Nicaraguan recipes – Eat, Play, Love

Whenever I hear the word chimichurri I always think of the song from Mary Poppins. It’s such a happy little song and who doesn’t love Dick Van Dyke – the man exudes happiness.

But chimichurri obviously has nothing to do with sweeping chimneys, rather it’s a sauce used with grilled meat that originated in Argentina. It can also be found in Uruguay, Columbia, Mexico and…Nicaragua!

So for our last Nicaraguan recipe we bring you a delectable steak recipe featuring the chimichurri sauce for what we’re calling Nicaraguan Tenderloin. We started by preparing the sauce using Italian parsley, olive oil, red wine vinegar and garlic. Continue reading →

We’re all running a bit behind this week and things have gotten a little hectic. Thankfully it’s almost the weekend, and fortunately we’ve had some fabulous beans to use throughout the week in various dishes.

We first whipped up this recipe for the popular Nicaraguan Gallo Pinto last Sunday with our Nicaraguan steak and Mormom Johnnycake, and the leftovers have graced our table ever since. Gallo pinto is a traditional Nicaraguan dish of rice and beans cooked together.

For this particular version, Mr. N selected black beans – his favorite. We soaked our beans according to the package directions and then simmered them for an hour and a half in a sauce pan with about 8 to 10 cloves of garlic and water. Continue reading →