We begin week 4 in quarantine. What is there to say about it that hasn’t been said already, by those both wiser and unwiser than I? Scattered among the various recipes I’ve been giving you over the last weeks have been those days where I just look at the produce in the refrigerator or on the counter or in the cupboards and think, what the hell am I going to make out of that? But, as a very wise woman used to say, “it’s always something”.
Let’s start with a simple one, the Peruvian version of ensalada rusa. Now, I’ve posted at length on the origins of this ubiquitous South American “delicacy”. As mentioned then, here in Argentina it’s pretty much just a bland, mayonnaise laden potato salad studded with carrots and peas. In Peru, it’s taken a slightly different tack, with roughly equal amounts of cubed and boiled (separately, to preserve colors) potatoes, carrots, and beets, and a small amount of peas. While some have succumbed to the lure of the simple dollop of mayo, the ostensibly traditional version is dressed with lime juice, chopped parsley, salt and pepper, and then the whole thing “decorated” with hard boiled eggs. Henry loves it, I’m okay with it, and gotta keep him happy. Plus it used up a couple each of potatoes, carrots, and beets that might otherwise have gone bad, and the remains of a bag of frozen peas. I wasn’t really helping finish this off, so we gave about half of it to our next door neighbor.
An obvious one, when those avocados are going to go black if you don’t do something Right Now, because that’s how avocados behave. Mash them up with a little lime juice, salt, and pepper, top with a chopped tomato, red onion, and cilantro, tossed with chili oil and salt, and add in corn chips or crackers or whatever crunch vehicle you choose, and presto chango, guacamole. This one we ate as our afternoon snack.
Some beef scallops that were in the freezer, a green onion, bok choy, zucchini, and mushrooms all on their last legs. Add in a bell pepper, some garlic, ginger, and chilies, and chop it all up, stir fry it, finish it with a dollop of miso paste (or soy sauce), a little white wine, a drizzle of vinegar and spoonful of sugar, and toss it all with whatever pasta is lurking in the cupboard and you’ve got dinner. You don’t need the same vegetables – there are very few vegetables that don’t go with each other – just pick a few, the ones that are getting “to that point”, add in some meat, if you like, and really, the combined flavors of garlic, ginger, chili, miso, wine, vinegar, and sugar pretty much make everything tasty!
What was just sitting around? Part of a bag of split peas from making split pea soup two weeks back, some rice, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, a tomato, and part of a bell pepper. Bought some ground beef, and a mildly spicy sausage, and we were ready for a Peruvian style guisado de arvejitas – stew of split peas. Henry filmed a little video of me putting it altogether, which you can see here if you have Facebook… it’s in Spanish, but it’ll be pretty obvious. Basically, chopped up and sauteed the onion, garlic, and pepper, when soft added the beef and sausage (removed from its casing and crumbled), the spices – salt, pepper, cumin, chili flakes, dried oregano, and ground basil (couldn’t find any fresh), when those were browned, added the soaked split peas (cuts down the cooking time to about half an hour) and rice, topped with water (threw in a beef stock cube to give it some flavor), and simmered it away, covered, until the peas were cooked, then added the mixed vegetables just to heat through. A change from our more often split pea soup, and very filling….
Okay, this one had a little more planning in it… well, no, not that much, the only thing special I bought was the package of chicken wings. Instead of more typical Buffalo style hot wings, I went all nikkei on these. The marinade for the wings is a mix of 2 tablespoons each of olive oil, soy sauce, and grated garlic (about 3 cloves), 1 tablespoon each of cumin and salt, and then 2 teaspoons each of brown sugar and chili powder (I used Japanese togaroshi mix), and 1 teaspoon each of ground coriander, oregano, and pepper, plus the zest and juice of a lime. Left them to marinate for the afternoon, then spread them out on a baking sheet, popped them in the oven, cooked them four about 35-40 minutes until nicely browned. Served with a dipping sauce – pureed in the blender – a big dollop of sour cream, a couple of green chilies, a clove of garlic, zest and juice of a lime, an egg yolk, and a small handful of mixed herbs – cilantro, parsley, and the green top of a scallion – salt and pepper to taste. This one doesn’t have to be done with wings, by the way – you can use any chicken parts you have and treat them the same way. On the side, Henry had some of the split pea stew from the day before, I mixed up a quick pesto with some parsley, walnuts, garlic, and cheese and tossed it with some spaghetti.
So, ideas, mostly simple ones, but maybe giving a quick start to some thoughts on different spicing and ways to use up things that you have in your kitchen during these isolated days…. or not. I’m just musing away here.
