Pascualina is a savory pie from Uruguay prepared with spinach and eggs. “Pascua” translates as Easter, thus this pie is usually eaten during the holy week or “semana santa”. As many Uruguayans have Italian ancestry, many Italian dishes were adapted to what was available in Uruguay. In Italy pascualina is normally prepared with ricotta and Parmesan cheese, however, Uruguayans like to infuse flavor with bacon and additional veggies such as bell peppers. Other dishes include milanesa, cutlets, which already tell you the origin. Another is the quince tart named pasta frola, which is very popular in Uruguay.
I think it is about high time to get something savory in between all these sweets here. Today I brought something from Bolivia, chicken turnovers or salteñas how they are called locally. Normally turnovers are called empanadas in Spanish. However, for some reason, the Bolivians decided to call these salteñas. Of course I have presented empanadas on this blog. First I showed you the typical beef empanadas from my country Uruguay, followed by classic Colombian empanadas that remain to be a hit. Bolivian “empanadas” differ slightly in the sense that a) the dough is sweetened, and b) gelatine is used for the filling in order to ensure that it remains juicy and moist. When I tried them for the first time, I was a bit surprised that I liked them much better on day 2. I had prepared two batches, one which was baked immediately, and one which was baked after the fully prepared salteñas had chilled in the fridge overnight, tightly covered. Maybe it was the fact that the ingredients could get friendly with each other, I don’t know, but I loved them on day 2.
Today I am introducing Polish pierogi ruskie or dumplings with a potato and cream cheese filling! Recently I have had a craving for some of the Ukrainian, Russian, or Polish dishes my grandmothers used to serve. Neither of them are still alive. Thinking back, I have to say, I don’t even know how they did it. Many times when we came to visit, there would be a large family gathering with more than 15 people, yet they would always serve homemade food such as pelmeni, vareniki or pierogi. All of these require a lot of work and are dumplings that need to be formed by hand. I needed half an hour for two people, you can probably imagine how much time it took them for the amount of people visiting. My favorite are either pierogi or vareniki, which are either filled with cream cheese only or cream cheese with potatos. So today I am giving you the traditional pierogi ruskie.
Today I am going to introduce my nine favorite recipes from Uruguay. I was born in that little country in South America and was fortunate enough to live there for a few years when I was small. In 2016 I had the opportunity to go there on vacation again after I had lived in Germany for many years. It was so crazy how many memories came back. Obviously I had to try some of the most popular dishes again. The recipes I introduce below have all been tested with German ingredients in Germany since I live in Germany. I would be very excited to see if you also give it a try yourself. If you have any other request or encounter any problem, please let me know in the comments.
Today I am presenting chicken pot pie, a main course which is perfect for using leftover chicken, goose, duck or similar from Christmas. Obviously you don’t need to necessarily have leftovers, but you can start from scratch. Just saying. You may also go for other vegetables, traditionally chicken pot pie is served with carrots, mushrooms, and peas, but you can use whatever you have at hand and mix it conveniently with the meat. Regardless of how you vary the filling, you will get a very flaky pie crust and a creamy chicken and vegetable filling. This is perfect souldfood for a cold and chilly winter day.
Today I introduce you to cute hand pies with creamy chicken filling. These hand pies are perfect for a buffet, as finger food, snack, but can also be served as a main with a salad on the side. The chicken filling is creamy, the pastry dough comes together quickly and is spiced with some herbs. In my opinion the perfect combination when you have company coming over.
Yay to Chicago-style pizza, my friends! Everybody has an opinion how the perfect pizza is supposed to taste like. There are huge fights about the pizza dough, the thickness, the crust, the amount of cheese, the toppings. I know. I am not getting into that. I am simply going to introduce you to a pizza which is more like a pie. And since I like pie, I was excited to try this one. Deep-dish pizza is another term for this pizza. Because you need a springform. You will put so much cheese and tomato sauce onto it that the regular circle simply doesn’t cut it. Chicago-style pizza is my new favorite. It starts with a very buttery dough, which is then sprinkled with mozzarella cheese (yes, the cheese goes on the bottom), then comes some chorizo (if you like it to be non-vegetarian) and then lots and lots of tomato sauce. Let’s have a closer look at each layer: