Foods of Uruguay, Part 2

Chivito and Papas Fritas - Chivito is a national dish of Uruguay, usually served as a sandwich, with a side of french fries.

It contains beef, ham, bacon, mozzarella cheese, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, peppers and lettuce.

Alcito is enjoying his Chivito meal here, on the first day of the trip, during our orientation week in Montevideo. It was one of his favorite Uruguayan dishes.

    

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Beef is the most common dish in Uruguay but due it's Atlantic coast, there is quite a bit of seafood too.

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Flan is a typical dessert in many Spanish-speaking countries. It's an egg custard type of pudding.

In Uruguay, it's often served with Dulce de Leche, a caramel type sweet. It has the consistency of nutella and is very common.

The students at school have a mid-morning snack of dulce de leche spread on bread.






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Beef, beef, beef everywhere. Here Alcito is eating some meat with Maestra Ana and me.

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¡POSTRES! ~~ DESSERTS!

  Breakfast buffet in Montevideo, including an apple tart.

Ice cream sundae dessert

Alcito was invited to a birthday party in Pan de Azúcar, Uruguay, and this was one of the cakes.

These round cookies are very popular. They are called OJITOS and the center is filled with quince or dulce de leche. Can you figure out why they are called Ojitos?? (hint: el ojo = eye)

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Almost every single house has an asador, a bar-b-que type pit for roasting meat, usually beef but sometimes chicken.

You can see the asador at the end of the small building, with the chimney. This building is on our school grounds, right near where the children have recess. She said they have "asados", a special grilled meat bar-b-que gathering, at school, for special celebrations, fundraisers or just for fun.

This is an asado that Ana's family prepared for me on my first day at her house in Pan de Azúcar. The beef is from her own cattle. She and her family have a shared family house in the Uruguay countryside and her brother tends the animals.

 

This melted mozzarella dish was one of my favorites! The cheese is placed in a cast iron skillet, covered with herbs and drizzled with olive oil, then put on the asador, as in the photo above.

It's served with bread and it's a delicious appetizer.

Homemade paella on the asador at Ana's house. Her sister prepared this big pan of paella for the Pan de Azúcar Lion's Club dinner that we attended.

This was a cool squash that was a typical ingredient for the students' lunch at Ana's school. Here I am in the school kitchen. 

School meals are home-cooked every day. There are about 140 students in Ana's school. Lunch is provided for all students (and teachers) in all Uruguayan schools; students do not have lunch accounts or pay for lunch. It's funded by the national education budget to assure that all students have access to a healthy meal.

Somewhat related, every school has a weekly visit from the Policlínica, a federally-funded health clinic built into a coach bus. All students have free medical / dental care available once a week.