The traditional Mediterranean diet is firmly rooted in the earth. The warm, sunny climate, the long growing season, mild winter, and fertile soil of this region have long provided its inhabitants with delicious, fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and nuts. It is, and has always been, a plant-based cuisine, one that never depended on animal products to any large extent.”

- Vegetarian Times Cooks Mediterranean

We don’t often offer vegetarian meals, let alone vegan meals, here at Casa S, simply because we’ve found that we don’t generally attract enough people to join us for the evening. But, one of my Monday students of our vegan classes prevailed upon me to give it some thought, so last week we added in an extra evening and offered it up as a vegan Mediterranean evening. Surprisingly, it filled faster than the Friday and Saturday dinners – though at the same time, only my student and the two who came with her were vegetarian – I think the date just worked well for many people. I decided against going the whole tofu, seitan, tempeh route and just focused on the fresh vegetables available in the markets right now.

We started with a simple, Moroccan style four-bean salad – a mix of chickpeas, soybeans, white beans and fresh yellow wax beans, all spiced in paprika, cumin, coriander, garlic, lemon and cilantro. I think this was our favorite dish of the evening.

You might remember this from way back, based on a Charlie Trotter recipe – a pure, roasted eggplant soup with pickled Japanese eggplants in the center and a drizzle of basil oil around the perimeter.

Likewise, the Tomato Tarte Tatin – the only differences here were using margarine instead of butter for the caramelization process and vegetarian “oyster” sauce (mushroom sauce) in place of the anchovies.

A seven-onion risotto, well, really eight – the risotto made with a red wine and vegetable stock, and into it a mix of sauteed leeks, green onions, white onions, yellow onions, red onions and shallots, and then at the end, a sprinkle of both chives and deep-fried onion bits. Another sprinkle of rawmesan, parmesan substitute, and hmm, maybe this was the winning dish of the night.

And, finally, some bourbon and vanilla poached pears topped with chocolate sauce (dark chocolate, soy milk, sugar, cornstarch), and I think we had some happy campers on our hands.

 Men are always pushed into group situations … like group sports with a leader. In the kitchen the chef is your captain, but in pastry there is more autonomy, more independence. Women relish that. you are permitted to be creative sooner than on the hot line.”

- Claudia Fleming, NYC pastry chef

I’ve worked a good percentage of my adolescent and adult life in the food and wine world. I had my breaks – I was a security guard for a couple of years in college and a paramedic for a few years after, and I tried my hand at real estate sales and appraising at one point, and have done temp work in the word processing and legal assistant field. But, food and wine always found its way back in, and probably, since 1972 when I first set foot in a restaurant kitchen, I’ve spent about 30 years in either the front or back of house, as it were. And in all that time, I never really paid that much attention to pastry and baking. It wasn’t my focus – it was always a curiosity, and I’ve built up my own little repertoire of desserts and breads that I can make, and make well, even if they’re not overly pretty sometimes. And then, a couple of months ago, I realized, I’m at a point in life, and with a flexible enough schedule, that it might just be interesting to go back and learn how to do it and do it right.

So, a bit of research, and I enrolled myself in the pastry chef program at one of the local cooking schools with one of Argentina’s top pastry chefs, Roberto Goni. We started last week, and I thought it might be fun, as we go (the program goes until the end of the year, once a week), to share what it is we’re making. I’m not going to share the recipes, because, simply, this is someone else’s bread and butter, pun intended – they’re his recipes and it’s his livelihood to teach people. Of course, down the line, as I get to the point where I can play around with things and even teach some of them, it’ll be a different story…

Apologies for the photo, I didn’t have a camera with me last week (hadn’t yet replaced the stolen one, ya know?), so I relied on someone else to snap the shot – I’ve photoshopped it about as much as it seems to be able to take. It’s a basic sponge layer cake – what here is called bizcochuelo – and, not surprisingly for here, it’s filled with dulce de leche and chocolate. The almonds and the design atop were, more or less, my own idea. Sponge doughs were the theme of the day and we made individual cakes like this, plus group efforts on vainillas (ladyfingers) and piononos (jelly rolls).

Oh, and hey, they make us bring home what we make, and neither Henry or I eat much in the way of desserts, so if anyone wants to start taking things off our hands….

Much of this comes out of some favorites, and one dish, new to the dinners, comes out of our Italian poultry class. We began with the recent favorably received grilled calamari salad with sweet chili sauce from our Chilean inspirations dinner. Then we moved on to one of our favorite Peruvian soups, sopa incaica, though made with chicken stock at the guests’ request (no red meats), and cilantro instead of huacatay simply because the latter was unavailable.

From there, it was on to peppered mussels with risotto cakes. The risotto a simple one made with chicken stock and white wine, then finished with fresh buffalo mozarella and lots of tarragon. Pressed that into a pan and chilled it, then cut out rounds and fried them up into risotto cakes. The mussels, the simplest preparation you’ll ever make and amazingly good – a couple of pounds of mussels into a pot, a quarter cup of ground black pepper, cover with a lid, turn the heat on high. Nothing more. Stir them up and serve.

On to the main course, right out of one of our classes – chicken in a piquant sauce – browned chicken breasts that are then cooked slowly in an amazingly savory sauce of white wine, onion, vinegar, anchovy, gherkins, capers, garlic and parsley. Served with polenta that was packed with creamy goat’s milk cheese. Delicious!

And, finally, one of our new favorite simple fruit desserts – peaches in syrup with caramelized goats’ milk cheeses – this time a St. Maure and a Camembert.

Quilmes Patagonia Amber Lager, Buenos Aires – Gorgeous burnt orange color. Medium bodied beer with good acidity, refreshing. A touch of hops, but not overly noticeable. Slight fruitiness, somewhat like peach and apple skins. Hint of bitterness towards the finish.

Antares Kölsch, Mar del Plata – Dark brown, sort of root beer color. Medium bodied beer. Somewhat low acidity. Good bitterness, orange peel and szechuan peppercorns. Fairly short finish. Overall rather pleasant.

Humberto Canale Extra Brut – 50% Semillon, 30% Pinot Noir, 10% each Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc – an unusual sparkling blend to say the least – light on the bubbles, more frizzante than a full sparkling, pale gold color. On the nose, canned pineapple, fresh raspberries and paraffin. The palate has juicy acidity, a slightly bitter toasted note, a touch too high alcohol (12.5%) given the lighter body. An interesting choice with spicy, fruity foods, though not a wow.

Alfredo Roca Chenin 2009, San Rafael – Pale straw color. On the nose, Golden Delicious apples, hint of coconut. Good acidity, bright green apple fruit, raw hazelnuts, hint of floral notes. Long finish, all apple.

Alfredo Roca Merlot Rosé 2008, San Rafael – Dark pink with a tinge of orange. Strawberries, raspberries and cream on the nose. Medium bodied, noticeable oak on the palate. Decent acidity, but could use a touch more. Very creamy finish. Reminds me, somehow, of a fruit and cheese blintz.

Rodas Sangiovese Rosado 2009, Mendoza – Beautiful dark pink color. Bitter cherries, fresh, vibrant, a touch of residual sugar that reminds me of Karo syrup. No real depth, no real length, just a delightful hot weather quaff.

Nieto-Senetiner Don Nicanor Syrah 2006, Mendoza – Inky dark purple color, held up to the light it’s still hard to see through. Boysenberry, graham cracker, and wet stone on the nose. Good acidity, full-bodied, soft but noticeable tannins, a touch hot on the finish which has a hint of licorice added to the jammy boysenberry fruit. Was a fantastic match with bistecchine di maiale – a slow cooked pork shoulder in a vinegar, bay, dried fruit and bitter chocolate sauce.

Familia Zuccardi Textual Tannat 2006, Mendoza – Beautiful dark purple red color, holding to the rim. The Tannat character is instantly recognizable on the nose – that weird cooked blueberry, nutmeg and hot tar blend. It carries over onto the palate, with the spice really shining, plenty of fruit, good acidity, and the alcohol quite noticeable, especially on the finish, surprising given the depth of fruit and that the wine only comes in at 14%. A wine that holds up to piquant flavors, and paired beautifully with chicken simmered in a vinegar, caper, pickle, anchovy and garlic sauce (trust me, it’s a killer dish).

Mendel Finca Remoto 2006, Altamira, Mendoza – Dark violet color tinged with red. Intense classic Malbec aromas of black plums, cinnamon stick and a touch of candied violets. Decent acidity, soft, sweet tannins, well-integrated oak. Very elegant, and, I gather, very difficult to find – thanks for the tasting go to Marcelo Rebole at the Park Hyatt, along with the next wine.

Bodega Chacra Barda 2008, Rio Negro, Patagonia – 100% Pinot Noir. Deep cherry red color. Raspberry jam and warm spices. Intense aroma, great acidity, soft, nearly non-existent tannins, minimally noticeable oak. Good length, though little other than acidity on the finish.

 The man who trusts men will make fewer mistakes than he who distrusts them.”

- Camillo di Cavour, prime minister, Kingdom of Sardinia

I’m getting a bit behind on dinner posts, so I may throw these at you rapidly over the next couple of days. You’ll live. Let’s start back at the beginning of the month and our 150th year celebration of the unification of many of the various states and kingdoms that would eventually become Italy, into the Kingdom of Sardinia, or, at that point more properly known as the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. Either way, it gave license to play in the kitchen with some favorite Sardinian recipes.

We began with a simple insalata di calamari – quickly blanched squid rings and tentacles, tossed with a bowl filled with tomatoes, garlic, celery leaves, basil, mint, shallots, olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. You pick the proportions, it’s all good! Serve it room temperature – basil and tomatoes don’t stand up well to long refrigeration, so keep it in mind when it comes time to blanch the squid – you want it to have time to cool to room temp, but not sit there for hours and hours.

Combining two favorite chickpea based soups, one that simply combines them with saffron, the other with fennel, and we have our minestra di ceci con zafferano e finocchi. Sauteed onions, carrots and fennel in a little olive oil until starting to soften, then added chickpeas, freshly made chicken stock and saffron, let it all cook together for a bit, season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve and enjoy!

The only time I’ve ever tried pane frattau was at a little Sardinian spot here in BsAs. At the time, I assumed… well, actually, was told… that it was served the traditional way – a piece of crispy semolina flatbread, pane carasau or, carta di musica, on the bottom, topped with ravioli filled with cheese and herbs, and then a poached egg atop. But research into the dish points a very different, and much simpler direction, and I’ve played with it a few times in our classes until coming up with a version I like quite a bit. The flatbread is not left crispy, but rather slightly chewy, but soaking it in boiling hot water for a minute or so just before getting ready to serve, and because it’s made from semolina flour, as is most really good pasta, it softens to a sort of al dente round of thick pasta. It forms the base, atop which is a ladleful of a simple tomato sauce made from crushed plum tomatoes, onion, garlic, finely shredded carrot, and thyme, and then the whole thing is topped with a fried egg and grated pecorino cheese. Either approach, it’s an unusual and delicious dish.

Traditionally a holiday dish, bistecchine di maiale (well, usually not made with pork but wild board, cingiale), is a slow cooked steak of pork shoulder in what one of our guests referred to as “Italian mole” – not really, other than it happens to include some bitter chocolate in the mix, but I understand (it also makes the mistaken assumption that moles are chocolate based, when actually very few of the different versions are). Saute finely chopped bacon in a little olive oil then add and brown the steaks. Meanwhile, reduce some red wine vinegar in a pot, add yellow raisins, pitted prunes, bay leaves, bitter chocolate, and some sort of aromatic spice (usually nutmeg or cinnamon or both – I use mace). Sprinkle the steaks with a little flour and let that lightly toast, flipping the steaks a couple of times. Pour the reduced vinegar and fruit sauce over, bring to a simmer and let cook for 10-15 minutes, turning the steaks a couple more times to absorb the sauce evenly. Served with polenta and absolutely delicious!

This is a killer dessert – simple, unexpected, and amazingly good. They’re called seadas. The dough is a simple flour, margarine and water one (or use lard, but not butter, the texture comes out wrong). The filling, a mix of grated pecorino cheese, grated lemon and orange zest, and grappa.

Form them into round ravioli shapes, cut with a fluted pastry wheel. Fry them in olive oil. Top them with good honey (chestnut honey is traditional). Serve. Sleep happy.

So it’s not a surprise that it’s difficult to find a street to walk on named after him. There’s a street simply called Aguirre, but no first name and I wasn’t able to find out if this was our guy. There is a one-block long street out in Mataderos that is indeed called Julián Aguirre, and I’d assume that’s the right one, but, to be honest, and especially after my little recent venture in the Koreatown area, the street appears to be dead center of a section of the neighborhood in which I don’t plan to walk – so that block will just have to languish without me. Therefore, although it’s quite possible that the 17 block stretch of, simply, Aguirre, has nothing to do with our last Supreme Director, I’m going to use it for this little trek – besides, it’s actually, though short and primarily residential, a moderately interesting street that passes through Villa Crespo.

As noted, the street is primarily residential, particularly at the beginning of the walk, where it begins at the “five corners” of Corrientes, Estado de Israel, Angelo Gallardo, Troilo, and Aguirre.

In fact, the most interesting part of this section of the walk, the first few blocks is some of the graffiti. The architecture is pretty basic and, well, boring.

I mean, that’s pretty impressive “graffiti”, no?

What Aguirre does seem to be known for commercially, is a four block stretch in the middle that’s jam packed with outlet stores. I’m a Daniel Hechter fan, so now I know where to shop!

Never much of a secret since they openly advertise their address and are open, these days, regular restaurant hours most days, and we include it amongst our “puertas cerradas” kin because it started that way, this is the entrance to Almacén Secreto, at #1242 – more than halfway through our walk already. I’ll have to ask one day what the whole black hand on the door, and the “T Cul de Sac Sala” opposite the “AS Club” mean. I’m assuming they’re not members of the secret Serbian military society….

Almost to the end of the walk, at the 1400 point, we cross the tracks of the San Martín suburban train line.

At the corner of Bonpland, this once quite pretty, it appears, technical school, specializing in electromechanics and construction. Named after Enrique Martin Hermitte, who lived in the first half of the 20th century here, an engineer, and who is credited with the discovery of petroleum reserves in Argentina. He was also the director of the Ministry of Mining and Hydrology.

There has been little in the way of dining establishments along this walk – a cafe, an event salon, a couple of pizzerias – in fact, this is the only one that seemed to be open and populated with customers – at the far end of the walk.

Anthony Bourdain would approve – “Ramones – Villa Crespo”….

Just exactly what is “Popular Radicalism”? And why does it need its own house?

And, looking back from the end of the 1700s, it still seems pretty much just a quiet residential neighborhood.

Now, I have to decide. I’d thought about continuing along this little venture and moving into the duly elected presidents, military leaders, etc. But I’m faced with the daunting task then of the first president, Bernardino Rivadavia. The avenue named after him is one of the three longest streets in the world, starting down near Puerto Madero and continuing to the Andes in the west of the country. Now, even if I limit it (which I would) to within city limits, it’s still a twelve kilometer (7.5 mile) stretch that would obviously require not only a huge amount of time to walk and catalog, but multiple posts. So, input? It is actually a pretty interesting street, it just might take a bit to get through it….

 Everyone’s a pacifist between wars. It’s like being a vegetarian between meals.”

- Colman McCarthy, journalist, activist

I was vegetarian once upon a time. It wasn’t for a long period. I was dating someone who was, wasn’t working in a restaurant at that moment, and it seemed to be a good move at the time. Two days after going back to work in a restaurant a half year later and I was eating meat again. Such is the life of an omnivore, and that ain’t likely to change. It does, however, give me an appreciation for vegetarian food when I try it – because, back in that day, most of what was available when one ate out was essentially twigs, rocks and cardboard. At least I’m pretty sure that’s what it all was, it was usually presented in unappetizing lumps all piled together on a plate.

In truth, the hideousness of most of the vegetarian restaurants around in the late 80s probably did more to push people away from vegetarian lifestyles than anything else. These days, that’s changed. Somewhere along the way chefs and diners figured out that deprivation and suffering were not exactly attracting droves of people to the cause. Because let’s face it, when it comes to the carrot versus stick approach, which one do you want to eat?

So, though I have no plans to opt for a non-meat diet, I do enjoy checking out what’s out there these days. You may have even noted that I added a page linked in the righthand column for local vegetarian resources (please help me keep it up to date if you know of new stuff or something that’s closed). And over the last week or so, I checked out two places that popped onto my radar.

The first place is called Sattva, Montevideo 446, right off Av. Corrientes. I’ve passed by it many times since it opened up about 7-8 months ago, and just hadn’t stopped in. It has a sort of whole grain crunchy granola 1980s Lower East Side look about it – the kind of place I used to hate. And indeed, the ambiance isn’t far off of that – a big round counter in the center offers up flyers and newsletters about yoga and spirit guides and holistic massages and what have you, along with a variety of treatises on the merits of socialism, communism and the like. And a few things directed at the gay community – in fact, several recent reviews of the place have touted it as a center of gay activity. If so, it wasn’t obvious the day we were there. Most of the clients, at lunchtime anyway, seemed to be local office workers.

Service is typical – a bit lackadaisical, but friendly. On the other hand, our waiter handed us little four-fold brochures, each page of which lists a week’s menu – Week 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the month – and advised us we were on week 3 I think it was, and that we could pick from that. Each of the week’s menus offers up a salad, a sandwich, a pasta, and a stew, flat price of AR$26 with water or soda, and an additional price if you want coffee, tea and/or dessert. He neglected to mention that there’s also an a la carte menu that actually has dozens of other options, from pastas to pizzas, sandwiches to main courses, and various side dishes. It would have been nice to know. Henry decided on the vegetable lasagna, which, as you can see, bears little resemblance to a lasagna – there was a wisp of something at the bottom of this jumbled pile of grilled vegetables that might have been some sort of pasta round, but we weren’t sure. The vegetables were well seasoned, and he enjoyed eating them, but that’s really all the plate was, a pile of grilled vegetables. No sauce, nada. How hard is it to layer vegetables with pasta and put a little tomato sauce and/or a vegetarian version of a bechamel sauce on it?

Likewise the falafel sandwich I ordered was a bit lacking. First off, a falafel sandwich is a vegetarian, actually even a vegan, dish. It doesn’t really need to be changed. I’m not sure what they had in mind for the falafel balls, but it wasn’t anything typically middle eastern – ground chickpeas and parsley and maybe some salt and pepper seemed to be about it – maybe whatever diet they espouse doesn’t allow for garlic, cumin, or other spicing…. The salad to accompany was fresh. The “tahini” seemed to be sesame mixed with soy milk to make it more of a dressing. Why? What’s wrong with good, intense, sesame paste? The two mounds of quinoa salad were tasty, if a touch too vinegary. I can’t say we walked away impressed, but it was at least vaguely intriguing, particularly once we got a look at the regular menu, that we’ll probably go back and check that out.

Although La Casa de Oshawa, Ciudad de la Paz 415 in Belgrano is cross-corner from the Krishna Center for Meditation, I’d doubt they have any direct connection, one being a macrobiotic Japanese-ish vegetarian restaurant and grocery, the other an Indian religious center. Still, it makes for an interesting corner in the midst of residential Belgrano. The room is bright and airy, the little shop is worth a visit. There’s a takeout counter where there’s someone in attendance to serve you things up to go, plan on a long wait for anyone paying attention in the dining room. To the best I could tell the day I visited (and similar commentary abounds on the place’s reviews on the net), there were two people, a young tattooed waiter who seemed lost in space, and a harried middle aged woman who was running her butt off trying to keep up with a packed room, and clearly handling the other waiter’s tables as well as her own. I was on my own, but wanted to try a few things… I started with the vegetable soup – they were out of miso soup, a shame since that’s a favorite – which was actually quite good – very well seasoned, packed with a good amount of various vegetables, and piping hot… when it arrived, some 30 minutes after I ordered it.

A couple of empanadas, I was curious to see what they’d do with a tofu version and a rice version. The crusts, whole wheat, a bit chewy, a real shame, as it’s not that hard to make a good crust with whole wheat. The fillings, mixed review – the tofu was delicious, crumbled bits of tofu seasoned with spices, garlic and herbs; the rice, little more than plain white rice with a bit of gomasio – ground sesame seeds and salt, and not enough of that to really season the rice past its pasty white blandness. On the other hand, the little pile of pickled vegetables on the side became immediately useful as more than just nibbles – I simply packed them into the rice empanada to give it some flavor. Made all the difference.

The seitan especial was a bit tastier, though awfully heavy. The seitan was of the pressed variety, so it was dense and chewy like meat – well, not quite, it actually, to me, when it’s done that way, seems more like the texture of raw cookie dough without all the yummy, nutritionally vapid goodness. On the other hand, it was then stewed with onions and cabbage and plenty of spices – all of which made for a very tasty sauce around it. Do the same thing but don’t try to imitate the meat texture and they’d have a winner here – maybe make the seitan into lighter meatball-ish pieces.

Overall though, despite the slow service, I was impressed with the place. The food was good, the prices inexpensive (all of the above plus two bottles of water for 40 pesos with tip), and if you have the time to just sit back and relax and read or write, or chat with your friends, I’d say this spot is a good bet.

We headed up the main avenue that skirted the villa, figuring on going around it and into Korea town, but the streets are a bit convoluted, and within a couple of blocks we realized that one of the twists had taken us right into the villa, where we were spotted by a gang of 20-something thugs (not realizing it at that moment). Our choices, turn around and go back and figure out how to go around it like we’d originally planned, or continue straight ahead on the main street through the villa, to Av. Castañares, the main street separating it from the Korean area.

It was closer to go ahead, and turning back didn’t guarantee we’d be in a better area, in fact probably would have left us more open to other “spottings”. We made it actually to within half a block of the avenue when the gang of five surrounded us without warning, three of them brandishing pistols (likely not loaded, very possibly not even real, but who wants to take a chance?). With two of the weapons pointed more or less at my head, I simply let them take whatever they wanted – which unfortunately meant they got cash, camera, phone, notebook, DNI (national identity document), keys, and reading glasses. I asked if I could have back the ID, keys and glasses, but they declined… rudely I thought, after all, I’d asked politely. And then they took off, though we could see them watching us from about a block away to see what we’d do. My friend got off lucky, other than one of the five holding a gun and waving it around a bit, they didn’t take anything of his – quite lucky, since he actually had far more of value on him than I did. And thankfully, neither of us hurt other than a couple of bruises on one arm where one of them grabbed me. Everything except the notebook is basically replaceable, and even that is research that I can reproduce.

So, a cautionary tale – not that anyone in their right mind ought to be walking through one of the villas unprotected, even in broad daylight with dozens of people out on the street (who all studiously ignored what was going on), but, just to be far more careful of surroundings in this city – some of this is starting to spill over into other areas. It was noticeable, even on arrival three blocks away in Barrio Corea, that there were no people out on the streets, a neighborhood that on past visits had plenty of folk out wandering about, shopping, etc. The cop who we stopped to report to what happened clearly assumed we were in the area for nefarious purposes, probably drugs, and despite assuring him we’d come for the local food, told us to go back home, stay out of the neighborhood, and not come back. He declined to even take a report, and suggested that we could either go to the local precinct if we wanted to, but he didn’t recommend it as “they’d do nothing”, or, go back and report it in our own neighborhood precinct, where, likely, they’d do nothing either, but at least might be willing to take a report. Even at the remís service where we grabbed a car service ride back to Recoleta, they asked us what the hell we were doing in the area and recommended against it. So, I’d say, for Korean food these days here in BA, stick with Bi Won in Recoleta.