lorax

Fanesca is a deliciously artery-clogging Ecuadorean dish that is only served at Easter. It is a cream soup based on pumpkin and Bacalao (salt cod), along with a large number of grains and legumes. You'll need a soup cauldron, a blender, and a number of auxilliary pots.

Fanesca is meant to be a communal experience - the entire extended family normally gathers at Grandma's house on Easter Sunday to share the bounty. This means that Grandma has been cooking for at least 2 days. It's normally served with tiny fried empanadas, slices of hard-boiled egg, deep-fried bacalao, and slices of fried dessert banana.

Makes 50 plates, and takes about 4 hours on the day you're going to serve it (and about 2 hours the night before).

INGREDIENTS

500 g (1 lb) long grain white rice
10-12 L (2.5-3 gal) Whole Milk (3% minimum), no other
1 L (1/4 gal) Full-Fat Cream (35% minimum), no other
4 C Peanuts, shelled and husked
6 C Leeks, the white portion only, chopped finely
6 oz (12 TBSP) Butter, unsalted
3 TBSP Butter whipped with achiote (annatto)*
2 C Garlic, blendered with enough milk to make it a liquid
2 kg (4.4 lbs) Bacalao. White Bacalao is best.
Salt, black pepper, to taste
2 TSP Ground Cumin
4-6 TSP Oregano
2 TSP Ground Cinnamon
3 TSP Brown Sugar
6 C Squash meat, steamed until it is tender, and mashed (in Ecuador, a large squash similar to Acorn is used.)
4 C Pumpkin meat, steamed until it is tender, and mashed (in Ecuador, a large squash called Kobucha is used. It's called pumpkin, but it's not, really.)
6 C Lupines (Lupini beans), peeled
10 C White corn kernels, boiled until tender
6 C Green peas, steamed until bright green
6 C White cabbage, julienned and steamed
8 C Young fava beans, peeled and cooked
6 C Young strawberry or red beans, peeled and cooked
1 shot Sherry Brandy

METHOD - THE NIGHT BEFORE

1. Boil the peanuts in enough milk to cover them, until they become tender. Blender these with the liquid they were cooked in, and set this aside.
2. Soak the Bacalao in enough water to cover it.
3. Cook and peel all of the grains and legumes. Reserve the water in which the corn was boiled.
4. Steam the cabbage, squash, and pumpkin.
5. Cook the rice in milk.

METHOD - THE DAY OF

1. Boil the Bacalao in 1 L of milk. Drain and reserve the liquid.
2. Fry the leek and garlic in the butter and achiote butter until they glassify.
3. Add 1 C of the water in which the corn cooked, and boil until the garlic loses its metallic flavour.
4. Add the peanut liquid, and cook for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the rice and 2L of milk, and a bit of all of the spices.
6. Drain and cut the Bacalao into tiny pieces. Add the milk in which it was boiled to the pot.
7. Add the squash, pumpkin, and cabbage.
8. When it comes to a boil again, add the grains and legumes one by one in the following order: lupines, corn, beans, peas, favas.
9. Add the cream, the rest of the milk, and the rest of the seasonings.
10. Keep stirring as it boils. Don't scrape the bottom or sides of the pot - that is where the stuff that tastes bad is collecting. Don't put a lid on it either - just stand there and stir.

After about 3 and a half hours, the Fanesca is ready to eat. Serve it immediately.

SteveW17

Wow - what a lot a work. A real "labor of love." Must make for a wonderful family meal. 50 servings! Hope there was enought to go around! Thanks for sharing this with everyone.

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lorax

It's a huge amount of work just to make the soup, let alone the garnishes, the tuna dishes, the roast cuy (eaten Easter Sunday only), and all of the other accoutrements of a full Easter meal. For this reason, the entire week from Palm Sunday on through Easter Sunday is considered "Holy Week" and dedicated to prayer and feasting.

The really amazing thing is that these little tent-restaurants offering Fanesca pop up in the parks on Palm Sunday, only to disappear on Easter Monday.

The Fanesca tradition, however, goes back to the Incan Empire. It's the traditional Kichua dish for the festival celebrating the wet-season harvest.

Bananaman88

Interesting history.

Bob

Thanks for posting. I can see if I want to try it that there's going to have to be a house full of stirrers. Can't resist a good new recipe though. JohnNY told me about achiote so I can get that. I have never heard of Lupine/lupini beans. Are they related to the lupines grown for ornamental flowers?

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lorax

They are the seeds of specific edible cultivars of Lupine. In Ecuador (and across the former Incan Empire), what we eat are the seeds of Andean Purple Lupines (Lupinus mutabilis), and in Europe and North America, it's the seeds of Blue and White Lupines (L. angustifolius and L. albus). You can usually find them in Italian specialty stores - they'll be in jars or tins of brine. Rarely, they're available from the deli counter.

If you're growing your own, you pick the seeds out of the pods, then soak them in salt water for 2-3 days. After that, they're a tasty snack. Chochos (which is the Kichua term for them) are higher in calcium than other legumes, and are also full of protein. They're an ideal hiking snack. Here, Chochos are often served with shredded carrot and onion and a twist of lime. Nutritionally, Lupines are similar to Soybeans, but they lack the phytostrogens and are a bit higher in protein. They've also got a higher utile cultivation range.

I should add, though, if you're growing your own Lupines you need to be absolutely 100% sure that they're one of the cultivars I listed above before you even think of eating them. The seeds of the other cultivars contain a toxic alkaloid that is really really bad for you.