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[Recipe] Avocado Stuffed With Chicken Salad

Stuffed Avocado has become a favorite appetizer, and often serves as a full breakfast too

I mentioned in my email a couple days ago that I have started cooking more at home, and going out to restaurants less.  In that message I mentioned that I might start including some of my recipes in my blog.  Quite a few of you wrote back encouraging me to do exactly that, so this is the first of an occasional series.  I will always preface the title of these blogs with [Recipe], so you can easily skip over it if the subject does not interest you.  Conversely, you can search on the title or keyword of ‘recipe’ if you want to see what else I have cooked up (the first being today though).

I’d like to hear your reaction to both the topic (that is, do you want more of my recipes), and the format for the blog entry (start with finished result, then ingredients, then process). That feedback can either be in the comments section below, or via email to me.

As with many of the recipes I will post, this is done almost entirely with fresh foods — a benefit of living here in Cuenca, where a mercado is about 4 blocks away.  A couple days ago I went there to buy the ingredients for a party we were having with six people, plus some general ingredients for other meals over the next few days.  I walked out with a cloth bag I carry into the mercado, stuffed so full I could barely carry it home — which cost me a total of $8.50… ☺

We ate at a local favorite restaurant a couple months ago (Santorino), and chose a “stuffed avocado” as an appetizer.  I liked it so much that I picked it apart and figured out how to make it myself.  After a few experiments, it is now a favorite we eat pretty much every week.

Ingredients of salad. I don’t show the uncut chicken, simply because the photograph was awful… ☺ Note that this is double the stated recipe — set for 8 portions.

The ingredients for 4 servings is:

  • 1 cup diced chicken
  • 2 tbsp mayonnaise (or more, to taste)
  • 1 small chili pepper
  • 1/4 small onion
  • 1/4 small red bell pepper
  • 1/4 small yellow bell pepper
  • 2 or 3 limes, squeezed fresh
  • 2 avocados, sliced in half with pit removed
  • pepper to taste
  • chili powder to taste

As you can see above, I usually prep each ingredient into separate bowls.  Then, as I mix them, I can judge if perhaps I want a little less of one item or another.  That will sometimes change based on the tastes of the guests (I always ask if they like it hot before making a meal for them!), or even the pungentness of the ingredients that week.

Optionally you can first saute the onions, peppers and chilies in butter before mixing.  I have been skipping that step the last few times, and find I prefer everything (except the chicken…) raw.  Sometimes I will fry some boneless, skinless chicken thighs in hot sauce and pepper for this meal.  More often though, I just use the store-bought broiled chicken that I pick up each week for snacks.  I simply rip off the breast meat, remove the skin, dice it, and it is ready to go.

Mixed ingredients, ready to pile into the waiting avocados.

Simply mix all the ingredients, saving the lime juice for last.  I tend to use more mayonnaise in Cuenca than I would in California, because it doesn’t have as much body here.  I put the rest of the ingredients into a bowl, then add mayonnaise, mix, add more mayonnaise, and mix more until I am happy with the consistency.  Next I add the pepper and chili powder, again adding, mixing, tasting, adding until I am happy.  Last comes the lime juice.  How many limes are needed will vary depending on their size and amount of juice they produce, so again — add, taste, add, taste until the result is just to your liking.

Now scoop it into the hollows of the split avocados and you are ready to go.  I usually make this a couple hours before the guests arrive, and put in the fridge.  I can then pull it out and serve, without having to be taken from the guests during preparation.  I don’t recommend leaving it in the fridge more than a couple hours though, or the avocado will start to oxidize and turn brown.

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Ricaurte

Evelyn continues to spend Sunday mornings with Alberto Soriano, painting landscapes of the region around Cuenca.  It gives her a chance to get some expert guidance in her landscapes, and gives us both a chance to see the outskirts of town, always within an hour’s drive of our apartment.  Without a car ourselves, it would be difficult to explore these areas, and without a knowledgeable local like Alberto, we would likely never find these out-of-the-way side roads anyway. We spent this morning off a side road in Ricaurte.

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Festival de Comedias de Un Acto

Cuenca is often called the cultural capital of Ecuador. Symphony is always free, and there are multiple free music venues every week.  Tonight saw the inauguration of a new theater group in town — The Azuay Community Theater, with their Festival of One-Act Plays (yes, I know the Spanish says ‘comedy’, but their English title did not). This is a mostly-gringo community theater group, who opened with a set of four plays, all in English.  They asked for a $5 donation, and were sold out.  Fortunately, Evelyn had the foresight to make reservations, or we would not have gotten in. 

Though this was clearly “community theater,” and not the Broadway level of productions we usually watched in California, the stories were interesting, the cast was enthusiastic, and I spent much of the evening in stitches.  In particular, the second play (“Car Talk“) included Laura Inks who played the part of cars from BMW (“stroke me, feel me, see how my leather makes you feel“), Prius (“we can save the world together“), and half a dozen other makes had me guffawing through the entire skit. In addition to performing tonight, Laura is the co-founder of Fishbon del Sur here in Cuenca, after having created a similar program in Santa Barbara (www.FISHBON.org). She also provided the space for the Azuay Community Theater to perform.

Estafania Ortiz played “The Woman” in the first play (Gnash, Gnash).  She was the only Cuencanan actor, and is also the daughter of Evelyn’s Spanish teacher — which led to another Spanish phrase being taught in Evelyn’s Spanish lesson the next day — “Es un mundo pequeño” (It’s a small world).

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IRS, Chilcatotora, Baptism, Wine & Dance

This was a busy day, with us going into the country to Chilcatotora, attending a Catholic mass baptism, going to an art show, a wine tasting, and finally having guests over for dinner for two experimental dishes.

First though, we have noticed a surprising number of “closure for tax fraud” signs going up lately.  I first saw one yesterday on Chill & Grill, one of my favorite hamburger lunch spots.  In the last day, I have seen it on three other restaurants.  It appears that these are from the Ecuadorian version of the IRS (called SRi), where they have done undercover tests and then raided the stores for failure to report all taxable income.  Looks to me like they are trying to put the Fear Of God into other businesses, to reduce tax evasion, and increase tax revenues.

We started today though, with another trip into the country with Alberto Soriano.  Evelyn set up to paint another plein-air landscape. Alberto did the same, while also spending time helping Evelyn with her efforts.

As always, Evelyn gathered a group of young fans around her, including one that picked up a pencil and started to draw a portrait of her.  After awhile, I decided I had gotten all the photographs I expected to achieve, and went into an abandoned building to practice my Spanish using my Pimsleur tapes.  My stumbling Spanish brought the kids around though, and I ended up with some of the better portraits of the day.

 

While Evelyn was painting, I got a chance to see typical farm life in the Ecuadorian country.  As expected, the dogs had the easiest life, lying and sleeping in the sun.  The father cut trees for a fence, while the children all pitched in, gathering rocks and helping to set the newly cut posts.

On our way back our condo, we came across something about to happen at Iglesia de la Merced.  Waiting around a few minutes, we discovered several parents bringing out their infants from a Catholic Baptism ceremony.  One family in particular was willing to pose for us.  The email they supplied bounced, but we finally found them on facebook this morning, so copies of these photos are on their way now.

Art Dance Practice from Burt Johnson on Vimeo.

Later we went out to an announced art exhibit, and saw some young people practicing an unusual dance routine.  From there, we went on to a wine tasting event.  Did you know today was International Malbec Day?  Neither did we, but it was a great chance to taste a dozen Argentinian malbec wines!

When we got home, I experimented with a new chicken lasagna recipe for dinner, followed by a new key lime pie recipe for desert.  Both were a major success, and I am now sitting down because I can’t walk after eating that much! ☺

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Futbol Pandemonium

 

Futbol Pandemonium from Burt Johnson on Vimeo.

Futbol fans really get into a frenzy, jumping around like kangaroos

I have gotten into the habit of always carrying a small camera with me around Ecuador (for those interested, it is a Sony RX-100 MK II).  I never know when I will turn a corner and run into something going on that I hadn’t expected.  Today was a typical example of that.  We started off going to Kywi (a large Cuenca hardware store) for some items we needed around the house. About a block away, we started hearing drums, and then trumpets, and changed direction to see what was happening.

We discovered a crowd of young people standing in the square next to Iglesia La Merced (where yesterday’s Good Friday parade started) and Coffee Tree (a popular local hangout).  At the time, there was only about 30 people there. Since there was also about an equal number of policemen around, we guessed that something bigger was brewing.  I asked one of the police (in my broken Spanish) what was going on and when it would start. I was told it had something to do with futbol (aka ‘soccer’ in North American parlance) and would be starting in about 30 minutes.  We decided to grab a beer at Coffee Tree and wait to see how things unfolded.

Soon banners began to spring up around the square.  At the time this was going on, we knew only the barest outline of what was happening.  This is the scourge of not speaking the local language.  I can only dream of someday speaking enough Spanish to figure out details on the fly.  As it is, we figured out a lot of after getting home and putting Google plus Google Translate to good use…  ☺   These banners were from various towns and clubs near Guayaquil, and represented groups in town to support their team.

The Game

We found that this was a major game between the Barcelona Sporting Club and Deportivo Cuenca. The Barcelona Sporting Club is the Guayaquil football team, which is in first place in the national standings.  Meanwhile, our local Deportivo Cuenca team is firmly in last place. You can guess the outcome — Guayaquil beat Cuenca by 3 goals.  I read an article at the start of Easter Week, where the local bishop blessed the local team.  He was quoted as saying something to the fact that “God does not come down on the field and make goals, but if all members of the team let Jesus into their hearts, perhaps we can pull out of last place…”  Apparently Cuenca was the national champion in the past, but has now spent the last two years in last place. The blessing didn’t seem to help…

The Fans

The band piled out of the square and onto the top of a chartered double decker tour bus, and festooned it with more banners.  Our later investigation found that the Sur Oscura banners represented a fan club that is considered the “main hooligan” of the Guayaquil team, and is well known for violence at sports events.  Apparently the large number of police were not just there for traffic control…

Given that reputation, we felt the crowd was well mannered. They were certainly boisterous, jumping around like kangaroos while chanting their team song over and over (everyone seemed to know the words — as we passed people on the streets, they would start to mouth the song too!). One guy was setting off rockets using a coke bottle as a base and a lit cigarette as a fuse lighter (that is him in the lower right above), but most were just having fun. We saw no liquor and no drugs anywhere in the crowd.  The local newspaper said that the police were planning on putting a barricade in the arena to separate the fans from the two teams though, which sure sounds like trouble in the past.

As an interesting side note, the Cuenca Trash Patrol (my name — not really sure what they are called?) was out in force in their blue coveralls.  They patrolled the area, picking up litter as soon as it was discarded. When the crowd moved on, there was no litter on the ground, everything having already been picked up.  I continue to be impressed with the effort the city puts into keeping it clean.  Now, if only they could do the same for the graffiti that is taking over parts of town…

Here are a few other photos I liked, but didn’t seem to fit in other groups… ☺

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Viernes Santo

Today is Good Friday (“Viernes Santo” in Spanish) in the Christian religion, which commemorates the day on which Jesus was crucified on the cross. Many Catholic churches in town had small parades where a statue of Jesus on the cross was taken around the neighborhood.  Iglesia La Merced is one such church, about a block from our condo, so we went to watch and document.

The crowd was small, maybe around 50 or so marchers.  At first we were surprised at the small turnout, but then realized that each of the 50+ churches in town was doing the same thing, so the participants were scattered.  The weather was threatening rain, which probably also reduced the participation, though we never got more than a light drizzle until everyone was over.

Several homes along the parade route put out small altars in celebration of Easter.  The priests leading the march stopped at each one, made a small speech and then blessed them, before moving on.

There was to be another parade in the evening.  We went back to watch that also, but it was running late and the rain was starting to really come down, so we quick-stepped the block back home to avoid the coming deluge.  No sooner did we reach our front door than the sky opened, and it poured for the next several hours.

[PS: The next day the river was swollen and running fast, which was a nice relief from the sparse rain and low river of the past few months.]

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Semana Santa

Ecuador is a very Catholic nation, and Cuenca is a city with numerous free concerts and symphonies. It is therefore no surprise that there have been a series of symphony concerts all week, each at a different church.  Tonight we attended one at “The Old Cathedral” on Parque Calderon. We arrived a little late and were actually the last couple allowed to enter.  Guards kept the remaining crowd outside, since the church was filled beyond normal capacity.  A youth choir joined the orchestra for much of the performance.

(For our Northern friends, “Semana Santa” is the Spanish term for “Easter Week”)

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Palm Sunday and Cajas Art

Today was Palm Sunday for the Catholics in town, but we started the day by returning to Lake Zorrocucho in the Cajas, where we spent last Sunday.  Alberto drove us there again, and then Evelyn painted en plein air.  We were joined this time by Shimi — an artist friend from Danville, back in the San Francisco Bay Area, who joined us for a few days.

While Shimi and Evelyn painted, Stephen and I walked the periphery of the lake again, this time with a tripod and flash, which allowed me to take photographs I was happier with than last week.  Along the way, we came across several fishermen (yes, always males…) working the lake and accompanying streams looking for dinner.  I never saw anyone catch any fish, but I rarely hear of fishermen talking about the fish as much as about the lakes and streams…☺

This is the painting that Evelyn worked on for a couple of hours until the chill chased us off to lunch.

Lunch was a minor adventure in itself.  We went to a small Sunday Brunch place sitting at 11,890 ft elevation.  Just going from the car to the restaurant (a short climb up some steps) left me light headed.  There was no chance I was going to hike around that lake!

As we were eating brunch (a delicious trout that was probably swimming in the lake that morning), we heard a WHOOMP! We looked around, wondering if an earthquake had hit. Then the owner came out calling “Out, quick!” (in Spanish of course, but the meaning was clear). Everyone rushed out, while I gathered my camera and coat and sauntered out (I’ve been in lots of earthquakes before, and knew it was already too late to be worried).  After a couple of minutes, we were told to return to our meals. Turns out the Whoomp we heard was actually a propane explosion in the kitchen.  Toto, I Don’t Think We Are Not In Kansas Anymore! ☺

 

When we returned to town, we found a parade going down a street about a block from our condo.  This was a Palm Sunday parade, with some people celebrating the triumphant return of Jesus on a path of palm leaves (hence the term “Palm Sunday” celebration), while others jumped the gun and paraded as Jesus carrying his cross down the streets (should be a week from now, but who’s keeping track?).

We had heard of these robed penitents parading through town at Palm Sunday, but had not seen it before now.  There are a couple of towns in Ecuador that are famed for such costumed parades, and all references we read said that “every town in Ecuador has them.”  It was just up to us to find them.  As luck would have it, this parade near our condo had several small groups in variants of the hooded costumes, in different shades of purple.  We finally got to see them without going into other parts of Ecuador (which we will likely do in future years, but this year is pretty full with travel plans already).

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Foundation Day

Cuencanas take any excuse to celebrate, and they don’t limit their holidays to just one day.  This weekend is an example, commemorating Foundation Day.  This is the day (celebrated for four days…) that marks the time 457 years ago that the Spanish declared Cuenca a city.  As in North America, there are a few purists that take pains to point out that the Canaris settled this location more than 1500 years ago, just as some people like to note that Columbus did not “discover” North America, since it was settled by the American Indians long before.  Regardless, this is the demarcation of the European settlement of The New World.  For Good or Evil, it led to our being here today, and thus is marked by parades, fireworks, and general merrymaking.

Vendors lined a main street (Doce de Abril — AKA April 12) selling portraits, food and crafts.  Other groups danced in one square or another, demonstrating their ancestral heritage and entertaining crowds that gathered around.

Kids got involved too.  The younger ones participated in a potato sack race (above), while teenagers competed in dance and singing contests.  It was fascinating to watch these singers and realize that some of them definitely had the talent to be tomorrow’s teen idols.  These were not the High School talent shows I remember from the States. These kids were extremely talented and a lot of fun to watch.  The audience played their parts too, with the boy dancers cheered by screaming teenage girls, and the girl performers met with equal enthusiasm by the teenage boys in the audience.

In the evening, we wandered over to Parque Calderon, and found a (free, of course!) rock concert in full swing. The voices were superb, and many in the audience were lip syncing the songs, indicating they knew the songs by heart.  One of the biggest surprises was seeing all the musicians turned out in full suits.  These performers were clearly adored by the audience, but there was none of the punk rock rebellion we come to expect in the States. The audience went from toddlers to parents (with their kids) to grandparents, with a very few gringos in the mix, and everyone seemed to love the music.  Unfortunately, the volume got cranked up further and further until we left because it was too painful to be within a block of the speakers.  Seems one aspect is being copied from the concerts in the States…☹

 

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High End Apartment Rental

 

The “New Cathedral” is a constant sight from our living room window, but during a few celebrations during the year, it is lighted in the evening, giving us a new nighttime view. Technically the Foundation Day celebration doesn’t start till tomorrow, but a few events jumped the gun and started tonight.  Lighting of the cathedral was one of those unexpected benefits.

There is a lot of construction going on in Cuenca.  Since Cuenca has the fastest growing middle class in Ecuador, and Ecuador has the fastest growing middle class in Latin America, such construction is not really surprising.  Much of the new construction is aimed at upwardly mobile Cuencanas, or towards Ecuadorians returning from overseas (an estimated 3 million Ecuadorians work overseas, of which an estimated 500,000 have returned to Ecuador in the past 5 years).  An estimated $1.7 Billion (with a ‘B’) is sent home by Ecuadorians living overseas every year, which is second only to Oil as a major contributor to GDP.

At any rate, there are a lot of new construction going on in the outskirts of Cuenca.  Within El Centro (where we live), The declaration of the center of town as a World Heritage Site means it is not allowed to change the external facade of a building, or to modify the skyline.  This means that many buildings are having the internals gutted and transformed into luxury apartments, either for rental or purchase.  Tonight we attended the grand opening of a very nice set of 14 apartments intended for medium stay — no shorter than one month.

The rooms are quite nice, the general accommodations glorious, and the prices reasonable — at least to those of us hailing from North America.

The walls throughout are populated by high quality photographs.  My only complaint is they didn’t talk to me first, since I have scenes of the same areas that I think would have looked nice on those walls…☺

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