American Food for a Costa Rican Family

Apparently on the sheet introducing myself to my host family, I wrote I like to cook. So, my host mom has been asking me for weeks now to cook something. Wednesday, I did. With help from Billy!

We made an Abrams classic, a recipe circa the 1993-1994 school year when my brother was in 5th grade. See the thing is, he went to some after-school cooking class and they gave him a book of recipes. We have been making ”chicken with peas in pasta” ever since.

I Had to go to the gringo-esque supermarket to get all the food and it was mega expensive. A small wedge of real parmesan cheese cost a whopping $10 which was lame. But it was that or that white squeaky cheese they use for everything else.

The jist:

cut up chicken into small pieces. Sautee it until cooked. Add some broth and peas, simmer for five minutes. Add two eggs and stir alot until eggs are cooked and coat the chicken and make a thicker sauce. Add a handful of asiago cheese. Stir to continue making the sauce. Pour over pasta. DONE!

The me-in-Costa-Rica-way:

Cut up chicken and to make it thinner, use the meat mallet. Oh, right. My host mom doesn’t use mallets. Instead, she uses this infamous (at least to me) rock that smashes anything and everything from plantains to meat apparently. Surprisingly, it works a million times better than I’ve seen a mallet work. And you get to feel like a caveman /indigenous. History and cooking. Yes.

Three eggs and a crap load of broth that had to be poured out of a hot pan a few times..and chicken that wasn’t as golden as I would have preferred…..later…brings you deliciousness. I heard it was yummy. I had a vegetarian version. We also had crackers with the hummus I have been making from scratch lately.

For dessert we had crackers with dulce de leche straight out of the can. Or at least..I did.