Laylita’s recipes

I love any type of pinchos – what we call kebabs or skewers in Ecuador- doesn’t matter if they have meat, seafood, vegetables or fruits, I just love putting something on a stick and grilling it. One of the restaurant/bars that I miss the most in my hometown of Loja serves amazing pinchos – I dream about them – so, I am so excited and happy to be going back to Ecuador for a visit at the end of April, it has been way too long since the last time I was there – almost 5 years – and I have so many things I want to eat and cook while I am there, my goal is to be a culinary tourist (and also to see my family and friends, do some hiking and beach visiting - as long as it involves food being consumed). My brother (the lucky bastard) travels to Ecuador at least once a year and stays for a few months each time, every time he goes I email him a long list of things to do for me – mainly involving taking photos of food and obtaining recipes, as well as requests for local cookbooks, certain kitchen gadgets and coffee/food products from my mom, well he manages to spend all his time partying and returns with about 5 blurry pictures completely unrelated to my requests(and the excuse that his camera broke and he only got it fixed the last week he was there), but he does manage to bring me back some coffee each time (probably because my mom takes care of that). So, I am going to make a huge list of all the things I want to eat (and photograph), of all the places I want to go visit (restaurants, bakeries, markets, farms), of all the things I want my mom to teach me how to make (her homemade bread, chocolate cake, enchiladas) and all the recipes I want the mothers of my friends to show me how to cook. I’ve already realized that two weeks is not long enough to do everything I want, so I’m starting to prioritize and narrow down what I will be doing and where I will be going, but as long as I can survive the flight with all the gazillion connections to get from Seattle to Quito (and traveling with an impatient grouchy three year old) everything will be fine and I will finally be able to stuff myself with the pinchos – and all the other food – I’ve been dreaming about.

Making a good pincho has two important parts: first, a good seasoning mix, and second, a great sauce to go with the pincho. For the seasoning mix I used a combination of cumin, paprika, lemon pepper, garlic powder and dried oregano, next I rubbed the tuna with some olive oil and this mix. I needed something to add at the tip of each skewer and was going to use cherry tomatoes but instead used some kumquats, which actually turned out really well; the grilled kumquats are great with the tuna. For the anchovy and herb salsa, I used some parsley, cilantro, arugula, thyme, anchovies, red onion, garlic, lime juice and olive oil; I would have also added some basil if it was summer but I hate buying basil in the winter (it just looks so sad). I know that anchovies are one of those ingredients that are on many people’s hate list, they used to be on mine until a few years ago; if you are thinking about learning to like them this sauce is perfect because the taste of anchovy is very mild (you can add more if you want it stronger) and the strong fishiness is softened by the herbs and lime. This green salsa is a great sauce to accompany any type of seafood; it works very well with baked salmon as well as grilled shrimp skewers. You can prepare this tuna skewers as part of a full meal or also make them smaller and serve them as appetizers with the sauce. This recipe yields 4 pinchos.

Ingredients:

Tuna skewers

1 ½ lb fresh tuna, cubed

2 tbs olive oil

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp lemon pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp salt

4 kumquats

Red onion pieces

Anchovy and herb salsa verde

1 bunch parsley, leaves only – no stems

1 bunch cilantro, leaves and small stems only

1 bunch or 1 cup of arugula leaves

3-4 fresh thyme sprigs

1 oz anchovies, about 5-6 filets

¼ red onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

Juice of 1 large lime

½ cup olive oil

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat your grill.
2. To make the salsa verde combine all of the ingredients a blender and mix until you obtain a smooth sauce.
3. Mix the cumin, paprika, lemon pepper, garlic powder, dried oregano and salt in a small dish.
4. Rub the tuna cubes with olive oil and the seasoning mix.
5. Place the tuna cubes on the skewers, placing a piece of red onion in between each piece of fish; add a kumquat on the end of each skewer.
6. Grill the tuna pinchos or kebabs, exact time will vary depending on your grill, but tuna cooks very quickly and should be ready very quickly.
7. Serve the pinchos with the anchovy and herb salsa verde.

Other recipes you might like:

Carne en palito or meat on a stick

Grilled salmon with avocado salsa

Grilled sturgeon with lime cilantro sauce

Grilled asparagus with parsley sauce

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