Rundown

There was this place in the coastal town of Cahuita, Costa Rica called Restaurante Miss Edith. They made a dish they called "Rondon" (more commonly known as "rundown") with white fish and starchy vegetables. I ate it. It was delicious. More on Miss Edith's later, though.

Rundown is a Caribbean dish referring to coconut milk that's been cooked down until all the water evaporates and the custard separates from the oil. Other stuff is cooked into it at this point, like onions and thyme and chiles, maybe some fish... I don't know why it's called rundown. Actually, that's kind of low on my list of things that I care about.

Anyway, I wanted to make this dish that I remember eating... so from a photograph, my spotty memory, and a few online references, Robert and I concocted this.

Oh, and you might be able to use canned coconut milk, but... I'm sure it's inferior. Or maybe I just like doing things the hard way. No, I'm pretty sure mine is the right way. :)


RUNDOWN

2 large, fresh, mature coconuts full of water (you should hear lots of sloshing when you shake them)
water
3 lbs root/starchy vegetables (yuca, potato, green plantain, taro, carrot, etc), peeled and chopped into 1" chunks
1-2 lb filleted white fish (cod, rockfish/snapper, or mackerel)
1/4 cup lime juice
1 habañero
1 large yellow or red onion
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
salt
pepper
2 tbsp lime juice

1. Break open the coconuts over a bowl (catch all that good coconut water!). This can be done by hitting them repeatedly with the back of a large knife along the equator. Be careful. Coconuts can be tough to crack elegantly. Strain the water through four layers of cheesecloth to get all the dirt and hairs out. It should look pleasant. Like this:

2. Now for the fun part... crack each coconut half into several pieces. Remove the whites from the shell. There will still be a hard skin over it - a vegetable peeler pulled toward your hand does the trick for removing it. Make sure you know how to use a vegetable peeler this way. Don't sue me if you shave off your skin.

3. Chop up all the white bits into manageable pieces for the blender, and chuck them in. You should blend in at least 4 batches - coconut is extremely fibrous and it will burn out your blender's motor if you're not careful. Add some of the coconut water to assist in blending (if you need more, just add regular water), and be patient. Once the coconut is all shredded by the blender, there should be a milky liquid in there. Surprise! It's coconut milk. Squeeze the shredded coconut, wrapped in cheesecloth, over a bowl. You should end up with some of this:



...and some of this:



Save the beautiful shredded coconut for something else. Dry it out in the toaster oven for easy storage, or freeze it. Once it's dried, you can mix it with brown sugar and toast it in a heavy skillet. Makes great ice cream topping. But that's neither here nor there.

4. You should have about 3 cups of coconut milk. Simmer it, uncovered, in a wide saute pan or wide saucepan for about an hour to an hour and a half. In the meantime, place the fish on a plate with the lime juice to sit until it's ready for the pan. Then prepare your starchy vegetables. Boil them for a good long while, until they're falling-apart soft. At this point, your coconut mixture should be almost ready.



5. Seed and mince the habañero. Wear gloves - I cannot stress this enough. This is a potent pepper with potent oil. If it gets on your hands, it is very tough to wash off and if you so much as think about touching your eyes, picking your nose, or licking your fingers, you will pay dearly. So just be careful.





6. Slice up the onion. Add this, along with the garlic, chile, and thyme, to the simmering coconut milk. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent. Season to taste with salt and pepper.



7. Dump in the boiled starchy vegetables, taking care to submerge as much as possible. Add the fish on top. If it is not in the liquid, make space for it. You just don't want it on the bottom of the pan, because then it just gets smushed by everything else.



8. Simmer the rundown with the fish in it for about 20 minutes, taking care that the fish is sumberged. This keeps it from toughening. Give it a shake or a gentle stir every so often to keep everything from scorching.



9. When the fish is tender and the liquid is thick, give it more lime juice. It's ready for eatin'. What a treat.

PROS: so Caribbean, so full of flavor and delicious...
CONS: well, if you don't like coconut... this isn't for you.

This is a reasonable approximation of what I remember eating at Miss Edith's. In any case, it's an awesome way to eat your fish.

Black Bean Brownie Cake

Beans. Oh, the versatility.

If my two-month educational foray into the jungles of Costa Rica taught me nothing else, at least I walked away with this recipe. Thank you, Robin. Thank you, Rancho Mastatal. I already miss birthdays, all of us gathered around the community table... enjoying a hunk o' chocolate goodness.

It's chocolate cake, but it's... healthy. It's mostly eggs and beans, with a little coffee and some other stuff (like chocolate). You know, breakfast food. *shifty eyes*


BLACK BEAN BROWNIE CAKE
courtesy of Rancho Mastatal

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
6 oz bittersweet chocolate (75% cocoa content is good)
4 oz (1 stick) butter
1 tbsp finely ground coffee
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp powdered chili
2 cups cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2-1 cup cacao nibs

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 9x13" cake pan. Then make a sugar syrup. I do this because in Costa Rica, the sugar we had was liquid (it was called "tapa dulce"). Basically, it was unrefined sugar that had not been evaporated. To simulate that... just mix the brown sugar, regular sugar, and water and simmer over medium-low heat for a couple of minutes. That should do it.

2. Chop up the chocolate and butter, and melt in the top of a double boiler. Add coffee, salt, and chili, mixing until smooth and melty. You can also use oil with fine results. I like butter because... it's so wholesome.



3. Make sure your beans are well-rinsed and drained, particularly if they come from a can. *gasp* I know you wouldn't do that, though. Black beans are great, but I've also used red beans with equally great results. You could probably use almost any kind of bean, really... Stick them in the food processor with the eggs and vanilla, and whir away. Within a minute or two, it should get nice and frothy and the beans should be totally obliterated. You might see skin specs. But that's it. Transfer to a large bowl.



4. Combine melted chocolate/butter with the sugar syrup, and pour a little into the bean mixture. Fold to incorporate and temper the eggs, if the chocolate and sugar is still hot. Gradually add the rest, folding the batter until mostly combined (a few light and dark streaks are fine.



5. Fold in the cacao nibs until evenly distributed. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and it begins to recede from the sides of the pan. Cool in pan to room temperature. Enjoy as brownies with powdered sugar, or crumbled over ice cream, or however you want.





PROS: rich, moist, chocolatey, full of protein, flourless
CONS: a bit strong for some people, incredibly crumbly

And there you have it... my first update in a month. Hopefully I'll do the next one sooner rather than later.

Dutch Potato Soup

I'm back! I'm here, home, and I survived Costa Rica.

Boy, do I have some interesting food to post about. I never knew rice and beans could be served so many times in a single day. Week, even. I think I consumed an average of 15 meals featuring rice and beans per week. Maybe more. And fried plantains? Oh boy. We United Statesians don't know what we're missing.

But I'm not here to talk about rice and beans. Not today. I just want to present to you, my delicious (albeit a little plain looking) soup. And tell you that I'm becoming more of a locavore! If there's one thing I learned abroad, it's that food doesn't have to come to you from 1000 miles away. So I've been haunting the farmer's markets, running around Puget Consumer's Co-Op with my little pad of recycled paper and a pen, jotting down prices and names of local producers.

So when my dad and his wife presented me with the Cafe Flora Cookbook, I was delighted - a cookbook from one of Seattle's own vegetarian restaurants. YAY! Seattle food. Local food.

I know, I know. Bear with me. I go on these kicks sometimes. You know, gluten-free, vegetarian, organic... local...

So I found an awesome-looking potato soup recipe in this book that used relatively few ingredients, was pretty cheap to make, and I substituted some things for what I could find that was available this time of year, and used what I already had on hand. It turned out quite yummy. Especially since I (sorta) made my own vegetable stock. Except it was a little too salty. But that's not the point.


DUTCH POTATO SOUP
from Cafe Flora Cookbook, at least mostly, and tailored to what I had available

2 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch (about 3 small) fresh bulb onions with the green part still there, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 head fresh garlic, minced with greens removed
1 1/4 lb russet potatoes, sliced but not peeled
4 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp caraway seeds, toasted and ground
3/4 cup lager
1 cup heavy cream
6 oz smoked gouda, grated
salt
black pepper

1. Heat up your oil in the bottom of a stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions and salt. I used both the green and white parts from the little onions I had, and it worked out fine. It hurt my eyes less, too. The recipe calls for a medium yellow onion, but... I like my way. Saute this for about 10 minutes, until the onions turn translucent, and stir it frequently to keep them from browning. Or, if you're me, forget to stir them and have half of them browned and the other half crunchy and undercooked. It's really a matter of taste.

2. Add the garlic, all chopped up. It should smell really good right now. The garlic I found was fresh - not the kind with the dry papery outside. It was all usable, the skin and everything, it was firm and evenly hydrated. I couldn't have separated the cloves if I'd wanted to. Cook this for another minute.



3. Dump in the sliced potatoes and stock. You'll be lucky if your stock is as good as mine. Mine was pretty awesome. I made it with kale and carrots and the tops and hearts of celery and carrots and onion and garlic skins and fresh thyme and dried oregano and salt and pepper and a little paprika and tomato paste. But that's beside the point. You can just use one of those aseptic packages of Pacific vegetable broth. It's delicious. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, then cover and cook for 10 minutes, until the potatoes are soft. You should be feeling pretty good about yourself. At least I was.



4. Meanwhile, ready your food processor/blender and a separate container for the soup. When the potatoes have cooked, remove from the heat and let cool off for about 10 minutes with the lid off. When it is less hot, puree it in batches in your appliance of choice. Just don't fill it more than halfway, or it will start to leak. That's not really what we want. While it's blending, grate yourself some cheese.



5. Return the pureed soup to the heat, add the caraway seeds and beer, and bring back to a boil. Slowly stir in your heavy cream. And oh gee. I had some good heavy cream. Courtesy of Golden Glen Creamery... it was so rich and white and non-homogenized, and came in this adorable little glass bottle. It made me grin. Stir your concoction constantly until it comes to a simmer again.



6. Add cheese, a little at a time as you stir, until it melts completely. Season to taste. ¡Buen Provecho!





PROS: flavorful, rich, filling and warm
CONS: a tad bit fattening, plain-looking

So there we have it. Maybe my next post will have something to do with gallo pinto. Or a restaurant review. You'll just have to wait it out.