Country # 45 Chile!

Alyssa cutting the Sopaipillia dough 

Our 45th culinary adventure was Chile.  It was fabulous!  I had never tasted anything quite like these dishes. I want to thank our friends Juraj Vlahovic and Mitzi Chiple for finding the recipes for us. The  Pastel de Choclo, a Chilean version of Shepherd's Pie, was excellent.  The Sopaipillias were amazing.  It was the first time I had ever had them.  Preparing them was an experience in itself. The recipe seemed easy enough.  Just flour, cooked squash, butter, some baking soda and salt.  The squash was where the difficulty started.  It called for Zapallo squash which I found out is native to South America and similar to Hubbard squash.
I found a Hubbard squash about the same size as my head.  I figured my brand new Japanese knives would make quick work of peeling and chopping it.  I was very wrong.  Instead I battled the squash for 30 minutes before finally tossing it into the pan. After adding the flour and butter, I was surprised by how smooth and elastic the dough was.  Alyssa and I rolled it out and had fun cutting it into rounds with the top of a cup.
We fried them in a deep skillet for a couple of minutes until they were golden brown.  The result was well worth all the effort.  We ate them as soon as they came out of the pan. They were delicious dipped in a tomato sauce.  They were so good that I am cooking the rest of them tonight this time with a sweet sauce.

Check out http://foreignfoodfest.blogspot.com/  for more details on our feast.

Kathy