Artisan Cheese Making in Ecuador

Cheese making was a skill passed down from generation to generation and cheese was a simple food made at home with the most basic of ingredients and tools.

In Ecuador, specifically in Nanegalito, an Ecuadorian town in the beautiful Andes, the artisan cheese makers use milk from their own animals mostly, an easy way to control the process of cheese making since the beginning. In other words, traceability of the source of the precious main ingredient: milk is implemented. All of the animals are grass-fed, a practice that results in a more rich and flavorful organic milk.

Sometimes they pasteurize the milk, and others work with the raw milk, which in this case is carefully supervised to have low bacterial content. It is interesting to note that the big corporations that process milk commercially are also present in these little towns in the Andes. They purchase the milk from the small dairy farms, test it for bacterial content and then put it all together and send it to a big city where it is processed and becomes the various products for mass consumption domestically and internationally.

The Gilded Fork & From the Tropics: Panama Gourmet re-design

Champagne returns! ...in flan, soup, and sauce, along with some beautiful caviar canapes bursting with color and flavor.

The Gilded Fork's February recipes are DD (divine+delicious.)

Learn about Sparkling Wines around the world...Sparkling bubbles bringing an elusive magic to white wine. Just beautiful!

Featured Food Site of the Day on Thursday February 23.

Have you seen Chef Mark's post on the lovely proposal dinner he did for Valentine's day? So romantic. I LOVE it!

Panama Gourmet's re-design is almost finished. We just need to update the Spanish version. I'll keep you posted. Take a look HERE.

Thank you Joelle for the beautiful theme!

Let me know what your thoughts are.

Hugs,

Melissa

P.S. My dearest Cannella hosted a San Valentine's virtual party, and the delicious round-up is HERE. She was the winner of the New Year's dinner recipe & photo swap that we hosted in the beginning of the year. If you cooked  something delicious on February 14 and blogged about it,  we invite you  to send her the link to your post, your name and the name of your blog, so she can add you to the round-up.

Tambien quiero agradecer a Cordoba WebLogs y a Ciudad.Com por la mencion del dia de hoy. El primero publica desde Cordoba, Argentina, y el segundo desde Buenos Aires, una de mis ciudades favoritas. Abrazos!

Por cierto, ahora que estamos en Español, hace ya rato queria invitarles a que visiten Sazon Gourmet. Es un compendio de mis blogs favoritos de habla hispana. No duden en escribirme si creen que se me ha escapado alguno.

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Tags: meme, food blogs, cookingdiva, chef, panama, recipes, food & drink, food, recetas

by Chef Melissa - CookingDiva · February 23, 2006 · 01:12 PM
Permalink · Comments (12) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Food & Drink · General · RECETAS - Arroces · RECETAS - Aves · RECETAS - Postres · Tropical Fruit and Vegetables

I am BACK! Let's make cheese...

I was born with  my umbilical cord attached to a computer and the Internet. Maybe I was way ahead from my piers and fellow normal kids in my generation. It is sweet and sour I would say. I have had "Internet withdrawals" for the last week. Believe me when I say that I have been barely one step from the complete and nonsense computer death and resurrection. I have been there; it's bad. A real mean human-nature interaction, or should I better call it "revenge?"

Ten days without Internet and telephone just because Father nature's heavy rain caused a mudslide in the area we were visiting in Ecuador, the beautiful Andes itself at the maximum expression. Full of tricks and treats I enjoyed to the fullest. It made me think and re-think about what is really important in life. Sometimes we forget about those little details.

I was convulsive at times. Revolting every minute the first day that the telephone line kicked the bucket. What a way to disappear. Oh boy! Sure it had some style I would say. No telephone. No Internet. I sure could have traveled back to Quito every time I wanted to connect to the Internet, BUT then it was that two hours drive, and all the traffic, and the altitude change. Ahhhhhh! I better stayed in Nanegalito. Just beautiful shades of green, the morning fragrant mist in the gardens after a night full of rain, the fresh milk and cheese, the walks in the farm and the meals with friends that were experiencing the same internet-ical issues :)

Gone Fishing for Piranhas!

My dear readers and friends:

After researching two weeks ago for my weekly GV contribution, I discovered a post that reminded me of something.

It is no secret that I love Ecuador, but I have never been to Galapagos. After reading their story I made very clear to myself that this place would be visited soon, whether I like it or not!!!

After resting, we headed to the pier and fished for piranha on nothing but a line and a big hook. They are the size of bream with beautiful orange black eyes but oh what teeth. Vinnie says there is nothing to fear about swimming in the lagoon with them as they do not bother people with all the other food available. Dad was hoping to swim, but he got sick and I really did not need to have to do it to knock that one out. Everyone landed one except me. They kept eating my bait which was beef. You had to be quick at the jerks. I hooked one but did not land him…They actually cooked them for supper so people could eat some of their catch!

You can read the complete GV report HERE.

I really want to try those little devils! So, I'll keep you posted on my adventures down South.

Hugs,
Melissa

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Tags: global voices, food blogs, cookingdiva, chef, panama, recipes, food & drink, food, ecuador

by Chef Melissa - CookingDiva · February 10, 2006 · 06:01 AM
Permalink · Comments (14) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Food & Drink · General · Tropical Fruit and Vegetables

Mango: Catch the Yellow Fever!

When I told them what I was going to write about next, more than one of my friends laughed. Yellow  fever? They couldn't conceive that I was going to expose some tropical disease in a cooking blog. Then, a glimpse of light in their minds let them understand that indeed I was coming back from the gripa vacation, along with my sometimes absurd sense of humor.

This post is dedicated to Chef Paz, and every other mango lover who visits the exotic cyber markets in the blogosphere for new ideas to prepare it. It is also my contribution to the Weekend Herb Blogging. Visit Kalyn's Kitchen on Sunday to see what other people are writing about.

I consider myself fortunate to have been born in Panama, the home country for many delectable varieties of this unique fruit. Known as the apple of the tropics, the name "mango" comes from the Tamil word man-kay, which was corrupted to manga by the Portuguese when they explored western India.

Mangos have become extremely popular, with almost year round availability at supermarkets or ethnic markets, or through mail-order sources. In fact, mangos are one of the most popular and the most consumed fruit in the whole world.

The sweet flavor and firm texture of mangos make them a versatile ingredient in cooking: from sweet and savory dishes to sauces, preserves and drinks. Choose mangos that are firm and blemish-free. Mangos will ripen faster when placed in a brown paper bag for a day or two on a counter at room temperature.

What do we do with all this lush fruit? It's mango madness. Each mango offers a different flavor, texture and color and dictates its own culinary direction.

Arrollado de Chocolate y Mango

Rinde 10-12 porciones

Ingredientes para el cake:

• 6      claras de huevo
• 6      yemas de huevo
• 3/4  taza de azúcar
• 1      cucharada de miel de abejas
• 1      cucharada de café fuerte
• 1      taza de harina, todo propósito
• 1      cucharada de polvo de hornear
• 2      cucharadas de cocoa en polvo

 Procedimiento:

Pre-calentar el horno a 400 ° F por 10 minutos. Engrasar con aceite en spray (o mantequilla) una bandeja para hornear galletas (cookie sheet) de 30x40 cm. Forrar la bandeja con papel encerado y engrasar ligeramente nuevamente.

Separar los huevos y batir las claras a punto nieve.

En otro recipiente, batir las yemas con la miel de abejas y el azúcar hasta que el volumen se haya doblado y adquiera un color pálido. Agregar la cucharada de café y mezclar. Con mucho cuidado incorporar esta mezcla a las claras de huevo batidas a punto nieve.

Combinar los ingredientes secos (harina, polvo de hornear y chocolate en polvo). Con la ayuda de un colador seco y fino, cernir estos ingredientes sobre la mezcla de huevos. Envolver solamente hasta que la harina desaparezca. Es importante que en este punto no se bata demasiado, pues la mezcla   perderá volumen y el arrollado no quedará esponjoso. Verter la mezcla en la bandeja preparada y hornear por 10 minutos solamente. Remover del horno y dejar enfriar.

Global Voices: A Zestful Welcome to the Wonders of the World

I have been struggling during the last week with a nasty cold. Luckily I have survived. Barely, to tell you the truth. How would you feel if you can not perceive any aromas, taste the food or finish listening "A Cook's Tour", book on cd by Anthony Bourdain? Well, that has been me lately. More than eating monkey brains I dislike being sick. Thank God it doesn't happen often.

So, now you know WHY I have not been posting as usual. Now you know that it was not because the Cooking Diva found a better paid job than blogging (LOL!!!). I'll be here for a long long time, I promise.

For those of you who follow my weekly column published at Global Voices, I am happy to report that yes, I wrote it. It took me a little more time to finish it, but I was lucky to have some delicious "chicken soup" made with "gallina de patio" (free range chicken), which is good for our body and soul, right? Thank you David for your patience :)

The new global food blog roundup is called: "A Zestful Welcome to the Wonders of the World."
We would LOVE to know your comments. The topics covered include reports from blogs that cook in or about:

• Spain
• Cambodia
• Philippines
• Greece
• From the Tropics
• Israel
• Thailand
• El Salvador
• Perú
• France
• México
• The US

I am working on a "Mango: Catch the Yellow Fever" post and delicious step by step recipes including an "Arollado de Chocolate y Mango". Will post it tonight or tomorrow morning.

Happy Cooking!

Chef M

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Tags: global voices, food blogs, cookingdiva, chef, panama, recipes, food & drink, food, cooking