La Cucaracha Puff Pastry

I toyed with the idea of calling this ento treat Blattodea Puff Pastry, using the scientific name for the main ingredient, cockroaches. Then Terry Lynn suggested the Spanish name. I liked it.

A former student and his wife, Erik and Noel invited me to a party. Then somebody asked if I was bringing bugs. That’s almost a challenge, and Erik indicated it was OK for me to bring my ento treats. His cute young daughter was not at all turned off by the Hotlix lollipop I gave her. Hotlix is a lot like Tootsie Roll Pops, in that they have a surprise inside. But their surprise is a mealworm, a cricket, or a scorpion.

Erik and Noel had a nice selection of beer, wine and spirits. Erik introduced me to a really nice sour PA beer- Victory’s Sour Monkey. I have long noticed that people are much more open to enjoying ento treats after they have enjoyed some beer, wine and spirits.

So here is a recipe and description of the ento treat I took to Erik’s party. It was a really fun crowd which makes sharing bug teats much easier.

Thanks to Aaron Pauling, the Texas cockroach farmer, who provided the cockroach nymphs.

The puff pastries are a derivation of the theme of baklava (bugluvAH).

Ingredients include:

6 Pepperidge Farm puff pastries. (I meant to pull fillo [φύλλο] dough out of the the freezer the night before, then the next morning I realized you defrosted 6 puff pastries.)

1 cup frozen cockroach nymphs

½ cup pecans

2 Tablespoons orange zest. I had some orange peels in the freezer. It was super easy to shave the orange zest, the dark outside, with a carrot peeler.

2 Tablespoons honey (Hampshire County has some great local apiaries)

2 teaspoons cinnamon

4 squares Dove dark chocolate

Preparation:

Bake the puff pastries as per directions. (400 degrees F in an ungreased pan)

Puree in blender 1 cup frozen cockroaches.