It's been awhile since I've posted. I have to be honest, I have been feeling overwhelmed with my promise to post pictures with my recipes more often! While I generally take plenty of pics, I am reallllly lazy about uploading them, for some reason. Anyhoo, what better way to start off than with a recipe that I will be making until I run out of Lizano sauce.
At the beginning of January, Ryan and I whisked ourselves off for our long overdue Costa Rican adventure. I'd been promising myself a trip sine I first graduated with my Bachelor's way back in 2005. At the time, I was single (and much more financially unstable). The thought of traveling alone royally freaked me out! When I received my Master's in 2010, I was in a long term relationship and made the decision (for us both) to take that trip! Look how pretty:
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| Waterfall near Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica |
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| Me and the boy climbing around the lava rocks at the Arenal Volcano |
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| Waterfall near Monteverde Cloud Reserve |
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| Sunset in Manuel Antonio |
See? I told you! Anyhow... about 2 weeks after we got back, I decided to make Gallo Pinto from scratch. Gallo Pinto is what Costa Ricans typically eat for breakfast, often with eggs, and it is really simply beans & rice sauteed together with onions, cilantro, and spices/sauce. I bought a bag of black beans and made a whole batch of it in my new 7 qt crock pot:
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| My new crock pot in action! |
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| Steamy black beans, finished product |
Now I have a few ziplocs full of plain black beans just waiting for me in the freezer! No salt added! Anyways, here's the recipe I used, from a random website I found by searching google... I think you could potentially use worcestershire sauce in place of the Lizano, though their flavors are a bit different.
Gallo Pinto (4 servings, 165 Cal per serving)
Ingredients
1 cup of rice, cooked in chicken stock instead of water (we stuck with good ol' white, since that's what they used in CR)
1 cup of cooked beans with a bit of the bean liquid for color and flavor (it was ALWAYS black beans in CR)
1 chopped onion (small)
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 bunch chopped cilantro
4 Tbsp Salsa Lizano (can useWorcestershire sauce but don’t expect the same taste!)
Pinch of black pepper
How to prepare
1. Fry onion, garlic, and cilantro in the oil for about 3 minutes.
2. Pour in the beans and add the Lizano sauce and black pepper. Let it cook for a few minutes, but don’t let it dry out.
3. Pour in the cooked rice and mix it with the beans.
We served ours alongside scrambled eggs and a sliced papaya (I know, I know... it was from Chile, but it really added to the Costa Rican ambiance!):
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| My version at home in Cali |
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| Gallo Pinto and scrambled egg breakfast in Monteverde |
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| It was served with coffee, juice, pineapple, watermelon, and papaya |
