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Plantain & Cheese Turnovers | Tortas de Plátano

Makes 8-10 Imagine. It’s the height of summer. You spend all day roughhousing with the ocean. When every muscle in your body is heavy, you lay down in the sand for an impromptu picnic with a package of street food – tortas. In less than a minute you make several cheesy, crispy, fried plantain tortas disappear into your happy belly.  After the last bite, you lick the salt from your fingers and drink a tall glass of water. You stretch out for a nap, still warm from the glow of a little too much sun. Did I just find one of the secrets to a happy Honduran childhood by the seashore? I sure hope so. What is it about summer and fried food? While I don’t normally include loads of oil in my daily line-up, there’s nothing like a big bite of crispy fried goodness to cap off a great day in the sun.  Play around with this recipe – make it your own. Our tortas simply contain cheese, although beans are traditional as well. Ingredients: 4 …

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Cheese Pupusas |Pupusas de Queso

Makes 6-10 pupusa Take a big bite of El Salvador with cheesy pupusas. Many locals eat pupusa several times a week – some are filled with beans, others meat. But, no matter how you fill it, there’s an art to shaping the mighty pupusa. Here’s Martha Stewart’s demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kShxKY1mrPM Here are four things I wish I knew when I got started: Make your dough fairly moist. Play with the consistency. You don’t want a lot of cracking on the edges. The one Keith is holding is perfect. My others (pictured in the recipe) were a little dry and as a result, not so great. Rub vegetable oil on the pupusa before you put it on the griddle. This will keep it from – ahem – drying out. It will also give it a pretty, golden color. The one Keith is holding is nice and golden. The others are pale because I forgot this step. Make the pupusa thinner for a cheesier effect. Use salt. It really pulls the flavors together. By making sure I did …

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