Popping over to Panama - sun, sea, and plenty of seafood

A couple of weeks ago, in an impromptu midweek holiday,  I was very lucky to nab some time off work, along with some flights to Panama. Headed over to meet up with a friend, Panama lies just an hour's plane ride away from Colombia. Home to a buzzing capital and some absolutely beautiful beaches, I couldn't wait to see what Colombia's next door neighbor had to offer.

Hello Panama City!

Panama city itself is a real melting pot of races, and food wise this means there are cuisines from all corners of the globe. In my brief stay in the city, I munched on some New York bagels for breakfast, a traditional Panamanian plate for lunch, and enjoyed a cracking Italian pizza for dinner. Not bad for a days work! 

Moving away from the city, on my second day we made a short trip to the Caribbean side of the country and headed to an island called Isla Grande. The change from the cosmopolitan city to the completely tropical Caribbean was amazing to see. Landscapes shifted from high-rise apartment blocks to completely green hillsides and a gorgeous clear sea. The food was just a spectacular as the view, something I discovered when we headed for lunch to the classic spot Restaurante Adriana, frequented by lots of surfers who head to the island. The menu was simple and consisted of the day's freshest catches..luckily for me, this happened to include lobster. My order was not a difficult one!

Living that lobster lifesyle

Langostino al ajillo (lobster in a garlic sauce) came accompanied by arroz con coco (coconut rice), a salad and the typical patacones (fried plantain rounds). Simple, fresh, and completely delicious, I devoured every last bite on my plate. The lobster was so flavorsome and had the absolutely perfect texture. I was determined to get the recipe for the ever-so-simple yet truely incredible garlic garnish, but I was told by the owner Adriana that "es un secreto" (it's a secret). Despite being able to guess it's main components (garlic, parsley, onion), part of me thinks no matter how hard I'd try it would never turn out half as good - probably best it stays a secret in Isla Grande!

The famous Restaurante Adriana, where the owner shares no secrets...

Leaving the Caribbean it was by no means goodbye to the beach, as the next day we set off for the Pacific side, to a beach called Playa Venao. After a long 5-hour car journey over there, it was lunchtime - again! Stopping off in the nearby town Pedasi to eat, you can guess what was on the menu, and after claiming I fancied chicken, I quickly looked around, saw the sea, and laughed at myself. Chicken in the city? Sure thing. Right next to the sea with some of the freshest fish and seafood in the country? Well...probably order yourself a fish dish then!

Getting stuck into some clams

We went all out and even ordered a starter of almejas (clams) in broth. A really tasty dish, these clams came in a dark, salty sauce, and were the perfect thing to whet our appetite. And then came the main attraction - pulpo a la criolla, or squid in a tomato sauce.

Pulpo a la criolla, served with yucca fries

The squid came with an option of rice, patacones, or fried yucca. I opted for the yucca, as I absolutely love the stuff. If you've never tried it I highly recommend you do. Like potato, it's a starchy root vegetable with an almost sweet flavor. Served like this, as chunky chips, they are divine and a great side to mop up the tomato-y sauce. Yet another successful almuerzo down, we headed off to the beach.

A few more days of sun, sea and seafood and it was soon time to head home. I really fell in love with Panama and everything I was able to see of it. The city had a cool vibe, with lots going on, and the beaches and coast were some of the most beautiful I've seen. With it being so close to Colombia, I definitely want to head back at some point and explore a bit more.

Panama...I'll be back! Hasta la proxima...

Cooking for an (enormous) crowd

Colombia is a country of contrasts. Hot caribbean beaches, deep, dense jungles and cold, steep mountain ranges. African-influenced music such as champeta next to the indigenous music bambucco, with some modern day reggaeton thrown in the mix too. While these are differences to be celebrated, Colombia also possesses less desirable contrasts, such as the stark comparison between the rich and the poor.

Thankfully, there are many charities within the country working to help change the situation of millions of families who live in poverty. One such organisation is TECHO, who work to provide emergency housing for families living in sub-standard housing conditions.

I've already written about some of the work I have done with TECHO here, and my most recent experience was being in charge of the feeding of 80 hungry volunteers during a weekend of construction with four families in Puerto Colombia, down by the beach here in Barranquilla.

I had to provide two breakfasts and one dinner, and my job involved planning the menu, managing the budget, buying the food and of course...cooking it all too! Another volunteer and I worked together to achieve this mammoth task and came up with a menu of well-loved Colombian classics, two of which I'll share with you all today.

The breakfast on the first day was huevos pericos served alongside bread rolls. This is a classic Colombian breakfast dish, and is a quick, easy and nourishing brekkie that is just a tad more exciting than your everyday scrambled eggs recipe.

Here's my huevos pericos for 80...follow to the recipe to recreate for a smaller crowd!

Spice up your scrambled eggs with the recipe here below!

 Huevos Pericos (serves 4)

6 eggs
3 finely chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil (replace one of these with butter if you like your eggs a bit richer)
2 strands of spring onion, finely chopped
Salt to taste

1) Add in oil (and butter if using) to the pan while it heats up. Once the pan is warm, add in chopped onions and watch and stir until the start they change colour.

2) Add in chopped tomatoes with a good pinch of salt. Stir around with onions for about 5 minutes, until tomatoes are looking cooked but not mushy.

3) Now crack eggs straight into the pan and mix around, and when starting to scramble turn off heat. Stir around a bit more, but don't let them dry up - runny eggs are best! This can be served with some chopped coriander stirred through, or sprinkled on top.

Breakfast on the second day was a very traditional dish called cayeye - steamed guineos (smaller, green plantains) mashed up with butter, salt and cheese. Added suero (a kind of sour cream) is optional, indulgent, and completely recommended! Sadly, in the sheer mayhem of boiling 80 bananas and grating over 5 kilograms of cheese (all before 5:30 am this is), I forgot to take any pictures. So you'll just have to trust me when I say this is one breakfast dish you should try!

Ingredients for Cayeye - photo credit not my own, taken from food catering company aldimark

Breakfasts done, what's for dinner? The much-loved Colombian dish Arroz con Pollo (chicken and rice).  Tackling such a classic dish, I did my research talking to various mums/grandmas/cleaners and cooks in order to get their top tips. Everyone has their own little tricks for making this dish, and here is a compilation of those pearls of wisdom to help you try your hand at this classic Colombian eat.

Arroz con Pollo (serves 4)

-250 g (1 cup) of white rice
-Stock cube of chicken stock
-3 cloves on garlic, chopped
-A fair bit of salt (various pinches, we will say)
-Trisazon spice (now I doubt this is hanging around in Tesco. It's basically a mix of cumin, garlic, paprika and red colouring. Use these 4 and you should be good!)
-1 teaspoon tomato puree
-3 carrots, grated
-Half a bunch of coriander, chopped, with some leaves reserved for serving
-1 green pepper, cut into small cubes
-1 red pepper, cut into small cubes
-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
-1 large onion, finely chopped
-2 chicken breasts

1) First cook the chicken. Place breasts in a pot with the first 3 chopped cloves of garlic, the stock cube, and cover with water until all of the chicken is submerged. Boil for about 30 minutes until the breasts are cooked through, and remove chicken to cool on a plate but reserve this chicken stock (you will use it to cook your rice).
2) Now, in the water you cooked the chicken in, you're going to cook your rice, adding in the grated carrot for colour. Make sure there is exactly twice as much water as you have rice - if you haven't got enough chickeny water for your rice, add in more plain water. Likewise, if you've too much water, drain some out. Simple!
3) While the rice is cooking, shred your chicken breasts with two forks. Save aside, and crack on with the veg.
4) Cook onion until it starts to take a golden colour, and then add in peppers. Add salt and spices and garlic. Cook for another 5 minutes, and then add in tomato puree, again for colour. Add in shredded chicken, chopped coriander and give a good stir for about 1-2 minutes.
5) Checking your rice is nice and cooked (about 20-25 mins), it's time to mix it all up! Add cooked chicken and veg to rice, stir it all up and taste. A bit pale looking? Try a squirt of tomato ketchup! Not feeling flavoursome enough? Add some more spices. Serve with a sprinkle of fresh coriander, and enjoy.

Arroz con pollo is a great feed-a-crowd dish, and if I managed it for 80, this recipe for four should be a breeze!

8 dishes down, 72 to go..

Overall, the weekend was a tough, long but unforgettable experience. It was my third time participating in a construction with TECHO, and it never ceases to amaze me how in just two days the lives of families can be transformed so positively. So after you've hit the kitchen to cook up these two Colombian classics, please also take the time to read up about TECHO and the work it does across Latin America.

Until next time, where BidmeadBites takes a brief holiday away...stay tuned to find out where to!

Exotic fruits and glorious juice

Fruit here in Colombia is really quite something.  Lulo, nispero, zapote, granadllia, uchuva...ring any bells? These are just some of the new fruits I've discovered during my time here.

Sliced up and eaten as snacks, served as toppings for breakfast or as parts of delicious desserts, the sheer variety of fruit here means there is no excuse not to be filling up on these vitamin-rich, natural sweet treats. Or, why not drink up the wonderful array of fruits at one of the various fruteras around the city?

Just check out the frito selection here at Los Compadres. No fruit or veg to be seen, but that's where the juices come in!

Fruteras here sell not only delicious juices, but also offer up those tasty and much loved fritos. Empandas, carimañolas, deditos, arepas, patacones...essentially just an awful lot of very delicious (and very beige) food. Here is a quick rundown of some of my favourite fruteras so far.

Frutera Los Compadres (Calle 74 entre Carreras 46 y 47)

Los Compadres sauce collection - gucamole, garlic, various chilli sauces : they've got it all. 

Perhaps one of the most famous fruteras in Barranquilla, Los Compadres has a firm fan following, and is visited as much by busy workers in the morning as it is by tired and tipsy party goers at night. The range of fritos is immense, and I'm slowly working my way through them all. I also like that here you can buy portions of flavoured rice, which invariably come with either meat or chicken.

Frutera El Compadre (Calle 79 y Calle 76)

When my sister came to visit, I felt it only right to introduce her to the wonders of fruteras, and so together we headed to El Compadre, another famous spot in the city. I opted for some meat empanadas and she went for the classic dedito (cheese finger) and a little baked spinach pastry. We washed down our snacks with some delicious and exotic juices en leche (with milk). The brown juice is nispero, which has a distinctly nutty flavour, and the pink juice is zapote, which I believe tastes like a mix between carrot and strawberry...but really it's unlike anything else I've tried before!

Zapote juice (left), nispero juice (right), with my sister's veggie goods on the left and my meat-filled goodness on the right.

Frutera Fruticao (Calle 93 Carrera 49c)

And I remember the days when freshly squeezed orange juice seemed like a treat!

A lot of fruteras prepare their juices in advance to have them ready for order, but at Frutticao they make them as you order, meaning you can skip the enthusiastic servings of extra sugar often added. You also have the option of different types of milk (they haven't quite reached the soya option yet, but skimmed is on offer). Serving only a few fritos, this place is really all about the juice, and as you can see from the list below - there's quite the selection to choose from.

Fruteras are the perfect place to stop for a quick juice and bite to eat, at all hours of the day. I continue on the quest to find the best spot in the city, although mixed opinions may have me searching a long time!

Enough fritos, give me that green

Colombian food, while delicious, could hardly be praised for its health giving properties. I love myself some deep fried fish and plantain as much as the next person, but it's definitely not food to be eaten every day. And for those days when I'm feeling a little greener than others, Barranquilla has a surprisingly wide range of healthy-eat places to choose from.

A delicious bali salad bowl, with cabbage, beansprouts, grated carrot and onion, shredded chicken breat, served in a burrito bowl, next to a very refreshing carrot and ginger juice.

Gokela (Calle 84 Cra 55) is a chain with restaurants in Cartagena and Bogota, and thankfully has also touched down in Barranquilla. Almost like a healthier Subway but with far more options, it offers sandwiches, wraps, salads, rice bowls (like this delicious one pictured above), as well as healthy sweet treats and a great range of juices.

Healthy pancakes topped with peanut butter and strawberry

Basil ( 51B#82-100 Palmas Mall) describes itself as a 'gourmet healthy restaurant', and also has its own health food store attached. Offering dishes such as ceviche, quinoa sushi and protein 'cake', it caters to the health-conscious Colombian while also providing interesting and flavoursome dishes. I went with a friend for breakfast and chose these cracking pancakes made with oat and coconut flour mixed with chia seeds, and I topped them with peanut butter and strawberries. A great combo and a brilliant way to start the day.

My green energy juice. Like a coffee, just a bit green

Aswell as an incredible array of fruit juices, in Barranquilla you can also grab some great green veggie juices, found at Freshii (Carrera 53 # 76-279). This was a ‘green energy' juice: apple, cucumber, lime, carrot, lettuce and spinach. Refreshing, full of goodness and a nice change from the quite often overly sweet fruit juices found here. Their menu also has great vegetarian and gluten-free food, and you can get good offers on selected dishes of the day, costing under 10,000 pesos.

Eating healthily, you'll live longer...good thing chocolate and sweets are all part of a balanced diet! 

With all this healthy food around, Barranquilla proves itself to be the best of both worlds. A great place to enjoy the best of typical costeño food, you can also get your veggie/health food fare whenever you want it. So have your tres leches cake and eat it, with a bit of healthy green on the side.

Pan-fried fish with mango salsa and courgette noodles - 20 minute meal

With a day off work and time on my hands, I decided to get creative in the kitchen. I wanted to make something quick, healthy and of course - it needed to be tasty too! I came up with a pan-fried fish dish with a mango, lime and ginger salsa, served alongside "zoodles" (courgette noodles) and avocado. I used mojarra, which is a very common fish here on the Caribbean coast, although any white fish fillet would do.

To make this quick and tasty dish, you will need:

1 fillet of mojarra (or any white fish you have to hand)
1 courgette
Salt, pepper and a touch of dried chilli
1 avocado

For the salsa:
Half a mango, cut into small cubes
1 quarter of red onion
A thumbnail of ginger, grated finely
Juice of one small lime
1 tbsp of soy sauce
Dash of fish sauce

Method:
1) Start by making the salsa. Combine all the salsa ingredients in a blender, food processor or small electronic food chopper. Blend until smooth - if a little thick, add in water until any lumps have disappeared.

Uncooked zoodles

2) Now get onto the zoodles. Cut courgette lengthways in half (for easier grating) and grate in long strokes to get spaghetti-like strands. Mix in generous seasonings of salt, pepper and a touch of dried chilli. Leave to one side.
3) Place some oil in a pan and heat gently, and now lightly pan fry fish until cooked through.
4) Place fish on plate, and in the same pan throw in zoodles. These need a very brief cooking - literally 1-2 minutes.
5) Place zoodles alongside fish, top with slices of avocado, and top fish with salsa.

A quick, delicious and healthy lunch, in under 20 minutes!

And there you have it. Jamie Oliver eat your heart out - try this Bidmead version of a quick 20 minute meal, and enjoy a tropical taste of the Caribbean coast wherever you are.

Travel BidmeadBites (Part 2)

Picking up where I left off, the Bidmead sisters travels around Colombia continued, as did my culinary adventures - kicking off with chontaduro in Cali. Eaten with honey and salt, the taste of this fruit resembles (as my sister so correctly noted)...baked beans.

Chontaduro - or a can of beans?

I happen to love baked beans, and therefore these went down quite well. However, eating what proclaims to be fruit while visualising beans on toast makes for a slightly odd attack on the senses. Still, the caleños love the stuff and I guess I did too!

In Colombia, carne reigns king. Baring in mind my sister is a veggie, headed to a restaurant serving typical caleño food (which happens to be particularly meat-centric), her options were limited to say the least. She could eat one thing on the whole menu of about 30 options, which was aborrajados (fried plantains with cheese). Did I feel bad?

Don't know about my sister, but I certainly wasn't going hungry! 

Clearly I had other things to preoccupy me, like this chuleta de pollo (breaded marinated chicken breast). I should mention this portion was to share with a friend, alongside another dish of lengua en salsa (tongue in tomato sauce). For those of you who are now squeeming - tongue is a delicious, tender and flavoursome cut of meat, which I urge you to try!

Champús...a no no for me.

Moving on to something a bit lighter, champús is a sweet drink prepared with the Colombian fruit lulo, orange, pineapple, dark sugar and...corn. It sounded good until the corn bit right? Despite its popularity in Cali, this drink was just not for me. Next time, I'll be keeping the corn on the cob and the fruit for the juice.

As our time in Cali came to a close we headed to Palomino, a small beach town on the Carribean coast, two hours from Santa Marta. Being back by the beach meant it was time for some fish. The great thing about fish in Colombia is the variety, and the option of lots of fish not found in England. This fish below is corvina, found mainly on the Pacific coast, and other tasty Colombian fishes include mojarra and lebranche, found more commonly on the Atlantic coast.

Corvina, rice, beans, yucca and salad

Leaving Palomino we skipped along the coast to my new-found home Barranquilla, and I was determined to show my sister the best of my city. It couldn't get more barranquillero than dinner in Cucayo. From the bright colours, old-fashioned signs and various adornments on the walls, it screams Barranquilla from the inside out.

Soaking up the colours and cuisine in Cucayo

The food itself is also a tribute to all things costeño: traditional snacks such as matrimono, butifarra and various fritos feature, as well as typical sancochos (soups) and picadas (mixed plates). Me and my sister opted for sancochos (soups), mine of gallina (hen) while hers was a cazuela de mariscos (creamy seafood soup).

Cazuela de Mariscos, with coconut rice and avocado

Overall it was a great dining experience and a perfect place for my sister to get a feel of what Barranquilla is all about.

Some of the gorgeous cupcakes in Nancy Cabrera

Cucayo is owned by Nancy Cabrera, who is perhaps most famous for her cakes here in Barranquilla - queue a visit to her namesake cafe. Nancy Cabrera's reknowned trufa de chocolate is the crown jewel of many delicious sweet treats, so naturally me and my sister felt obliged to see what the all the fuss was about.

The famous trufa de chocolate (chocolate cake)

It was really quite the cake. Rich but not overly so, moist but not soggy, this chocolate cake has earnt its reputation. Me and my sister were big fans, and I will definitely be returning to sample the very beautiful looking cupcakes (nutella sounded particularly good).

Who knows what came over me, but even I ordered a veggie meal!

From savoury to sweet, and onto a sad but inevitable end to the holiday. For our last night, we headed to Arabe Gourmet, a highly recommended arabic restaurant. The menu was excellent, and despite tempting carnivorous options such as marmaón (israeli cous-cous with shredded meat or chicken) and arroz de almendras (rice with almonds, mince meat, chicken and spices), we ordered two vegetarian platters, which were a feast of falafel, hummus, tabuleh, babaganous, fattoush salad and stuffed aubergine.

Just like the aubergines we had consumed, we left stuffed, and very satisfied. I bid farewell to my sister the next day as I headed back to work, feeling rested and ready to get back to my life here on the coast. 6 months in and I've got plenty more eating (and cooking) to do here, so stayed tuned for the next post from Bidmead Bites!

Travel BidmeadBites (Part 1)

After a wonderful trip back home for Christmas, I hit the road and headed back to Colombia with my sister in-tow. Currently writing this post from the salsa capital that is Cali, here is a brief rundown of some of our culinary conquests so far.

We started off in Bogota, the countries capital, and the home of wonderful dishes such as ajiaco. As I've already eaten ajiaco several times, and even having made it myself, I was tempted by the more unusual bogotano foods, such as milk soup with a poached egg in it, known as changua.

My bowl of changua, and mixed emotions on it.

Traditionally eaten for breakfast, I have to say it was an odd morning mealtime experience for me. The bowl of milk made me feel I was about to eat cereal, but the poached egg evoked desires of toast and bacon. Next time, I might stick to porridge.

My love of meat and all things offal is well documented, and may even verge on excessive. However, my wonderful sister Anna avoids eating our furry friends altogether. While this may raise doubts about whether we really are even related, luckily she eats fish, which meant our stay in the Caribbean island of San Andrés was stress free, as we found ourselves in seafood heaven.

Lobster, chips, patacones and salad. And two very, very happy Bidmeads. 

Bring on this enormous lobster to share, cooked al ajillo (with garlic), on the idyllic island of Johnny Key, a 20-minute boat ride from San Andrés.

For comedy value, I'll include our New Year's Eve dinner in here. After having searched in vain for a fancy joint to enjoy our last meal of the year at (reservations, it turns out, may have been needed), we warmed up for the fiesta in no place other than the island's answer to KFC - KikiRiki, the local chicken shop.

.And there is my gorgeous pescetarian of a sister, wondering which is her fried fish, and which is my fried chicken. Bless her soul.

After much drinking, dancing, and general merriment on New Year's Eve, it's fair the say we weren't feeling our freshest the following day. Not to worry, as fresh ceviche from the seafood shack on the beach was there to nurse us back to normality - beats an English fry-up any day.

Accompanied by the countries best loved crackers, saltines.

Much like with the changua in Bogota, often there will be dishes I am told are traditional to a place, and no matter how weird they may be, my constant desire to sample new cuisines pushes me to try them.

Did I like it? Let me get back to you on that.

Introducing Stew Crab with breadfruit. It may look like pulled pork, but this here is pretty much every part of the crab meat, stewed up. While I didn't dislike it, it wasn't quite what I had in mind, and it's slightly gritty texture was slightly off-putting. Still, glad to have tried some local cuisine before we left the island, we said goodbye to San Andrés and headed down to Cartagena.

I've already done a blog post on Cartagena, and what was now my third-trip to this wonderful colonial city provided even more great food to try.

If it were any fresher I'd have to have caught it myself.

This mixed seafood platter was perhaps my favourite meal of the whole trip so far. Eaten in the sun, with an ice-cold beer, on a boat we were sharing with friends, I took a moment to reflect. This seafood came directly from the sea onto our plate, and with food this fresh, nothing else is needed. A touch of garlic and sprinkle of salt was enough. Sometimes, it´s the simple things that are best. And that is a thought that could be applied to many things, inside and out of the kitchen.

On that note I leave you, as the salsa clubs of Cali wait for no women, not even the Bidmead sisters. Stay tuned for Part Two of this post, where I will write up what comida Cali has had to offer, along with my beloved Barranquilla, and one last trip down the coast.

Check out my Instagram @bidmeadbites for daily updates on what local treats I'm trying, all under the hashtag #travelbidmeadbites.

Eve and Anna climb a church somewhere in San Andrés...until next time!