If you ever look through my Belize Wild Recipes section, you will know that I like “mixing it up” and revel in being non-traditional in my invention of meals. I am indeed a Rebel Cook!! ;). Anyway, I’ve cooked an Italian Style meal to eat with fry jacks. Just in case you don’t know, fry jacks are puffed up dough traditionally eaten in Belize with refried beans or eggs for breakfast. Well, I am being twice the rebel because I have modified it into Italian and Brunch!
This is really easy:
Take the following:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 to 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
and saute until onions are nicely browned. Add:
5 peeled plum tomatoes (fresh/tinned), finely chopped
1/2 tsp of Italian Herbs (fresh/dried)
Salt to taste
Place a tight fitting lid and simmer for 10 minutes.
Next, take the lid off and crack eggs onto the simmering dish:
These are our lovely duck eggs; allow 1 to 2 eggs per person. The timing for the eggs is crucial! Put the lid back on; for soft cooked eggs, cook for 3 minutes 45 seconds; for hard boiled eggs, cook for 5 to 6 minutes. I like them soft and gooey so I have to really quick about it!
Serve immediately. Best with Fry Jacks but you can have it with crusty bread or toast.
A while back, we received a few interesting and useful gifts from a visiting friend. Since a lot of these things can’t be found in Belize, I’d like to go through them (if you will allow me to indulge). Good quality items are hard to come by in Belize so we were really pleased to receive this stuff.
Fry Jacks are puffed up fried dough eaten traditionally in Belize for breakfast. They are usually served with refried beans or eggs. I love fry jacks but I have never been able to achieve a good result with recipes found on the Internet. I mentioned this in passing to a Belizean friend and she was aghast at the fact that I had not mastered the art of Fry Jacks after all these years and promptly organised a lesson for me.
The heat is Punishing; It’s stifling hot and we are suffering in the midst of dry season in Belize. I’m not whining for nothing…it has been a real feel of 117F (47C)! Phew!! The Piggies are whining in Paradise too…with squeals, squawks and prolonged weeeeeeeeeees! Mmmm…maybe we should do a Piggie Haircut Day…anyone for a mow-hawk!! It’s not a joke by the way, we do shave their hair as an annual event..
Hope you are having an enlightening Good Friday! Well, it’s hot and we are definitely in the midst of dry season which means it is time to tap copal (Protium copal) for the resin. The most popular use for the copal blocks is as incense. To use, just break off pieces and burn over charcoal. Another use for copal is as a skin treatment for rash, inflammation and itch; copal has been used by the Ancient Maya for centuries as a traditional remedy for skin ailments. It also has natural anti-septic qualities so can be used for minor bacterial and fungal infections. Here are some pictures of fresh copal:
For the people of Punta Gorda, we have a fresh batch of coconut cream at Green Supaul’s. You can’t miss it…it’s in the same freezer as the ice cream and the almond Snickers bars. Here is a snapshot to remind you!
We have been waiting for the “Iguana Rains” for two days now. At 5pm today we had a slight drizzle but not enough to fill two large water tanks. C’mon then…let’s have a downpour, if not for us, but for the sake of the iguana population; they need wet ground to lay their eggs:
