Uruguay

 Welcome to Uruguay!  We learned so many different things about Uruguay when researching about the meal.  Things like the flag has changed designs several times, that Uruguay has the longest national anthem (around six minutes!), and that it has one of the highest literacy rates in the world for adults, at 98.1%!  Turns out, they know how to eat, too!  According to Google, the capital is Montevideo and the population is 3.52 million people.  One of our eight-year old friends drew this picture of the flag for our dinner:

 Anyway, back to the food.  Their national dish is...

 

 

The Chivito!

It translates to a meat sandwich.  And they're not kidding!  This is a meat-lover's dream sandwich.  Handsome Husband loved it.  And so did our company!  To go with the Chivito, we made Chaja for dessert.  Let me tell you, this was a BEAST to make, and I started two days in advance!  It was a fun process, but quite a lot of work.  Here's what I did:

CHIVITO

1/2 pound bacon

1/2 pound ham, thinly sliced

1/2 pound shoulder steak, thinly sliced

Sliced Mozzarella cheese, for topping

1 red bell pepper, roasted, for topping

1 tomato, sliced, for topping

1/2 red onion, sliced, for topping

4 lettuce leaves

Pickles, for garnish

2 fried eggs, for topping

2 gluten free hamburger buns

Mayonnaise, as desired

Ketchup, as desired

1. Cook the bacon until crispy, and set aside to drain on paper towels.
2. Cook steaks and peppers on grill to your preferred level of doneness, and until the pepper is charred.
3. Peel the skin off the pepper and set aside.
4. Grill the ham until warm.  Remove from heat
5. Fry the eggs to your preferred level of doneness.
6. Assemble the sandwich, to your preference.
7. Enjoy!

(Source: Chivito and Chivito)

CHAJA

For the sponge cake:

5 eggs, room temperature

1 C sugar

1 1/2 C gluten free flour

2 tbsp butter, for the cake pan

2 tbsp gluten free flour, for the cake pan

For the meringue:

3 egg whites, room temperature

3/4 C powder sugar, sifted

1 C sugar

Pinch of salt

For the filling:

2 lbs canned sliced peaches, in syrup

2 1/2 C heavy whipping cream, very cold

1 C powder sugar, sifted

1 lb dulce de leche (I made my own using sweetened condensed milk)

Sponge Cake

1. The day before you want to eat the cake, make the sponge cake.
   
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. In a stand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar at high speed until they whiten and triple in volume.
4. Add the flour, and mix on low for 30 seconds.
5. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan with butter and sprinkle with flour.  Get rid of the excess flour.
6. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 12 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes.
7. Remove the cake from the oven and wait 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pan.
8. Cool completely, and wrap tightly in saran wrap and place in the fridge until ready to assemble the cake.

Meringue

1. The day before you want to eat the cake, make the meringue.
2. Preheat the oven to 210 degrees.
3. Trace a circle the same size as the cake pan on a piece of parchment paper, and place on a baking sheet.
4. Add the egg whites to the stand mixer.
5. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites, and beat them.
6. When the mixture begins to foam, add the sugar gradually.
7. Once the whites are stiff and shiny, stop whipping and fold the powder sugar in the mixture.
8. Use a pastry bag and pipe the meringue in a circular motion so it fills the circle on the parchment paper in a single, short layer.
9. Make meringue discs with the leftover meringue.
10. Bake for two hours at 210 degrees.
11. After two hours of baking, increase the temperature to 270 degrees, and bake for 5 minutes.
12. Turn the oven off, do not open the oven door, and leave the meringue's in the oven overnight.
    

Cream

1. Right before assembling the cake, make the cream.
2. Place the heavy whipping cream in the freezer for 20 minutes.
3. Beat the whipped cream at a medium speed for about 10 minutes, and incorporate the powder sugar as you are doing so.

Assembling the Chaja

1. Drain the peaches and reserve their syrup.
2. Slice eight peach slices very thinly (to go on the top of the cake) and cut the remaining slices into small pieces.
3. Slice the sponge cake into three equal layers.
4. Place the first layer of sponge cake on a round plate or serving platter.
5. Brush the first layer of sponge cake with peach syrup, until the whole surface is covered.
6. Spread the dulce de leche on the cake layer with a spatula.
7. Place the second layer of sponge cake and brush it with the peach syrup.
8. Cover this layer with a generous layer of whipped cream.
9. Cover the whipped cream with half of the diced peaches.
10. Place the meringue disk on the peaches and press lightly.
11. Cover the meringue disk with whipped cream and place the rest of the diced peaches on top.
12. Place the third layer of sponge cake on top and press lightly, so all the layers get lightly compacted.
13. Cover the entire surface of the cake with whipped cream.
14. Break/crush the meringue discs into smaller pieces and press them to the sides of the cake.
15. Put the sliced peaches on top, and any meringues left over.
16. Chill for at least 6 hours before serving.

(Source: Chaja) 

The verdict?  The meat sandwich was delicious, and a huge hit with the friends.  I mean, who doesn't love a steak on their sandwich?!  We loved the versatility of the sandwich as well - that everyone could add what they wanted and made the sandwich their own.  It was tricky to eat because there were so many layers, but we made it work and it was delicious.  The cake...well...I wasn't a fan of it.  Our friends said they enjoyed it, but it was not my favorite at all.  I think that it may have sat for too long (it was about 24 hours after assembly that we ate it), so the different textures all ran together.  I wasn't a fan of the sponge cake - I didn't think it had much flavor.  I joined most of the kids in eating ice cream instead...

 

 

 

 

 

ME

Taste of Chivito (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 10

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 8

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Chivito (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 9

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 9

 

ME

Taste of Chaja (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 2

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 2

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Chaja (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 7

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

 

Join us next time in Azerbaijan!