Team Quito

Corey is back at Wash U to start her sophomore year.  Noah began his senior year and Dylan his freshman year at ETHS.  Work is heating up, gearing up for our students to return to campus.

It's that bittersweet late August thing where we trade beach dinners for homework and the nights are cool and the mornings are once again dark on the way to CrossFit.  Sad but also good.

And after a lot of ad-hoc weeks, I'm back in the kitchen!

This week we had a few Ecuadorean visitors, Andres, Juan and Mateo.  These three guys are spending their summer working at Cedar Point in Ohio, and stayed with us three days this week.  This connection goes wayyyy back.  Andres' mother, Lorena Vivero, was a Rotary exchange student from Ecuador who came to the US in 1984 and lived with my family for three months.  She was a delight: easy, sweet and she fit right in to my crazy wonderful family.

 Mt. Snow, Vermont, 1984

We lost touch until about five years ago, when Lorena found my sister Julie on Facebook. From Julie:

Ironically, I got a friend request from her when I got back from a weekend visit with Colleen at UNC, when she told me she'd decided on Ecuador for her semester abroad.  I told her I had an exchange student in high school from Quito, too bad we lost touch 30 YEARS AGO. 

Isn't that wild?  Just as Julie was about to send her daughter to Quito she hears from our long-ago exchange student who lives in, wait for it, Quito.  Julie and my mom went down and visited Colleen while she was there and had a happy reunion with Lorena and her family.

 Lorena and Colleen, 2010

So a few months ago, when Lorena wrote and asked if I could give Andres some guidance about how to get from O'Hare to Sandusky, Ohio on the way to his summer job,  I was thrilled to jump in.  He spent about twelve hours in my house on his way from here to there:

and I extended an invitation to come to Chicago if he and his friends Juan and Mateo wanted to visit this summer.  And visit they did.

These are three terrific young men who speak impeccable English and have impeccable manners and great senses of humor.   They took the train and arrived in Chicago on Monday morning, spent the day in the city, then took the commuter train up to Evanston.  I picked them up, brought them home, got them settled in with a cold beer.  I had made a ton of tilapia piccata, roasted red potatoes and steamed asparagus for my family so I prepared each a plate and set it down on the table before them.  All three of those boys positively groaned, in unison.

 

Juan:  "Real food!"
Andres: "I have to take a picture.  And send it to my mom."
Mateo:  "I think I"m gonna cry."

Talk about an appreciative audience!  These boys have been eating cafeteria food for two months and they were SO GRATEFUL to be in a house, to eat real food, to play guitar (Andres), to have wireless, and to visit Chicago. 

They were a delight to host and we were genuinely sad to say goodbye today.   Hasta la proxima vez!

Tilapia Piccata, Roasted Red Potatoes & Steamed asparagus

Tilapia Piccata:
Rinse and dry about 6 tilapia fillets, salt & pepper them then coat them in flour
Heat up 2 Tbsp olive oil in a fry pan, heat to med-high.  Add the fish and cook about 2 minutes each side, until golden brown. Remove and set aside
Deglaze the pan with about 1/2 cup white wine, whisk for about a minute, add about 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice and a little broth if you have it.
Add 2Tbsp capers and 2 Tbsp butter, let simmer a couple minutes.
Pour sauce over the fish and add a ton of freshly chopped parsley.

Roasted Red Potatoes
Halve or quarter about 3lbs of red potatoes (small ones can be halved, larger should be quartered)
Coat with olive oil, (2 Tbsp?)  kosher salt & fresh pepper.  Mix well on a cookie sheet.
Bake in a pre-heated 425 oven for about 40 minutes, until crispy on outside and tender inside.  Use a metal spatula to toss them around a few times while cooking.



Chili-rubbed chicken with barbecue table mop, Ina's tomato-feta salad, corn on the cob

Chili-rubbed chicken 

Rub

• 3/4 cup chili powder (about 3 1/2 ounces)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

Mop

• 1 cup hickory barbecue sauce
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)

• 2 3 1/2-pound chickens, quartered, backbones discarded

For Chili Rub:
Mix all ingredients in bowl.

For Mop:
mix first 5 ingredients in medium bowl.
Arrange chicken in single layer on large baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle chili rub generously on both sides of chicken; press to adhere. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour.
Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). When coals are white, drain chips, if using, and scatter over coals. Place chicken, skin side down, on grill rack away from direct heat. Cover grill and cook chicken until cooked through, turning every 5 minutes and covering grill, about 35 to 40 minutes (chili rub may look slightly burned). Serve hot or warm, passing mop separately.

Ina's Tomato-Feta Salad

4 pints grape tomatoes, red or mixed colors
1 1/2 cups small-diced red onion (2 onions)
1/4 cup good white wine vinegar
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 1/2 pounds feta cheese

Directions

Cut the tomatoes in half and place them in a large bowl. Add the onion, vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, basil, and parsley and toss well. Dice the feta in 1/2 to 3/4-inch cubes, crumbling it as little as possible. Gently fold it into the salad and serve at room temperature.

2006, Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved