Week 8: Costa Rica

Coming down from France, I was expecting to feel some relief at the simplistic nature of the Costa Rican cuisine.  I was actually surprised to find myself looking for ways to 'complicate' things... so I ended up adding an extra dessert.  From my reading I discovered that lunch is the Costa Rican meal of the day, consisting of a salad, gallo pinto, meat, and fried plantains.  So we are having lunch for dinner!

Dinner:  Ensalada Palmito, Platanos Maduros, Gallo Pinto, and Marinated Chicken
Dessert:  Cajeta De Coco and Pastel de Tres Leche

I was a little sneaky tonight.  The eldest was so interested in all the food, most especially the plantains and the hearts of palm.  The hearts of palm salad has a dressing with Dijon mustard in it... and I didn't tell her.  Not only did she eat all that I gave her, she raved about how much she liked it.  The littlest also really enjoyed the salad, but that's not so much of a surprise as he really just loves salad.

Ensalada Palmito

And then we come to the plantains.  I gave each of the littles one to try initially.  As curious as the eldest was about the plantains before I cooked them maybe equalled her enjoyment eating them.  She kept taking one more and then one more.  My guess... the fried plantains were her favorite of the night.  The other littles liked them, too, but not nearly as much as the eldest.  Thinking back, the husband and I had tried fried plantains once before, years and years ago, and didn't really care for them.  After eating them tonight, I'm trying to figure out how we could not have like them.  From my reading, I learned that there are two types of fried plantains:  ripe plantains (which are sweet) and green plantains (which are more of a snack to eat with refried beans).  I have to wonder which one we had.  I used the ripe plantains, thinking that the kids would like the sweetness... and they did. 

Platanos Maduros

Our reference book guided us to gallo pinto.  What I didn't realize was that residents of Costa Rica eat gallo pinto for any meal of the day.  A typical breakfast could consist of gallo pinto, eggs and a breakfast meat.  It's a simple rice and beans, but the Salsa Lizano gave it a very different and interesting flavor.  Apparently, the translation is literally "spotted rooster" which doesn't make sense as there is no rooster or any other type of meat in the dish.  I made a ton (I know... that seems to be a recurring theme with these dinners), but this time I don't mind as I'm actually looking forward to snacking on the leftovers.

Gallo Pinto

For the chicken, I just marinated it.  I found a recipe for a Costa Rican marinade, which ended up being perfect.  The chicken had a great flavor, with lime being the prominent.

Chicken

In fact, there wasn't anything about this dinner that I heard complaints about.  The littles ate pretty much all that they were given.  And I felt pretty lucky that it was such a successful dinner since we had a family join us for dinner that has never eaten with us before.  I have really enjoyed sharing these meals with friends.

And that brings us to the desserts.  First, the coconut fudge.  I don't know what I did wrong, but it would not form into balls like the recipe said it would, so I just dropped a small amount into each paper cup.  I think I may have made a mistake using the sweetened coconut, because it was VERY sweet.  It was also very rich... and VERY good.

Cajeta De Coco

And then the tres leche cake, or 'three milk' cake.  I've read some compare the flavor of this cake to ice cream, but I'm not sure that really fits.  Of course, I have no better description.  It was just so moist and decadent...mmm.

Pastel de Tres Leche

We are starting to wind down from this project, we only have a few countries left and two weeks before school starts.  I think I will be a little sad when this project officially comes to an end, but with soccer starting up, I'm sure my focus will be diverted.

Interesting Facts:
- Monkeys are one of the most common animals in Costa Rica.
- The capital of Costa Rica is San Jose.
- Costa Rica's currency is the colon.
- Costa Rica is spanish for "Rich Coast".
- Spanish is the official language of Costa Rica.
- Costa Ricans call speed bumps "dead persons".
- Costa Rica has only made 3 appearances in the World Cup, with no victories.
- Costa Rica declared independence from Spain on September 15, 1821. Spain did not recognize their independence until May 10, 1850.
- Costa Rica has a population of 4,075,261.
- Costa Rica is 19,730 square miles - approximately the size of West Virginia.