2 tomatoes, peeled and seeded

2 bell peppers, chopped in large chunks

2 tbs oil

1 tsp achiote powder

1 tsp chili powder

3 cups beer

1 cup white wine

Juice from 4 whole naranjillas, fresh or frozen, or 1 cup naranjilla juice (from frozen pulp)

3 tbs grated panela or piloncillo, replace with brown sugar if not available

2 tbs finely chopped cilantro, parsley or oregano

Salt and pepper

Serve with: rice, fried yucas, pickled red onions, a small side salad, avocado slices, and aji or hot sauce

Preparation:

1. Blend the onion, garlic, cumin, mustard, coriander, fresh herb sprigs, salt and pepper with 1 cup of beer
2. Marinate the lamb meat in the onion marinade for a couple of hours.
3. Place the onion, bell peppers and tomatoes in the food processor and blend until well minced.
4. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan or soup pot.
5. Add the minced onion, tomatoes and peppers, as well as the achiote and chili powder, stir and cook for about 8 minutes.
6. Add the lamb meat, along with the grated panela, beer, wine, and naranjilla juice, bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat and simmer about 3 ½ hours or until the meat is very tender and the sauce has reduced and thickened, taste occasionally and add salt and pepper as needed.
8. Sprinkle with chopped herbs.
9. Serve with rice, yuca, onion curtido or pickled red onions, a small side salad, avocado slices and some spicy aji or hot sauce.

You know how sometimes you get cravings for greasy food? At least a few times a year I get cravings for salchipapas or French fries with sausage, which are extremely greasy, unhealthy, but so tasty. It all started at a place in the city of Loja called Soda Bar, a small salchipapa snack bar that was always packed; it had the best location: right on the corner of the Plaza Santo Domingo, a park where high school students (including yours truly) loved to hang out, it was also right around the corner from the only movie theater in the city and basically within blocks of three major high schools (La Inmaculada, Marianitas and La Dolorosa). I don’t think there is anyone in Loja who was in high school or college during the 80s or 90s that didn’t set foot in the Soda Bar and whose mouth doesn’t water remembering the taste of the “papas del Soda”; ah, these salchipapas were our drug, I’m not joking, I had friends who would pawn their jewelry at the Soda Bar in exchange for their delicious salchipapas.

The fries and sausages were cooked right in front of you and then served stuffed in plastic cups with a toothpick on top. While there were a lot of places to get salchipapas in Loja, the Soda Bar was the most popular because of the amazing sauce that was drizzled on top of the fries, it was good that everyone always ordered double sauce and once the fries and sausages were all gone you lifted up the cup and drank every single sip of that sauce. Most places usually serve salchipapas with mayonnaise and ketchup, either separate or mixed together and called salsa rosada or salsa golf, the sauce from the Soda Bar was a type of salsa rosada, but they made it entirely from scratch, using fresh tomatoes instead of ketchup, and it was a very liquid sauce, no one really knew how they made the sauce, apparently it was a secret, and as much as my friends and I experimented together we couldn’t get it just right, so I’ve been trying to replicate this sauce for a long time and it’s good, if you’ve ever had the “papas del Soda” it will remind you of it, but it still isn’t an exact replica. Every time I make this salsa rosada I know that something is missing and I can almost taste the missing ingredient, but I just can’t figure it out, then I stop trying to figure it out and just enjoy my salchipapas with my version of the salsa del Soda; though since I always add hot sauce or aji to my fries I’ve been tempted to just throw in a hot pepper, I think it would make the sauce even better, but right now that feels a little sacrilegious and I can’t bring myself to defile my memories of the salsa del Soda, but my husband who doesn’t share my salsa del Soda devotion thinks it would be a great idea.

There was another restaurant that also had memorable salchipapas, I’m not sure of the actual name of the place (even though it was right next door to my high school) but we called it “las papas de la Gorda”, these were also delicious, and while they didn’t have the special sauce their fries were very nice and thick and always with a curtido de cebolla and tomate or a pickled red onion and tomato salsa, which I’ve incorporated into my salchipapas. I also recommend eating these with some good spicy hot sauce and a nice cold beer. I probably don’t even need to say this, but your kids will love salchipapas and will think you are the best mom ever for making these (but the nutritionist will disagree). Happy Mother’s Day!

Ingredients:

Salchipapas (for about 4 people – 1 potato and sausage per person)

4 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into thin or thick fries depending on your preference

4 hot dog sausages, cut in half or whole, with crosswise cuts on the ends

Canola oil for frying

Salt to taste

Serve with: salsa rosada del soda (recipe below), curtido de cebolla y tomate and some spicy hot sauce or aji.

Salsa rosada del Soda (for about 2 ½ cups of sauce)

1 egg

2 tbs diced white onion

4 tbs lime juice

¾ cup to 1 cup sunflower oil

1 tbs milk

8 roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced

Salt to taste

Optional (and only if you dare to mess with the pursuit of figuring out how to make the real salsa del Soda) – 1 or 2 red chili peppers, seeded

Preparation:

Salsa rosada del Soda

1. Prepare a basic mayonnaise by blending the egg, diced onion, and lime juice until the onions are completely crushed.
2. Continue blending and add the oil slowly until the mayonnaise begins to thicken, but don’t let it get as thick as you would if making regular mayonnaise, the consistency should be almost like a sauce.
3. Add salt to taste and the milk, which is added to mayonnaise to help it keep a white color.
4. Remove the mayonnaise, you don’t need to remove it all, just most of it, and add the diced tomatoes (and hot peppers if you dare) to the blender.
5. Blend the tomatoes until well pureed, begin adding back the mayonnaise and blend well, the sauce should be very liquid. Taste and add salt if needed.
6. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Salchipapas

1. Soak the potatoes in cold water for at least 30 minutes.
2. Drain and dry the potatoes, meanwhile heat the canola oil to 325 F in a deep fryer or deep sauté pan.
3. Add the potatoes and cook until they are tender, but don’t let them get any color, about 10 minutes depending on their thickness.
4. Remove the fries and place them on top of paper towels to drain the grease and let them cool down for at least an hour.
5. Re-heat the oil to 375 F and add the fries, cook until they are golden and crispy, about 5 minutes.
6. Fry the sausages separately or add them during the last 3 minutes of cooking of the French fries.
7. Transfer to paper towels to drain the grease and serve immediately with the salsa rosada and curtido.

I love the colors in this salad; the mix of arugula, mango, avocado, red onions, cilantro, and red chili peppers make it look fun. I’ve always enjoyed salads and am fortunate that my kids also love salads, especially the younger one, on those days that he decides to be a picky eater he will still eat his salad and ask for more, for some odd reason he really likes the onions and can’t get enough of them, then he goes for the avocado, next the mango and finally the arugula. I used a red chili pepper for this salad to give it spice and color, but you can also use a milder pepper if you find chili peppers too hot, though once you remove the seeds and membranes they lose a lot of the heat, I debated using some crushed garlic instead, but I feel like I’ve been adding garlic to everything (seriously sometimes I feel like I can’t cook unless I use garlic, cumin or cilantro) so I’m taking a garlic break just for this salad. I like to use a little bit of creativity to keep salads interesting, a salad should be more than just a bowl of greens, I mean greens are good, but there are so many other additional ingredients and flavors that can be added to really make a salad stand out and have its own character.

Ingredients:

6 cups arugula leaves

1 mango, peeled and cut into long slices

1 avocado, peeled and sliced

½ red onion, sliced

1 tbs lime juice

Spicy orange vinaigrette

1 tbs champagne vinegar

4 tbs orange juice, about ½ orange

2 tbs lime juice, about ½ lime

4 tbs olive oil

½ tsp cumin

2 tbs finely chopped cilantro

1 red chili or hot pepper, sliced

Salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Combine all the ingredients for the salad dressing in a jar, close it tight and shake until the ingredients are well mixed.
2. Soak the onion slices in warm water with a dash of salt and 1 tbs lime juice for about 10 minutes.
3. Rinse and drain the onions slices.
4. Toss the arugula leaves with half of the vinaigrette.
5. Add the avocado slices, mango slices and onion slices to the arugula mix, drizzle the remaining vinaigrette on top.
6. Serve immediately.

These empanadas are the result of over shopping at the farmers market and successful kitchen experimentation. I was thinking that swiss chard and goat cheese would go well together in a pasta dish or maybe a pizza, but it just happened that I forgot that I also bought a bunch of beets at the same stand where I got the swiss chard, and when I pulled out the ingredients, I thought crap what can I do with these beets? I’ll just have to add them to whatever I decide to cook, which ended up being empanadas. I have to admit that I was somewhat skeptical about these; I thought the stuffing tasted good but still wasn’t sure how they were going to turn out. I tasted them and liked them but wondered if anyone else would (sometimes I like anything I eat), so I took one to Nicolas and he loved it, then as I was taking pictures of them I thought I should try tasting them with the spicy mint crème fraiche sauce I made earlier for a leek soup, and the sauce was just perfect with these empanadas. These were really easy to make, especially since I cheated and used the store bough empanada discs, next time I will try them with the homemade empanada dough.

Ingredients:

12 medium size or 20 small empanada discs (use homemade empanada dough for baking or store bought)

4 small beets, peeled, boiled until tender and diced

1 bunch of swiss chard, chopped

1 cup crumbled goat cheese

½ white onion, sliced

2 tbs olive oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tbs finely chopped fresh oregano

1 egg, yolk and white separated and lightly whisked

Salt to taste

Serve with: Spicy mint crème fraiche sauce

Preparation:

1. Heat the oil and sauté the onions and garlic for 3 minutes.
2. Add the chopped swiss chard and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove from the heat, cool down and mix with the diced beets, crumbled goat cheese and chopped oregano.
4. To assemble the empanadas spoon the stuffing on to the center of each empanada disc.
5. Brush the inside edges of the empanada discs with the egg whites, this is will help them seal better and keep the filling from leaking while baking .
6. Fold the empanada discs and seal the edges, use a fork to help seal the empanadas.
7. Lightly brush the top of the empanadas with the egg yolk; this will give a nice golden glow when they bake.
8. Chill the empanadas for at least 30 minutes, this will help them seal better and prevent leaks.
9. Pre-heat the oven to 400 F and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.
10. Serve warm.

This is my “I’m feeling lazy and I’m going to use every part of the leek because I hate wasting any part of the leeks” recipe for leek and potato soup, though once I started cooking it was hard to really be lazy, so the only lazy part is mincing the leeks in the food processor. I even had some extra help making this soup, Marc, my 2 ½ year old, insisted that he wanted to “shake” the soup, he saw me stirring the soup and based on the movement of my hand he thought I was shaking it, so he wanted to have a turn at “shaking” the soup.

Ingredients:

6 small leeks or 3 large leeks, white and green parts, well washed

2 tbs oil or butter

1 cup diced white onion, about ½ onion

4 garlic cloves, crushed

½ tbs ground cumin

½ tbs ground coriander

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

4 medium sized Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks

6 cups vegetable or chicken broth

2 tbs lemon juice

1 cup milk or half and half

Salt and pepper

Serve with: Spicy mint crème fraiche sauce

Preparation:

1. Cut the leeks in large chunks and place in the food processor, pulse until all the leeks are minced.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan add the minced leeks, onions and garlic, cook on medium low for about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the cumin, coriander, nutmeg and salt, stir well.
4. Add the broth and potatoes, bring to a boil.
5. Reduce temperature and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20-25 minutes.
6. Add the lemon juice and additional salt if needed, remove from the heat and let the soup cool until it is safe to blend.
7. Blend the soup, strain (if not feeling too lazy), mix in the milk or half and half and reheat.
8. Serve with spicy mint crème fraiche sauce.

Most of the sauces I make are either experiments or accidents and they usually end up being used for more than their original purpose. This crème fraiche sauce was supposed to have some herbs in it, I was thinking about cilantro and parsley, but then I felt it needed some spice, so I thought about how much I love aji criollo and added some garlic, serrano peppers and lemon juice, and it was good, but something was missing. It just happened that I had a bunch of mint that I got at the farmers market but I had no plans for the mint (maybe some tea), so I added a little bit of mint, and my sauce got better, then I added all the mint and the sauce was perfect.

I made this sauce to serve with a leek and potato soup for lunch, I love having a sauce to go with creamy soups. Well, I had a good amount of this sauce leftover and I made some empanadas stuffed with Swiss chard, beet and goat cheese in the afternoon, and I also love to have a dipping sauce for empanadas, and this experimental spicy mint crème fraiche sauce ended up being a perfect match for my experimental empanadas. I’m sure I’ll be making this sauce again and will find yet another use for it.

Ingredients:

8 oz crème fraiche

1 medium sized bunch of mint, about ½ cup coarsely chopped

¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro

¼ cup coarsely chopped parsley leaves

2 garlic cloves

1-2 serrano or other hot peppers, seeded

3 tbs lemon juice, about ½ lemon

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Place all of the ingredients in the blender and blend well, the sauce will be very liquid after you blend it, but if you return it to the refrigerator it will thicken.

A few years ago my good friend Mafi gave me a cookbook called 100 recetas para corvina or 100 recipes for corvina; corvina, which is a white sea bass, is the most popular fish in Ecuador, and is also known as merluza in other South American countries, but it is very hard to find in the US. I occasionally found corvina at Central Market in Austin, but have never seen it anywhere else, however living in Seattle I have access to a wide variety of good seafood, and so I just adapt all my corvina recipes and use different types of fish. One of my favorites is halibut, it is delicious, goes well to different seasonings and sauces, and is also available fresh most of the year. This recipe worked very well with halibut but I’ve also made it tilapia and with cod, essentially it should work with any good fresh white fish.

I like cooking with almonds, but it really isn’t something that is typical or traditional in Ecuador, they are one of those ingredients that were probably introduced by the Spaniards but not used by the general population who could not afford them and therefore didn’t integrate into the everyday cooking; which is the case for many other ingredients, including olive oil, which I remember was very expensive when I was growing up, my mother would buy it only for use in salads, but we wouldn’t ever cook with it, I learned about cooking with olive oil when I moved to the US. It fascinates me how some food items introduced by the Spaniards to South America were incorporated so quickly and others have taken a much longer time, and it also varies from country to country, I’m sure that countries with a stronger European influence have added ingredients originally from Europe into their cuisine. For example, Chile produces its own olive oil, very good quality and with the weak dollar its price is much more attractive than the European varieties. At the same time though I recently received a request from a local newspaper in Ecuador to use one of my recipes in Spanish (from http://laylita.com/recetas/ ), they are trying to feature recipes that use local ingredients that are available and affordable to everyone, and since my recipe called for olive oil or sunflower oil they wanted to know if it could be changed to vegetable oil or lard, which are the most available, the funny thing is that many Ecuadorian recipes where I used sunflower, canola or olive oil are usually prepared in Ecuador with lard or vegetable oil.

Back to this recipe for halibut with almond sauce, I used a small amount of rocoto pepper paste, rocoto is a small orangish red hot pepper that looks a lot like a habanero but isn’t as spicy and its skin is thicker, it grows mainly in Andean regions, and is used a lot in Peru and Bolivia, it is easy to find rocoto peppers either canned or frozen in Latin supermarkets. There is also a paste made from the peppers that is sold in a jar, if you like spicy foods it is something that you can add to different dishes to give them a little kick, the whole ones are also pretty good for stuffing. I served the fish with rice; I think that is a must, and also some curtido or pickled red onions, and steamed broccoli, unlike some other of my dishes this one is pretty flexible with side dishes, though when I was eating it I kept thinking to myself that it would have gone very well with some fried ripe plantains.

Ingredients:

3 lbs halibut, cut into 6 fillets

Juice of 1 orange, about 1/3 cup

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

½ cup whole raw almonds

1 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tbs finely chopped cilantro or parsley, plus more to garnish

1 tsp rocoto or other hot pepper paste

1 red chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped, plus a few strips to garnish

1 cup heavy cream

2 tbs butter, melted

Salt and pepper

Serve with: rice, pickled onions, vegetables and lime slices.

Preparation:

1. Season the fish with salt, pepper and orange juice, cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for about an hour.
2. Blend the whole almonds in a food processor until pulverized.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 375 F.
4. Combine the sliced almonds, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, garlic, rocoto paste, chopped chili pepper, and chopped herbs in a bowl, mix well.
5. Mix the pulverized almonds and the heavy cream together.
6. Pour the melted butter in a large oven proof baking pan and arrange the fish fillets in the pan
7. Pour the almond cream mixture over the fish.
8. Spoon the cheese almond mixture on top of the fish fillets
9. Bake for approximately 25 minutes
10. Garnish with chopped cilantro or parsley and with the chili pepper strips.
11. Serve with pickled red onions, rice, lime slices and vegetables, or your choice of side dishes.

This sorbet was inspired by a combination of two memories from Ecuador, the first one is of the fruit smoothies my mom made, she was always mixing different fruits together so that the result would be a whole new fruit flavor. My second inspiration are the delicious “helados de paila”, which are essentially fruity sorbets made from a huge variety of fruits: mango, strawberry, naranjilla, coconut, moras or blackberries, orange, taxo, guanabana, etc. These helados are made entirely by hand using a large wok like pan called a “paila” over ice, they are so good, and while my mango orange sorbet isn’t exactly made according to the traditional method, which in addition to the manual stirring also uses beaten egg whites, it still has that freshness that the helados de paila have. I made this sorbet with blood oranges, but regular oranges can also be used, though the blood oranges add both a colorful and tasteful kick.

Ingredients:

¾ cup caster sugar

½ cup water

4 ripe mangoes, peeled and flesh removed

1 cup blood orange juice, from about 4 blood oranges

Juice from 1 lime

Pinch of salt

2 tbs Grand Marnier (or other orange infused liquor)

Preparation:

1. Combine the caster sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat, cook until the sugar is well dissolved
2. Blend mangoes and orange juice with sugar syrup, lime juice and salt.
3. Put the mango orange mix in the fridge to cool down, add the Grand Marnier and prepare the sorbet according to your ice cream maker instructions.
4. Place the sorbet in the freezer for at least an hour and serve.

Sometimes I think I could add goat cheese to anything and it would make it better, goat cheese is one of those ingredients, at least for me, that is an essential. Of course the older I get the more items I add to my list of “essential” ingredients, it used to be that chocolate was the only one on the list. I love salads, pears and goat cheese but this is the first time I’ve tasted them combined together and it’s good, addictive good. This recipe is adapted from one of my favorite (and very creative) cookbooks – Fired Up- by Jeff Blank, who is the chef and owner of a Hudson’s on the Bend in Austin, TX. The original recipe uses sherry vinegar but I used pear vinegar instead, I’ve made it before with the sherry vinegar and it’s also very good, but mainly I was looking for an excuse to try the pear vinegar; I also used mixed greens instead of arugula, I love arugula but I felt that between the spiciness of the herbed goat cheese and the shallots in the vinaigrette I need something a little more subtle. The quantities in this recipe are for 6 people.

Ingredients:

6-8 tbs herbed goat cheese, room temperature

Poached pears

3 firm pears, the Bosc variety are great for poaching

3 cups of sweet white wine, Riesling or Gewurztraminer

¾ cup of sugar

1 cinnamon stick

4 strips orange peel

Pear shallot vinaigrette

4 tbs pear vinegar

6 tbs olive oil

2 medium sized shallots, peeled and chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

About 6 cups of mixed greens

Preparation:

1. Heat the wine, sugar, cinnamon and orange peel in a large saucepan, stir occasionally.
2. Meanwhile peel the pears, cut them in half and core them; add them to the wine mix once it boils.
3. Cook until the pears are tender but still slightly firm, about 15 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and let the pears cool down.
5. To prepare the vinaigrette combine all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender and mix well.
6. Toss the salad greens with the vinaigrette and arrange on a plate.
7. Place each ½ pear on top of the salad greens or alternatively you can slice the pear halves and arrange the slices on top of the mixed greens.
8. Put the herbed goat cheese in a pastry bag and add a squirt either in the indention of the pear half, or on the sides.
9. Serve immediately.

My mom always had a least one goat on our farm when we we’re growing up, I still remember waking up in the morning when she went out to call the goats to come eat “chiva, chiva, chiva”…She stills has goats now and my dad likes to joke that my mom won’t travel anywhere for more than 2 weeks because she can’t bear to be away from her goats for too long. The main reason she has the goat(s) is for the milk, we drank a lot of it when I was growing up, though I had to be bribed and have chocolate with it, and also for goat cheese, which again as a kid I didn’t really like the goaty taste, so my mom would add garlic and herbs to get us to eat it. I use this herbed goat cheese mainly on toast (great with red wine), but it is also a great addition to pastas and soups, and I recently discovered it in a salad with poached pears which is a great combination.

Ingredients:

11 oz plain goat cheese, at room temperature

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tbs of chopped fresh herbs, can use basil, mint, oregano, thyme, parsley, rosemary, among others

Preparation:

Mix all of the ingredients together, you can use either a fork or it that doesn’t work try mixing them in a food processor.