I must confess that Chile has been on my mind lately. Not the food. The distant string bean-shaped country where I spent my study abroad. Maybe it’s because I’ve taken up Latin dancing again. Maybe it’s because I’ve been serving up my Chilean favorites at my parties and my guests have been, well, eating them up.
One of them, DCFUD’s own Mad Rambler Jason, encouraged me to take on a daunting culinary task (at least for me): write out the recipes for my Latin creations. One of my specialties has always been tomaticán, a traditional, spicy Chilean dish. Tomaticán –and just about any other Chilean dish – is often paired with pisco sour, a concoction made with pisco, the Chilean national drink. I’ve come up with my own twist for both food and drink and am printing them the first time for DCFudies.
PORTER SIRLOIN TOMATICAN
(makes six – eight servings)

• 17 Roma tomatoes (chopped)
  
• 1 can of whole peeled tomatoes (approximately 28 oz.)
  
• 3 cans of whole kernel corn (approximately 15 oz)
  
• 1 heaping tbsp pepper.
  
• 3 large yellow onions (chopped)
  
• 1 ¾ lb of porter sirloin steak (chopped)

Start by tossing the chopped tomatoes in a large pot. Add the whole peeled tomatoes and pepper. Tomaticán is supposed to be hot and spicy. So if you don’t get enough of a hot foot when tasting it, add more pepper to your liking. Let the tomatoes simmer on medium for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the corn and onions. Let the pot simmer for about five more minutes and continue to stir. Add the chopped sirloin and lower the temperature to low. Heat the tomaticán for 15 minutes (or until the sirloin is cooked), then remove from the stove. Voila … now it’s onto the pisco sour.
PISCO SOUR MAPUCHE
(makes eight servings)
The Mapuche were known to the Spaniards as the fierce Indian tribe that inhabited Chile during the Age of Discovery. The Mapuche more than gave the Spaniards a run for their money, they held them off and the Europeans never defeated them. You could say the Mapuche really gave the Iberians a kick in the – well you get the idea. This drink is a homage of sorts to the Mapuche, who still may be found in Central and Southern Chile. Most people make pisco with lemon juice. I make it with lime. Before you get grossed out by the idea of using egg whites in a drink just remember that it’s not much different idea than eggnog. If the thought of putting raw eggs in your drink grosses you out. Then use Egg Beater egg whites like I do).

• 12 oz pisco
  
• 6 oz limejuice
  
• 8 tbsp egg white
  
• 8 tbsp sugar
  
• 1 lime flavored cherry (per glass of pisco sour Mapuche, after drink is poured.
  
• 13 chocolate chips.
  
• 15 ice cubes
  
• 6 oz Code Red Mountain Dew

To make the drink add all ingredients to a blender. Blend until the ice is chopped and white foam is floating to the top. Pour six to eight ounce of the pisco mix in a glass and add one lime-flavored cherry. You’re all set for a Chilean dinner party. Dinner is usually served close to 8 PM in Chile, but I usually can’t wait that late. Dine when your guests arrive.
This post is by Guest Bogger Jay D. Krasnow. Thanks Jay!

Thanksgiving is less than ten short days away. It’s a time for many of us to go back to our hometowns, eat a nice dinner with our family and sit down to converse with our loved ones next to a roaring fireplace.
Sure…if you were born in a greeting card.
Truth be told, most of us shove copious amounts of poorly-cooked food down our gullets, play some football with Uncle Mel and his 5 demon offspring in the front yard, sit in uncomfortable silence as Aunt Louise decides that now – during the halftime show of the Cowboys’ game – is the time to come out of the closet in front of a completely unshocked family, but much to the dismay of Grandma, who just thinks she hasn’t found the right man yet, and then plan on waking up at 5 in the morning to take advantage of the Black Friday specials at the mall.
OK, maybe that’s just my brood, but, let’s face it, lots of us have families less like the Huxtables and more like the Griswolds. And our Thanksgiving dinners have more in common with Paula Zahn than Paula Dean. So, here’s a quick survival guide for Thanksgiving `06.
1) Let the neighborhood grocery store do the cooking for you. Giant, Magruder’s, Wegman’s , Shopper’s, Bloom – they can all prepare a meal for you and your guests, ready to heat and serve on Thanksgiving Day. It’s often a little bit pricier than making it yourself, but, it’s also a lot less prep work and clean-up time. If you want something a little less traditional, try swinging by the local Asian market, like Great Wall off Gallows Road, for a roasted duck or crispy fish.
2) If the idea of Safeway cooking your bird frightens you, at least follow their recipe. The Two-Hour method of cooking a turkey is a fantastic way to ensure a crispy skin and juicy meat, and still make it thoroughly cooked. Gone are the days of slow-roasting a bird all Wednesday night to eat Thursday afternoon – just follow Safeway’s handy reference chart to match the cooking time with the size of your turkey.
My only suggestion would be to use a heavy-duty cooking bag. This will trap in the juices from the meat and will make your broiling pan a lot easier to clean.
Plus, don’t stuff your stuffing in the bird. It slows down the cooking process for both the stuffing and the turkey, and can spread bacteria. Simply use a baking pan separate from the turkey to cook your glorified Stove-Top.
3) Just go out for dinner. McCormick and Schmick’s locations serve a legendary Thanksgiving spread, as do several of the downtown hotels and restaurants. This might also be a great time to get prime seats in a hot ethnic eatery. Remember that Thanksgiving evening is a big going-out night, and that many bars will fill up with folks who’ve had about as much family as they can handle for the day. Get your grub early, and you should be fine.
And, if you need to go home and have zero control over the meal…
4) Remember that xanax is not just for breakfast anymore. Sneak a pack of Ramen noodles in your suitcase, and dress it up with some of the more edible leftovers.
When you get back to the area, stop off at Summer’s by the Courthouse Metro. Besides being a fine place to watch both football and futbol, they make one of the finest turkey burgers you’ll ever have. Perfectly seasoned, not over-cooked – when was the last time anybody gushed over a turkey burger? This is one seriously good sandwich, and should be enough to cure your turkey jones.

A couple of weeks ago, the boy and I attended a “Cooking for Two” class at L’Academie de Cuisine. I’ll be posting more on that later, but first, here’s the most important thing we learned; the highest and best use of your freezer….
Compound butter. It’s butter, bacon, garlic, shallots, and parmesan cheese, all mixed together. You can whip up a batch in ten minutes, then you stick it in the freezer and cut off hunks of it for literally whatever you want. So far I have had it on a baguette, and also mixed it with rosemary and stuffed it under the skin of a roasting chicken. The instructor at L’Academie also recommended we melt it and toss it in cooked pasta. I plan to never be without it again.
2 sticks softened, salted butter
At least half a cup of parmesan cheese
1 shallot, finely chopped
3 strips bacon, cooked until crisp and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic (use a press)
Mash it all up, then stick it all in a food processor if you like. I didn’t, and the texture was fine. Also, I didn’t use salted butter, so I had to toss some salt in later.