So I’m jumping on the Wanderfood Wednesday bandwagon because my thoughts have been consumed by goat cheese, roasted red pepper, and kalamata olive mac & cheese. The recipe (and photo above) are from Kevin Lynch’s blog, Closet Cooking (the blog name doesn’t refer to secretive culinary arts but rather to the size of Kevin’s kitchen).
Closet Cooking comes up often when I’m foraging the interwebs for recipes. I admire Lynch’s resourcefulness. And I, too, am usually penned up in kitchens reminiscent of elevators. This communal kitchen I’m sharing in Costa Rica is downright roomy and organized compared with others I’ve enjoyed stateside.
I lived with a Costa Rican host family in September, while I was sitting in on a Spanish class. In the photo above, you can see my host dad, Ronald, giving me a vocab quiz after a trip to the féria or farmers market in San Rafael de Heredia.
Their kitchen is spacious, with a much-used island and many windows. While I felt that I was welcome to cook there, I had no reason to. My host mom is a dynamite cook.
Now I’m living on my school’s campus. We have “family dinners” some Sundays with the staff. I invited my Tico host family up for our most recent one. After some soul and internet searching, I decided on a theme of comfort food. I baked some cornbread, made a Moosewood slaw recipe, bought some gelato for dessert (I often lame out on dessert).
The above baked mac & cheese was the heart of the meal. I learned that one guest did not much care for olives, even expensive ones, so I left one section of the dish olive-free (a zone demarcated, of course, by a dotted line of olive slivers).
I even roasted fresh red peppers in the toaster oven instead of buying them in much pricier jar. Lynch includes a tutorial on his blog. It’s so easy! And the roasting smells so good! I’m embarrassed that I’ve been paying for someone else to do this for me. Life changed!
Meanwhile, at family dinner, Ticos and gringos tucked into the food. When my 14-year-old host brother took a second scoop of the mac & cheese, I knew I’d picked a winner.