Puerto Rico - not a country but a unique culture and definitely on my list.

It's been way too long since my last post.   You know, life happens... just as shit happens too.  We lost our Great Grandma Mary and had to take an unexpected trip back to Michigan.  Of course in our absence,  business and life keep going and catch up is tough.

 Since my last post,  I've taken my family to seven different countries on our culinary escapade.    I'm now lamenting that my appetite for cooking is much greater than my appetite for blogging.  Sorry!    I'm going to have figure out a better system for keeping up the journal.

 I'm also quickly learning that regional countries use the same regional ingredients  (Duh!)   In order to keep things interesting,  I've decided to bounce around the globe a bit more.

Puerto Rico -  Pastelon

I've been to Puerto Rico twice in my life.  Once when I was 5 and then again when I was 35.   I'm sad to say that I can't recall any memorable dishes that I wanted to recreate.    Our latest trip to Puerto Rico was a whole Huckstadt family affair.  My husband, Marc, and I rented a large condo with my sister, her husband, their 3 young boys and my parents.    We were miles from nowhere in a gated community on the southeast shore of the island.    Our restaurant choices were limited to dining at the golf club or other overpriced hotel choices with Americanized cuisine - blah!    We did escape the family one day for a trip to San Juan.   Truthfully I can't remember what we ate,  but did taste some mighty fine Rum!

Back to the recipe.  Before we left for Michigan,   I cleaned out the refrigerator and was left with just a few scraps of food.   I looked at what ingredients I had and what recipes were on the table,  and decided to make Pastelon.

 In my haste,  I forgot to take pictures.  In hindsight,  I'm glad.   This dish was disgusting - mealy, dry and unflavorful.   As I assembled the ingredients,  I thought that something might be missing from my recipe.  The website picture showed a bubbly, cheesy casserole  and mine looked like a science project gone awry.   At this point I should have investigated further,  but when you have two screaming toddlers running circles around the kitchen and bags to pack,  sometimes you just have to say "uncle".   I've now realized  that my recipe was missing about 8 eggs!    Out of all the recipes for Pastelon,  I had to pick the wrong, totally wrong one.

I'm going to post a link for a different recipe for Pastelon.    Please try it.  This has potential to be a delicious, unique low-carb dish given the correct ratio of ingredients.   On an important side note:   use overripe plantains - the black ones.  ( I didn't - big mistake! )  

http://thisissogoodhome.com/2013/02/01/pastelon-puerto-rican-lasagna-with-plantains/

Pastelon should look something like this.    ( I just may have to try this recipe again.)