Tasty Tourism-North America, Part III

 

(Continued...)
For after your meal, here is a nice dessert you can probably find in any Mexican restaurant or bakery:

Churros-makes 24

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 eggs

1 cup water

½ cup margarine

¼ tsp salt

¼ cup white sugar

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

2 quarts vegetable oil (for frying)

You will need: a deep fryer or skillet, a medium-sized pan and a pastry bag with a large star tip on it. The pastry bag and tip are the same as what you would use to ice a cake.

Heat 1 ½ inches of oil to 360° F in a deep fryer or heavy deep skillet. In a separate pan, mix water with margarine and bring to a boil. Add the flour and salt, reduce heat and stir briskly until it forms into a ball-usually about 1 minute. Remove from heat and beat in eggs one at a time Then, spoon it all into the pastry bag.

In the oil, squeeze out 3-4 strips of dough about 4 inches long. Fry for about two minutes each side, or until golden brown. Remove from oil, drain on paper towels. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together, roll each churro and set aside to cool.

Finally, to wash it all down:

Summer Fruit Smoothie

2 6-oz containers of fruit-flavored yogurt of your choice

1 cup cubed pineapple

1 cup cubed honeydew melon

2 bananas, chunked

½ cup orange juice (more if needed)

Optional:

1 cup cubed papaya

3 cups ice cubes

1 cup seedless grapes

Basically you'll put everything into a blender and puree until it's as smooth as you like. I'm also wondering if a dash of grenadine might add a nice kick?

As you can see, North America has no shortage of diversity when it comes to cuisine. The best thing about these recipes is that they can be adjusted to fit your taste, or just to make it your own. Some of the best recipes I've ever made came from tweaking something I found on the side of a box! Play around with these a bit and you'll find your own 'local flavor'.

If you are wondering why I did not include any recipes from the United States, it is because I have already written about them in other posts. I may do a 'tasty tourism' focusing on the different regions of our country, but things like the cornbread and chicken soup recipes tend to 'stretch across'. 

Enjoy!