We're BA-AAACK!Okay, you may have noticed we took a little hiatus just when we got started.
Well, the primary reason for that is that summer plans left little room for consistency and planning.
We took a road trip, got married, had a big party, and are buying a house! Mama's exhausted!
The SECOND reason that we've been on hiatus, I mean, if I'm REALLY honest about it... is that we mapped Bolivia for our next adventure. Ugh. I have been dreading this one all summer, up until my first bite last night.
Now, I have nothing against Bolivia nor the flavor of their cuisine, so don't get your polleras in a twist! But honestly, I'm a lazy cook. I like things that are easy to cook - especially in the summer when I don't want to stand over a hot stove - and every single recipe I found for Bolivia was HARD. Like, "make your own dough and meat-gelatin filling for Saltenas" hard. I found one really awesome traditional festival plate, but I didn't think my family would approve of it's sparseness for a dinner.
I can't say I found anything easyish, because I hate frying potatoes, and this recipe calls for that. But they actually turned out well, and it wasn't hard, except for finding my potatoes rotten and having to send the husband to the store to get new ones.
The dish is called Pique Macho and it is a layer of fried potatoes, topped with steak and hot dogs (yes, really), topped with an onion/tomato/pepper mix, and garnished with hard-boiled eggs (yes, really).
We also made a traditional Bolivian hot sauce called Llajua and served it all with french bread.
Here is what mine looked like:
And here are my thoughts:
It was weird. I mean, it wasn't altogether bad, but it was definitely not something I'd rush to make again.
1. The meat was a little tough.2. I am not a big fan of hot dogs.
3. It wasn't that flavorful, spice-wise, although I did really like the salad topping. it added some flair.
The Llajua was pretty amazing and easy to make. We WILL be doing that again. AND the fried potatoes weren't bad either. So, I might actually fry potatoes in the future. Both good take-aways.
A few things that would have made it better.
1. Maybe marinate the meat and cut it into smaller cubes. I had copped-out and gotten pre-cut stew meat. That probably diminished my enjoyment. If the meat were more tender, I'd have liked the dish more.
2. More cumin! More vinegar! Add Jalapenos! The flavor was just not there for me. It definitely needs to be kicked up a notch.
3. Pour Llajua over everything, ever. I went light on the llajua because I was afraid it would be hot. It wasn't. It was just delicious.
Here are the sites I found my recipes on. I really hope you take my suggestions and try this out! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. :)
Pique Macho!
Llajua! (Bolivian Hot Sauce)
Next week! We're on the other side of the world!
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