A look at local food discoveries, whether it’s a particular dish or an ingredient, often with one or more recipes.
July 4-6 – 2019 – 4-6 de Julio Standout Plates / Platos Destacados Semolina pappardelle, using a puree of portobello stems and egg as the liquid binder. The sauce is a puree of sauteed red onion, garlic, and portobello caps, blended with butter, miso, goat cheese, liquid smoke, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.… Read More Winter Nights: Mushrooms, Lamb, Potatoes
We’re quite fond of soups around here – be they a part of my Bread & Soup Project, my L Word Project, or just what’s for dinner. I’d venture to say that soup is what’s for dinner here in the house, at least 3-4 days a week. Even on the nights we run Casa SaltShaker, I’d say… Read More WhatSoup #1
One of the very first Peruvian sauces I learned to make was huancaina, a bread thickened sauce of fresh cheese, walnuts, yellow chilies, and milk. It’s generally served chilled, over potatoes, as a simple cold appetizer. I learned it on the way to making an ají de gallina, the same base sauce, heated, with the addition… Read More How Far Can You Stray?
June 21-23 – 2019 – 21-23 de Junio Standout Plates / Platos Destacados Prawns • Avocado • Black Vinegar – Prawns and cherry tomatoes poached in seaweed broth (kombu, wakame, nori); puree of avocado, white miso, lime juice; black vinegar jelly; roasted shallot petals, toasted nori strips, limo chilies, spirulina flakes. Langostinos • Palta… Read More Of Prawns and Strawberries
Time for another Locro, this time from Chile, commonly referred to as Locro Mapuche. The Mapuche are an aggregation of various indigenous peoples, roughly 80% of Chile’s indigenous population, plus into the Andes and a bit of Western Argentina. The name means People of the Land. This is a much more vegetable laden locro than many, and rather… Read More The L Word – People of the Land
May 30-June 1 – 2019 – 30 de Mayo-1 de Junio One of my favorite Chinese vegetable dishes is sauteed Chinese cabbage with dried shrimp. Uno de mis platos chinos favoritos de verduras es akusay saltado con camarones secos. I thought about turning it into a soup, and doing a little online research, found… Read More Minor Twists on Classics
May 23-25 – 2019 – 23-25 de Mayo Standout Plates / Platos Destacados Mixed “Tiradito” – A tiradito is a form of ceviche where the fish is cut in strips like sashimi or sushi, rather than in small cubes. Here, we’re using a fish that’s currently in season, but one that not many people… Read More Seldom Used Ingredients
May 9-11 – 2019 – 9-11 de Mayo Standout Plates – Platos Destacados Vitello Tonnato (I suppose in English I could put Veal with Tuna Sauce, but no one says that, do they?) – Thin slices of veal top round, poached in bacon stock; sauce of mayonnaise, tuna, Chinese spicy bean paste, capers, anchovies;… Read More A Combo of Classics