Passport & Plate - Mejido Cookie Crump Pie
Ecuador | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 4 photos
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 cups of finely crumbed vanilla cookies. You can crush them by hand but its much easier to just put it on the food processor.
- 3/4 cup of melted unsalted butter
- 1 tea spoon of cinnamon (optional)
- 1/2 cup of sugar (optional)
Mejido Filling
- 4 cups of grated white cheese. The original recipe is made with "queso fresco" the most common cheese in latin america but you can also use a dry ricotta, a mild feta, paneer cheese or even mozzarella.
- 3/4 cup of white sugar.
- 3 medium size eggs.
- 1/4 cup of milk.
- 1 tea spoon of vanilla extract
How to prepare this recipeFirst preheat the oven at 180°C or 350°F.
Crust:
In a bowl mix together the cookie crumbs and the melted butter. You can add a bit of cinnamon or if you like it very sweet you can add some sugar to the mix. Stir until the crumbs are well moistened. Firmly and evenly, with the tips of your fingers, pat the mixture on the bottom and all the way up the sides of a deep 9 0r 12-inch pie pan or dish. put it on the freezer.
Mejido filling:
In a medium sized pot mix together the cheese, half the sugar, 2 eggs and the vanilla extract. Put the stove under low heat and mix continuously and slowly. Once all the ingredientes are mixed together bring the pot to a low heat and continue to stir slowly. Slowly add half the milk, stir and mix it in. At this point you can taste the mixture and decide wether or not you need more sugar.
You can add the rest of the sugar and a bit of the milk that is left. But be careful not to add to much milk. The mixture has to be quite thick but you have to be able to stir it easily.
Continue to stir until all the ingredients are embodied. Remove from heat and set aside for five minutes.
While you wait remove the pie pan from the freezer.
After 5 minutes add the last egg to the mixture and mix it evenly.
Add the mixture to the pie pan and put it in the oven.
Baking:
Let it bake at 180°C or 350°F.
In high altitude zones like Quito it might tale up to 50 minutes or an hour for the pie to be ready.
In sea level zones like London or the coastline it could take between 30 and 40 minutes.
You will know the pie is ready when the mixture is firm and it will have a consistency similar to a cheese cake.
Let it cool fro at least 30 minutes before serving.
You can serve it with tea or coffee in the afternoon, or with a citrus ice cream for dessert, or by itself with some fresh strawberries or cherrys on top.
The story behind this recipeIt's a cold winter day in London. A freezing day for me, an Ecuadorian used to warmer climate. No classes today and it's too cold to go outside. Sitting in my living room I do nothing but long for home. I miss the scenery and the weather; but what I miss the most is my huge, loud and loving Latino family. Instead of getting all depressed and homesick I decide to bring to London a bit of Ecuador and prepare my favourite treat: mejido empanadas. There is only one problem with that. I have no flour and I am not going out with that pouring rain outside. What should I do? Well, it's improv time!
As a rummage around on my cupboards for the sugar and vanilla extract I find that I have an excess of vanilla cookies, and when I open the fridge to
grab the milk, eggs and cheese I find I have plenty of butter. That gives me an idea: a mejido cookie crumb pie!
I preheat the oven as I prepare the pie crust. Once I'm done with it I put it in the freezer.
Finally its time to prepare my childhood favourite: the mejido. I grab a pot and as I mix together the ingredients the low heat of the stove warms my heart. The smell of the melting sugar and the vanilla extract is a time machine.
All of the sudden I am barely four feet tall and I am back in my grandma's kitchen, listening closely because she is teaching me how to prepare mine and grandpa's favourite mejido filling. "It's all about the stiring 'mijita', or the sugar will burn the pot. As you stir you add the milk bit by bit. 'Cuidado mijita' not too much but not too little either".
I turn off the heat, add another egg to the mixture, pour it into the pie tray, and off it goes to the oven.
While cleaning up I decide it was not a bad thing not to have flour. Making empanadas is hard and it makes a big mess.
The pie is ready just in time for the traditional British tea. As I sit on the dinning room with my flatmates I sip my tea and taste my invention. It isn´t an empanada but it is mejido and it tastes like a piece of Ecuador.
