Pan Con Chumpe (Salvadorean Turkey Sandwich)

This incredibly delicious turkey sandwich is a traditional Salvadorean meal. My family came to the USA in 1979 and we did not have the tradition of cooking turkey for Thanksgiving. As a matter of fact, we didn't even know what Thanksgiving was until we started hearing about it from our schools and neighbors. However, like all migrant families we tried our best to assimilate and start to bring in American holidays mixed in with what we knew.  My mother, especially, tried to make American holiday meals mixed in with things she knew how to cook from El Salvador. This included Thanksgiving where the closest thing to American turkey was Pan Con Chumpe, which translates to turkey sandwich. In El Salvador there are restaurants that make this delicious sandwich and I remember going to them as a kid. It was quite the treat but nobody makes Pan Con Chumpe as good as my mom does. Do you hear that Bobby Flay...are you ready for a throwdown? Her sauce, everyone in our family agrees, is just extra special.

I suppose you are wondering what in the world I am saying when I say "Pan Con Chumpe?" Try to translate that on an online translator and let's just say good luck with that. We call the turkey sandwich "Pan Con Chumpe" because chumpe means pavo which is turkey in English. I am not really sure the origin of the word "chumpe" but my mother's best guess is that it originated from mixing the indigenous ethnic groups (the Mayans and Pipils) language with Spanish from Spain. Whatever its origin is it certainly is fun to say. Try it Ch-um-pe with a short e like saying turkey without the "y". You will see my kids having fun saying chumpe in our video below. Hope y'all enjoy our version of Thanksgiving turkey. By the way, the turkey I am making in this video is only a turkey breast. You can do it with a whole turkey, you just need to size up the amounts to make enough sauce. Also for the moms out there with picky eaters, like mine, I wanted to add that my kids love Pan Con Chumpe!



Ingredients for marinating the turkey:

• A Turkey Breast medium size
• Dijon mustard
• White wine 
• 3 crushed garlic cloves

Ingredients for the sauce:

• 2 boiled fresh tomatoes without the skin
• 1 large onions cut in slices- cooked on a pan just until it is soft
• 1 green peppers cute in slices - cooked on a pan just until it is soft
• Prunes - optional used only if the sauce is to bitter
• Spanish green olives
• Capers
• Fresh crushed garlic
• Salt and pepper 

Ingredients For The Spices Of The Sauce: (see buying the ingredients video)
For these ingredients I suggest you look in the Latin or ethnic food section of your supermarket. Ask someone if you can't find them, but more than likely they carry them. Goya packages all these ingredients. We lightly toast all of these before we grind them.

• sesame seeds
• roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 1 chile ancho
• bay leaves
• achote

Directions: 

1. The night before prepare the turkey breast by removing the giblets (if it has them). Wash the turkey well with cold water and defrost if needed. If your turkey was frozen be sure it is completely thawed before you cook it. Make holes with a knife into the turkey so the mixture you will adding penetrates the inside. Season the inside and outside of the bird with the mustard, garlic and wine. Spread the mixture all over the outside of the turkey and put a few crushed garlic cloves inside the turkey. Refrigerate covered overnight. When you are ready to make the turkey remove it from the refrigerator until it becomes room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F and set the turkey in  a large roasting pan with a few celery stacks below it, onions and mushrooms around it.
3. Mix all the dry ingredients for the spices and lightly toast them in a non stick pan. Then blend them in a food processor until they are a thick powder (we make these the day before since it makes it easier).
4. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce into a blender then add the spice powder. Adjust salt and pepper to desired taste. If the sauce isn't enough you can add a can of tomatoes sauce. Just be careful to taste it so its not bitter. If the sauce is a little bitter add some prunes.
5. Add some white wine to the turkey along with mushrooms and onions around it.
6. Add the blended sauce to the turkey. Try to cover as much as you can of the breast with it.
7. Roast the turkey breast for about 1 hour covered. You can use aluminum foil if your pan doesn't have a lid. 
8. In about an hour take the turkey out and baste the turkey with any juices that have formed in the pan. Remove the lid and cook for another hour.
9. The turkey is done when the temperature in the thickest part measures between 165°F and 175°F (use a meat thermometer) or the built in thermometer has popped.
10. Once the turkey is done it is time to assemble the sandwiches. It helps if the bread is toasted before you assemble your sandwiches. This will prevents it from falling apart due to the sauce. We like to use keiser, small french breads or hard chicago bread rolls. The bread should have a nice hard consistency so it doesn't fall apart.
11. We serve the turkey sandwiches stuffed with watercrest, radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, curtido in the bread rolls and top it off with the warm turkey sauce.
12. Be sure to pile on the condiments and hurry up eat it so it won't fall apart. Also be sure to have lots of napkins close by because it's sure to get messy while you say it's "esta delicioso!"

Grilled Chicken and Peaches

Tonight's dinner turned out to be a delicious surprise. I had peaches that were going ripe and I decided to grill them with the marinated chicken I was making. They turned out awesome when I served them as a side and ate them with the chicken. I highly recommend grilling any fruit especially if you feel you couldn't possibly eat it because it is to ripe. Enjoy!

Ingredients To Marinate The Chicken

• vinegar, like cider, balsamic, or red wine
• dried herbs, oregano, parsley, Italian seasoning
• garlic salt powder
• olive oil
• ground black pepper
• boneless, skinless chicken breast

Directions

Put the vinegar, herbs, olive oil in a large re-sealable plastic bag. Close the bag and shake to combine all the ingredients. Open the bag, drop in the chicken breast in the bag. Close and shake the bag to coat evenly. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight if chicken is frozen or for a few hours if you plan on making it right away. When you are ready to cook the chicken pound each one of them a little. This will make the chicken tender. Heat a grill or grill pan until cooked through.

Sides Dishes

• brown rice with olive oil
• cilantro and tomato chimichury (Chopped tomatoes, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, and onions)
• grilled peaches with a sprinkle of olive oil if desired (They are good with out it too, see picture.)
• salad (with your desired ingredients picture shows how I served it)
• grilled or boiled broccoli with a little olive oil
  

Dessert
Fresh strawberries and peaches topped with a little sugar in the raw







My little guy couldn't get enough of tonight's meal. He was licking the plate clean. : )

Fireworks Cupcakes

This simple and fun recipe is sure to be a big hit during your 4th of July celebrations. The following is the low fat version but you can follow the regular recipe in the back of the any yellow cake mix box. My kids call them explosively good and fat free! Enjoy!



Ingredients:

1 box of yellow cake mix
3 eggs whites
1/3 cup of all natural apple sauce
A few tables spoons of red sugar or red food coloring
White Frosting
Sparkle toothpicks (we picked them up at our local grocery store in the mixed drinks area)

Directions:

Blend the first 3 ingredients for about 2 minutes. Then add the red sugar or coloring with a spatula. My boys like the red sugar best since it leaves little streaks in the cake. Bake as directed on the back of your yellow cake mix box. Mix the frosting with the red and blue food coloring. Leave some frosting white. Decorate like flags by putting one stripe for each color. Add a little red sugar for the stars and top with the sparkle toothpick.

My Favorite Peach Pie

Today is Pi Day and I just posted about it on my Techy Mom's Blog so I thought it would be appropriate to post my favorite pie recipe too. Plus, being that we are seeing signs of spring I am celebrating the first buds on my peach tree. After 3 years of being in a pot it finally found a spot in my yard. I love to see the little blooms coming out since I know it will soon have beautiful pink flowers to show off. Plus, I can't wait to see how many peaches we have this year.

The best thing about pie is that it is so easy to make and has such few ingredients. This is one of my favorite recipes for making peach pie. On a day when I am limited with time I will use Pillsbury pre-made dough but there is nothing like making it at home. I use to love watching my mom make it and was always so impressed with how perfect her pie edges came out. For the record I can never make the edges as good as she did but its not about the edges its about the taste, right?

Ingredients:

CRUST

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (4 ounces) cold solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup ice water

FILLING

8 large, ripe but firm peaches (3 1/2 pounds) or you can use the canned well drained peaches
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, thinly sliced
Egg wash made with 1 egg yolk mixed with 2 tablespoons water

Directions:

PREPARE THE CRUST:
1. In a food processor, pulse the flour with the sugar and salt until combined. Add the butter and shortening and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and sprinkle the ice water on top. Stir with a fork until a crumbly dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead 2 or 3 times, just until the dough comes together. Cut the dough in half and form into 2 disks; wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes or overnight.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each disk of dough to a 12-inch round. Ease one of the rounds into a 9-inch glass pie plate and transfer the other round to a baking sheet. Refrigerate the dough.

3. Or if you have pre-made the pie crust you could remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle some flour on top of the disk. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12 inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, use a metal spatula to check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. Add a few sprinkles of flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Gently fold in half. Place on to a 9-inch pie plate, lining up the fold with the center of the pan. Gently unfold and press down to line the pie dish with the dough.

MAKE THE FILLING:
1. Preheat the oven to 400°.

2. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and fill a large bowl with ice water. Using a sharp knife, mark a shallow X in the bottom of each peach. Blanch the peaches in the boiling water for about 1 minute, until the skins begin to loosen. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the peaches to the ice water to cool. Drain and peel the peaches and cut them into 3/4-inch wedges. Transfer the peaches to a large bowl. Add the sugar, lemon juice and flour, toss well and let stand for 5 minutes.

3. Pour the peaches and their juices into the chilled pie shell and scatter the butter slices on top. Brush the edge of the pie shell with the egg wash and lay the round of dough from the baking sheet on top. Press the edges of the pie shell together to seal and trim the overhang to a 1/2 inch.

4. Fold the edge of the pie dough under itself and crimp decoratively. Brush the remaining egg wash on the top crust and cut a few slits for venting steam.

5. Transfer the pie to the oven and place a baking sheet in the bottom to catch any drips.

6. Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°, cover the edge of the pie with foil and bake for about 40 minutes longer, until the filling is bubbling and the crust is deeply golden on the top and bottom.

Notes:
Transfer the pie to a rack to cool completely. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Make Ahead:
The dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month and the peach pie can be stored overnight at room temperature.

Apple Pie Filling Variation:

You can also make this same pie crust recipe with the following Apple Pie filling.




Apple Pie Filling Ingredients

2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 pounds of 1/4-1/2 inch thick slices of peeled and cored good cooking apples such as Granny Smith, Pippin, Golden Delicious (see cooking apple varieties)
1 1/2 tablespoons brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Egg Wash
1 large egg yolk

Directions for Apple Filling: Combine sugar, flour and spices in large bowl. Use your hands and mix in the apples so they are well coated, then add brandy and vanilla extract. Pour the content into the crust and then brush with egg yolk.

Traditional Greek Pig

The Greeks eat pig during Christmas time after having fasted for 40 days without meat. It is a yearly celebration we really enjoy. Plus, it is an easy to make recipe because it has such few ingredients.



Ingredients

24 lbs. Pig - But you can order whatever size you would like from your local store butcher.
Salt
Pepper
Lemon
Olive Oil

Directions: Add lemon, pepper, olive oil to taste on the pig and then cook it covered for 5 or more hours at 365 degrees. You will know the pig is done when the meat is falling off the bone. Xronia Polla!

Listen to the full version of this song on my blip.fm channel.