#114: Nicaragua

How was that taste of fall, Colorado?

I’m not sure if you guys were around this weekend in the Centennial state, or if this blog catches you in another time zone, hemisphere or place– but the big CO got a taste of the fall weather Friday and Saturday… I mean, snow in the high country?! IT’S AUGUST. Rest easy though, the 80’s and 90’s are back and it was only a little snip it of autumn to wet our appetite for pumpkin spice everything and football. I’m sure we can all wait a little longer for that to happen officially, but it was a nice reminder to soak it in while we can. To paraphrase Game of Thrones: Autumn is coming.

THE DINNER: We hung out in Central America this weekend to enjoy what Nicaragua had to offer us– which was fish tacos, if you’re late to the party. Nicaraguan-style Repochetas  which are Quesadilla-Tacos. YES. HEAVEN is a place on earth. A quesadilla-taco hybrid? With this bitchin’ cabbage slaw from white wine vinegar? With grilled prawns?! Mouth watering yet? Yeah… It was just as good as you’d imagine. This is typical street food fare in the country, and you can see why immediately. It’s a grab an go meal that is the hybrid love child of two dearly adored comfort foods.

Now this particular recipe below does not have protein in it. We actually took a liberty there. Forgive us, but you’ll thank me for that one. The country has so many good fish and shrimp taco recipes that we meshed them into this dish. For the shrimp, we simply threw a small amount of fajita seasoning on them and grilled those bad boys up. It wasn’t a huge leap culinary wise, but made for a more sustainable and filling meal in the long run.

Repochetas Recipe: http://www.bitchincamero.com/2010/09/nicaraguan-style-repochetas-quesadilla-tacos/

OVERALL COUNTRY SCORE:

Ease of prep and cooking: TWO STARS out of five this meal!
It was actually sort of hard to rate this week on a scale for difficulty. I mean, maybe I’ve been watching too much Olympics, but the elements of toughness were so varied. I mean, there was grilling of corn tortillas… which for anyone who has done this is deceptively tricky. Too short and they’re sort of gummy and too long and BOOM you’re having tostadas. So. To add to that, it was not JUST the tortillas but they were quesadillas. So the cheese dripping element came into play. The remainder of the meal was cake. Just making some slaw and assembly when you pass the shrimp grilling.

Best dish of all time scale: FIVE STARS out of five for Meal!!
Well, shoot, guys. This was just about the easiest five star we have come across in a while. We barely began eating when the “five” started getting thrown down with emphasis. All the elements came together and were just good. You start with good things and when you throw them together in a quesadilla shell of melted cheese, you can’t NOT love  the end product. That creamy dreamy crema was really lovely. The slaw was bitter from the vinegar, but the sweetness of the seafood and the sour cream style creama cut it. We threw some hot sauce on them, and they would have been super amazing with avocado in place of the shrimp for a veggie version… or with the shrimp, because who are we kidding, we live only once.

So… in the words of my mother, “we should head to Panama next week so we can sing Van Halen’s Panama?!” ❤ so with that, I think two things– my mom is probably WAY COOLER than yours and we will be in Panama for #115!!

Oh, and Happy Anniversary, B + B Tileston!
– L & K