A fresh and easy salsa made with shrimp and lime juice.
Shrimp Salsa Dip
recipe and image courtesy of freerecipes.org
8 ounces salad shrimp (Maine shrimp would work great here!)
2 plum tomatoes (sliced)
1 medium onion (diced)
1/4 cup cilantro (minced)
1 clove garlic (minced)
1/4 cup lime juice (freshly squeezed)
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine together all ingredients in a large bowl. Let chill at least one hour, covered, in fridge.
Serves 1 dozen.
I was cruising the news from 40 Paper’s website online recently and noticed they were offering a dish made with Nebrodini Bianco mushrooms. I’ve noticed them spelled Nebrodini and Nebronini. Not sure which is correct. One thing is for sure… they taste great! I need to get down to 40 Paper for a meal; I’ve never made it past their bar since the cocktails are so darn good. But evidently the kitchen has it going on too. And kudos to them for bringing forth a dish made with these lovely mushrooms.
These scrumptious mushrooms, the Pleurotus nebrodenis, come from the limestone rich mountains of northern Sicily. Once a staple of Italian kitchens, now they are a rare find. Until recently they were found only in the wild. I have recently learned that Oyster Creek Mushrooms is receiving cultivated Nebrodini mushrooms from an associate mushroom grower in Sebastopol, CA, called Gourmet. They are for sale in Maine through Oyster Creek Mushroom Farm, owner Candice Haydon told me in a recent phone interview, and will be appearing in her stall at the outdoor farm markets soon.
A part of the oyster mushroom family, these mushrooms are more tender than the oyster mushroom, delicately sweet, earthy yet tenderly robust. I have seen them fire-roasted with a bit of truffle salt to bring out the complexity of the mushroom.
I had not, however, considered them as a vegetarian main dish “en brodo” or “in broth”. Fazzoletti is the Italian word for handkerchief, and this hearty yet delicate meal in a bowl embodies all that I could ever dream of for a light yet lux dinner.
The recipe is from Philadelphia’s 10 Show, and it was brought to my attention by my city dwelling (but equally gourmet) sister from the Philadelphia area.
image courtesy of gourmetmushroomsinc.com
Nebrodini Mushroom Fazzoletti
Laura Cabot, Laura Cabot Catering, Waldoboro
1/2 pound Nebrodini mushrooms, or substitute King Oyster mushrooms
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 Tablespoon minced shallot
Salt and fresh pepper, to taste
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup vegetable stock
A few frozen peas and halved cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup basil, cut into chiffonade
Slice mushrooms very thinly lengthwise. Pour half the oil into a hot sauté pan. Add the garlic and shallots. Sauté quickly but don’t brown.
Add the mushrooms and a bit of salt, sautéeing until browned. Add salt and fresh pepper to taste.
Add the wine to deglaze pan and reduce by half. Add the vegetable stock, peas, and tomatoes. Simmer all for a few minutes to marry the flavors.
Add the basil just before serving. Garnish with the remaining olive oil and serve.
With all this rain, the woods will soon be full of mushroom-y treats, so stay posted for some good foraged recipes from the kitchens of Laura Cabot Catering!
These elegant, colorful sushi morsels serve as wonderful appetizers or as part of an Asian-themed meal. Nutty almond butter adds protein to the dish and complements the vibrant trio of asparagus, avocado and carrot, all swaddled in sticky sweet brown rice. A sushi mat is a must for rolling your own.
image: vegantickles.blogspot.com
Springtime Veggie Sushi with Almond Butter
wholefoodsmarket.com
Rice
2 cups sweet brown rice
4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 Tablespoons brown rice vinegar
Sushi
2 carrots, julienned
4 asparagus spears, trimmed, halved lengthwise
1 avocado, thinly sliced
1 cup almond butter
4 toasted nori sheets
1/2 cup shoyu
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
Rinse and drain rice. Place rice, water and salt in a heavy pan with tight fitting lid, cover and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to simmer (low) and cook for 50 minutes. After 50 minutes, remove from heat and let sit, covered, for 5 to 10 more minutes. Allow to cool. Mix cooled rice with brown rice vinegar.
In large pot with steamer basket, steam carrots and asparagus together for approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Dampen sushi mat by running cool water over it. Place 1 nori sheet, shiny side down, on the mat. Spread 1 cup rice evenly over nori, leaving about 1 inch of the nori uncovered at the top and bottom. About 1 inch from the bottom of the rice closest to you, lay 1/4 of the sushi filling (carrot, asparagus, avocado and almond butter) lengthwise across the rice. Roll sushi tightly with firm pressure, tucking in filling as you roll into a cylinder. If your roll does not stick together, dip your fingers in water and wet nori seam. Moisten a knife blade and slice into eight pieces. Repeat for remaining 3 nori sheets.
Bring shoyu to a boil in small pot and reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Pour into a small serving bowl and garnish with sesame seeds. Serve alongside sushi for dipping.
Serves 6-8.
Back in my “retro-Philly” days, I was a suburban teenager from New Jersey living with my Aunt Shirley and Uncle Dan Gayda in their welcoming household for a summer. I’d been exiled from Cherry Hill, NJ, after a family dust up to my Aunt’s home. She lived in Northeast Philadelphia on Rhawn Street, near the park. It was the location of many good times centered around the kitchen table all of my life….good food, drink, and lively family discussion. So different from the track housing and family dynamics of where I’d been raised. This was a new land for me at my father’s sister’s home. Philadelphia in the 1970s was full of neighborhoods with European ways. And cold cuts.
The Gayda refrigerator was an adventure; you’d never know what was in there from cousin Ellen’s seaweed and tofu to Freddy’s beer, Shirley’s cabbage rolls, or Uncle Dan’s headcheese and sliced tongue. The headcheese really interested me. Clearly it wasn’t cheese, it was a strange mosaic of jellied mystery meat and flecks of God knows what. I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole. But my Uncle Dan loved it and now I understand why.
There is a renewed interest amongst young chefs in charcuterie and terrines, skulls, feet, cheeks and jowls, offal, and other “nasty bits” of an animal, as Tony Bourdain might say. Called by different names in different countries, Head Cheese or Souse is beloved in the world of PA Dutch cookery, throughout Europe, in Cajun country, and in the Carribbean Islands of Trinidad and Tobago, where it is usually served pickled and is ever present at social gatherings. Who knew?
If you don’t have the stomach for skull and foot boiling, this old fashioned lunch meat masterpiece can be fashioned out of high quality trimmings from pork and veal. The foot is really handy if you can get one from your butcher, since it contains more gelatin than any other body part. Sometimes additional aspic is required anyway to make the Headcheese set up properly. Here is a very simple recipe, provided that you have access to a hog’s head. Recipes differ widely, some calling for the heart and tongue as well.
image: hungrynative.com
Hog’s Head Cheese
Laura Cabot, Laura Cabot Catering, Waldoboro
1 hog’s head
1 large chopped onion
A blade of mace
3 large cloves of garlic
1 stalk sage
1 1/2 Tablespoon salt
2 bay leaves
1 large peeled carrot
1 cup cider vinegar
Dash of red pepper flakes and black pepper
Some chopped fresh parsley (optional)
Remove the brains, ears, and eyes from the hog’s head and saw into four pieces (or ask your butcher to do so).
Barely cover with cold water and bring to a boil in a large pot.
Add onion, mace, and garlic, sage, salt, and bay leaves. Continue to simmer until the meat is falling off the bones. Let it cool.
When cool enough to handle, pick the meat from the bones. Discard the bones and any skin.
Add apple cider vinegar, red pepper flakes, ground black pepper, and a bit more salt to taste to the meat and vegetables.
Run these through a processor until coarsely chopped or chop by hand for a chunkier look. I like the look of larger pieces of meat and vegetables.
Hang in cheesecloth and let the meat mixture drip for an hour, then refrigerate overnight, covered in a shallow pan. Slice and enjoy with cornishon and mustard on a cracker or piece of hearty rye.
Looking for a uniquely delicious dessert? Try this homemade cinnamon ice cream! Break out the ice cream maker and click on the image below for instructions. Don’t have an ice cream maker? No worries, there is a link at the end of the recipe for instructions on ice cream making without a machine. Sweet!
image and recipe courtesy of simplyrecipes.com
Here are more recipes for Cinco de Mayo courtesy of abullseyeview.com. Click on the image below for a link to the full festival menu. Feliz Cinco de Mayo!
image by Chris New
Add some great taste to your Cinco de Mayo festivities with these recipes for salsa verde and guacamole from goodlifeeats.com. Click on the image below for complete instructions.
Pulled beef brisket tacos flavored with jicama, habanero, charred onions, and an unexpected sweet crunch—pomegranate seeds— a creation by Chef Jonathan Waxman. Click on the image below to learn how to make them!
photo by Chris New
British flapjacks, not to be confused with American pancakes, are more like buttery, caramel granola bars. Click on the image below for the complete recipe, courtesy of our friend at butteryum.blogspot.com. Make these delicious flapjacks for Sunday brunch today!
Spring has sprung and if you are like many Mainers, you might be out in the garden digging the first spring parsnips out from under the straw mulch. Once you’ve had your fill of skillet fried beauties, try this recipe for what I believe will be the “next carrot cake”. This recipe is from a British site called “Good Food” and in metric measure. So this may be something of an exercise….
I enjoyed a version of this cake last evening at Francine’s in Camden with a dollop of lovely maple walnut ice cream. I love the addition of maple to this recipe, especially for spring with the new maple syrup abounding, and anything featuring mascarpone is okay by me.
Parsnip and Maple Syrup Cake
recipe and image courtesy of bbcgoodfood.com
THE CAKE
175 grams (about 2 sticks) butter, extra for greasing
250 grams (1 cup) white sugar
100 milliliters (about 1/3 cup) Maine maple syrup
3 large eggs at room temperature
250 grams (about 1 cup) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon each nutmeg and cinnamon
250 grams (about 1 cup) parsnips, peeled and grated
1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and grated
50 grams (1/4 cup) chopped pecans
1 small orange, zested and juiced
Powdered sugar to serve
THE ICING
250 gram (1 cup) tub of mascarpone
3-4 Tablespoons Maine maple syrup
Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease two, 8-inch layer cake pans.
Melt butter, sugar, and Maine maple syrup over a low heat, then cool. Whisk in the eggs, then flour, baking powder, and spices followed by the grated apple and parsnip, nuts, and orange juice/zest.
Divide in half and fill the two pans.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
When somewhat cool, turn the cakes out onto a rack and allow to cool completely.
Just before serving, combine the mascarpone and maple syrup. Spread over one cake and sandwich with the second layer.
Dust with powdered sugar, cut, and enjoy!
Garnish with blue violets. It’s spring in Maine!
Like to cook, read, and laugh? Pick up this book Cooking with Fernet Branca, by British novelist James Hamilton-Paterson. It is the tale of a British opera buff who moves to the wilds of Tuscany and all the comical adventures that ensue.
I found myself interested first in the title, as I am one of those seemingly rare people that love “amaros”, or Italian bitters, and especially Fernet Branca. But I found myself laughing out loud as I lay on the sofa reading, then picking up the phone to order multiple copies for all my foodie friends.
image: therealargentina.com
Recipe:
Drinking Fernet Branca the way “portenos” do (people of the port, as in the port of Buenos Aires):
Mix Fernet Branca (half and half ratio) with Coke over plenty of ice. Yes. Really!
Easy Easter Dinner! Try this Apricot Brown Sugar Ham this year and spend more time with those you love and less time in the kitchen!
image: jdfoods.net
Apricot Brown Sugar Ham
allrecipes.com
1 (10 pound) fully-cooked spiral cut ham
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup apricot jam
1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
Preheat the oven to 275°.
Place the ham cut side down onto a sheet of aluminum foil, shiny side up. Mix together the brown sugar, apricot jam, and mustard powder in a small bowl. Brush onto the ham using a pastry or barbeque brush. Reserve any leftover glaze. Enclose the foil around the ham and place on a rimmed baking sheet.
Roast for 2 hours in the preheated oven, or if your ham is a different size, figure 14 minutes per pound. Apply the remaining glaze 20 minutes before the ham is done.
With spring in the air, change is in the wind at Arrows restaurant in Ogunquit, ME. James Beard Award winning chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier have just launched the Arrows revolution, a menu redesign and restaurant re-concept that includes a newly expanded Asian Vegetable garden. In honor of the changes, here is a recipe for Baby Bok Choy with Chives and Smoked Ham.
Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier, chefs and co-owners of Arrows, MC Perkins Cove and Summer Winter (located inside the Burlington Marriott) www.markandclarkrestaurants.com. Photo © Ron Manville.
“In the spring, we grow row upon row of bok choy in our greenhouse. Outside one of the first herbs to appear is chives, so the two ingredients combined are a natural for us. Bok choy are quite hearty and can be grown outdoors as soon as the ground has thawed. We recommend this side dish with our Grilled Rib-Eye Steak or Lemongrass and Lemon Roasted Chicken.” –chefs Mark and Clark
Baby Bok Choy with Chives and Smoked Ham
Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier, Arrows restaurant, Ogunquit
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
6 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
6 heads baby bok choy, leaves pulled apart, washed and dried
½ cup chicken stock
2 teaspoons soy sauce
4 ounces Smithfield or other smoked ham, cut into 1 x ¼ inch matchsticks
1 bunch chives, cut into 1-inch lengths, about ½ cup
In a large sauté pan or wok, warm the oil over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add the garlic and sauté, stirring frequently, until barely golden brown, about 2 minutes.
Add the bok choy and sauté, stirring constantly, until the leaves start to wilt. Add the chicken stock, soy sauce, and ham and cook until the liquid is reduced by half.
Transfer the bok choy to a serving dish. Sprinkle with the chives and serve at once.
Serves 6.
At a recent neighborhood cocktail party where 3/4 of the gathering were self-proclaimed “foodies”, the conversation turned to what else, but FOOD! A woman from Louisiana who was a house guest of the hosts asked “Just what IS this meatloaf that you northerners talk about? Is it like Spam?” Rest assured, I set this lovely lady straight on meatloaf, which just happens to be one of my favorite comfort foods. (But have you heard the buzz that Spam is making a come-back in popularity?)
According to food historians, meatloaf first came on the scene in the late 19th century when meat grinders became a popular kitchen tool. A recipe for ground veal mixed with breadcrumbs and eggs and baked in individual molds is mentioned as early as 1884 in The Boston Cooking School Cookbook. The term “meatloaf” first appeared in the New York Times during the 1930’s and 1940’s when the economy forced homemakers to really stretch their food budget. The main ingredient was inexpensive hamburger combined with whatever leftovers (veggies) might be in the ‘fridge as well as the addition of some kind of grain-based filler such as oatmeal, bread crumbs or cracker crumbs. An egg was blended into the mixture as a binder to firm it up enough so that it could be sliced.
In a 2007 poll conducted by Good Housekeeping Magazine, meatloaf ranked #7 in the list of America’s favorite dishes. From roadside diners to upscale eateries to school cafeterias, meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans is the perfect comfort meal. (And don’t forget a cold meatloaf sandwich for lunch. I’ll have mine with ketchup and a slice of raw onion. Yum!)
This recipe is my favorite meatloaf – it’s stuffed with spinach and roasted red bell peppers.
image: simplyrecipes.com
Vegetable Stuffed Meatloaf
Paula Anderson
1 large red bell pepper
2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided use
1 bag (6-ounce) fresh baby spinach, washed and spun dry
2 cups chopped onions
2 Tablespoons minced garlic
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs made from French bread
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
6 Tablespoons ketchup
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound ground veal
1/2 pound ground pork
1 pound lean ground beef
About a 2-1/2 inch thick slice of bulk hot sausage (like Jimmy Dean™ brand)
Char red bell pepper over gas flame or boiler until blackened on all sides. Place pepper in a paper bag and let stand 10 minutes to steam. Peel, seed and slice pepper into 1/2-inch wide strips.
Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add spinach and toss just until wilted. Remove spinach from skillet and place in a small bowl. Add remaining 1 Tablespoon olive oil to skillet and sauté onions and garlic until tender.
Transfer onion mixture to a large bowl and add breadcrumbs, eggs, basil, ketchup, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Mix in ground veal, pork, beef, and sausage.
Place half of meat mixture in a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan. Using the back of a spoon, make a 1-inch wide by 1/2-inch deep trough lengthwise down the middle of the loaf. Lay half of the roasted red bell pepper strips in trough and then layer with spinach and remaining pepper strips. Top with remaining meat mixture, pressing down firmly.
Bake in a preheated 375° oven for 1 hour 30 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 160°. Let stand 15 minutes before slicing.
Yields 6-8 servings.
‘Tis the day for everyone to celebrate all things Irish, and there is no better place to begin than in the kitchen. The following recipes for mini shepherd’s pies and Guinness cupcakes will have you in the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day in no time. Erin Go Bragh!
Click on the image below for a link to some great St. Patrick’s Day recipes!
Image and recipes courtesy of abullseyeview.com
This is a very old recipe. Serve these flavorful scones warm with butter. They may be a little heavy but you can lighten them up by using an egg in place of some of the milk if you like.
Black Treacle Scones
allrecipes.com
3 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup butter
2 Tablespoons molasses
1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 425°. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cream of tarter, salt, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg and ginger. Cut in butter with a fork or pastry blender. Combine milk and molasses in a small bowl; stir into flour mixture until moistened.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly. Roll dough out into a 1/2 inch thick round. Cut out circles with a medium biscuit cutter and place pieces on prepared baking sheet so that they are barely touching.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Move to a wire rack to cool slightly before serving. For soft scones, cover with a dry cloth for 10 minutes. For crisp scones, do not cover.
Yields 15 scones.
Donato Fortebraccio is the author of My Godfather’s Italian Fish Tales. He has just completed 100 Swordfish recipes in his new cookbook, soon to be released. See his books at Harbor Fish Market in Portland, Maine.
Moroccan Swordfish-Couscous Cakes
Donato Fortebraccio
1 pound swordfish, skinless, poached and flaked
2 cups of couscous, cooked
1 large egg
1 cup of plain yogurt
1/2 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 lemon, zested
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, ground
1/4 cup capers, rinsed and chopped
1 medium white onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of flavored bread crumbs
1/2 cup of cooked potatoes, mashed
Using a large mixing bowl, add the above and mix well. Using floured hands, shape the mixture firmly into patties. Dip the patties in flour and bread crumbs. It is important to refrigerate the patties for 1 hour. Remove and fry in a large deep skillet with the olive oil.
Cook at least 3 minutes on each side or until lightly brown. After draining patties on paper towels, serve with a dollop of yogurt on top.
You should have a dozen patties to serve 6 people as a side dish.
This New England recipe is a nod in congratulations to our own New England Patriots. Celebrate Superbowl XLVI by serving up these Lobster Nachos, which make a decadent snack or appetizer that’s easy to prepare if you start with cooked lobster meat. Congrats, Pats!!
Lobster Nachos
about.com
1 13.5-ounce bag of white or red corn tortilla chips
4 Tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup red onion, chopped
2 4-ounce cans baby shrimp, drained
8-14 ounces of cooked lobster meat
8 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese
8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
2-3 scallions, chopped
1 cup sour cream
1 16-ounce jar of salsa
Preheat oven to 350°.
Layer tortilla chips in a 13″ x 9″ x 2″ baking dish.
Blend cheeses. Sprinkle half of the cheese mixture and tomatoes over tortilla chips.
Melt butter in large frying pan over medium heat.
Add garlic and onion to pan and sauté until onions are tender, approximately two minutes.
Add shrimp and lobster meat and heat until warm, about three minutes.
Drain and layer warm seafood mixture on top of nachos.
Top with the remaining cheese and bake at 350° for about 15 minutes until cheese is melted.
Top with scallions and dollops of sour cream. Serve hot with salsa on the side.
Serving Suggestion: Wash these Lobster Nachos down with Shipyard Export Ale, which is brewed in Portland, Maine, and available throughout the U.S.
Serves 8.
Tomorrow is my birthday, Yup! Thirty nine again and this is the cake I am making for my big day. These are flavors I learned to love in Buenos Aires recently, and very traditional in South American and Mexican cultures. The three milks represented are heavy cream, evaporated milk, and condensed milk. Almost custard-like in texture, this cake is dense, moist, and delicious. I give mine a whipped cream topping.
If you’ve resolved to lose weight this new year, better stay clear of this recipe. It may even be a sin.
image: luluthebaker.blogspot.com
Tres Leche Cake
Laura Cabot, Laura Cabot Catering, Waldoboro
1½ cup cake flour
1 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla
5 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
Cream syrup for soaking
Whipped cream topping
Combine cake flour, sugar, salt, and powder. In a separate bowl combine the oil and vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, until combined. Stir in the 1/2 cup milk, then fold in the flour mixture.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan, (I use a square one), and bake at 325° for 30-40 minutes.
Let the cake cool to room temperature. Turn the cake out onto a deep platter and pierce with a fork a few dozen times so that the cake will accept the cream syrup. Meanwhile prepare the cream syrup.
Cream Syrup
12 ounces evaporated milk
14 ounces condensed milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
Whisk together the three milks. Slowly pour over the cooled cake. Spoon the runoff back over the cake.
Whipped topping
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon sugar
In a cold mixing bowl, beat the cream, vanilla, and sugar together until peaks form.
Spread thickly over the cake and serve at once. I like this with whatever berry is in season. And a sprint on the treadmill.
Let’s begin by defining “foodways.” Wikipedia defines this term as “the cultural, social, and economic practices relating to the production and consumption of food tied to larger social and economic factors.”
Immediately noted by me, an enthusiastic eater of regular meals, Argentina is a night culture and a café culture. Meals do not occur on an American schedule. The Argentine people eat four meals a day, which must be necessary for staying up half the night.
Their breakfast, or desayuno, is a light meal of coffee or mate, medialunas (pastry) and jam or dulce de leche, sometimes bread and cold cuts. Mate is worth a discussion. While everyone drinks it and it is traditional to do so, it seems to be considered a bit of a vice. Probably much like drinking coffee is here in the US. Less fortunate folk drink it to excess to stave off hunger, I was told, and it’s not uncommon to see working class people carting around their thermos of hot water along with their mate gourd (or calabazo) and straw (or bombilla). While it contains caffeine and is stimulating, it is also relaxing with a deeply vegetal flavor which is quite enjoyable.
Lunch, or almuerzo, features meat and vegetables or salad. In the larger cities I noted several vegetarian buffets, popular as lunch spots and incredibly good values. Perhaps a rebuttal to the famous Argentine beef, which is heavily favored in most meals, sometimes prepared in the Milanese style, or pounded and breaded.
After work it’s “tea time, which means time to linger forever in one of the ubiquitous street side cafés, over either tea or a “cafe solo” and lots of conversation. Maybe you prefer yours “con leche?” At this time tapas-like snacks or little panini are consumed with gusto. This is a good thing since dinner won’t be until 10 p.m. or later. My traveling companion and I got called “grandmothers” for wanting to eat by 8 or 9 pm. Hey, we’re not even mothers, just can’t sleep on a full stomach.
Returning to the cafés …many are associated with particular artistic or literary, political, or student groups and are important within the social context of the city. It’s nice to see people giving themselves permission to converse passionately and spend time together with nothing seeming to pressure them. I feel it’s time well spent.
The people in Buenos Aires love their snacks. I noticed the bakeries doing a booming business at all times of day selling delicious varieties of empanadas (think beef, chicken, seafood, Caprese, mushroom, pork….) and other savory snacks or cookies galore, like the Alfajore sandwich cookie. They ought to be illegal and are so good with their filling of dulce de leche or jam and chocolate coat. I saw more carbonated water being consumed that sodas, but the show stopper of any drink I had in the country was a fabulous “slushy” of heavily gingered lemonade. Completely refreshing, you can bet I will be making this at home this summer.
Cena, or dinner, is unfathomably late in the evening and is the largest meal of the day. Since Italians settled this place, it’s all reminding me of Rome. You can get Italian bitters like Frenet Branca anywhere after a meal. Even on your mini bar. Oh joy! I ate at some great steak joints and I can tell you that the beef is amazing, thick, juicy, delicious and all grass fed. Usually, a steak dinner is offered with salad choices, side vegetables, and lots of good red wine. I didn’t notice many desserts eaten in the evening.
If you want a traditional “asado,” or barbeque, you must go into the country where the cattlemen are…or befriend a traditionalist and hope for an invitation to a family affair. The religion is to cook over wood coals, never flame. A full compliment of meats (beef, lamb, sometimes goat, always sausage) will be roasting, often flayed open and whole. Grilled vegetables and many side salads will be offered up as well a Chimichurri sauce. Everything is mopped up with crusty bread, washed down with good red wine, and eaten off wooden plates. 
Back in the city, those out for the evening will continue drinking and dancing…tango is huge, though sadly not with the youth so much. But you’d better pace yourselves. Oh, and bring your sunglasses. The younger set strike out after 1 am. Things heat up by 3 am and, to our surprise, they’re still at it Sunday morning at 10 am, sunglasses on and piling out of the clubs and onto the sidewalks. Suddenly eating dinner late is making all the sense in the world!
I noticed salmon on most restaurant menus in Buenos Aires and, while on a side trip to Chile, I remembered why. We saw salmon and mussel farms everywhere while traveling through the fiords of Chile. They look innocent enough but the waters, once pristine, are suffering and the ecosystems are dying. Most of the world’s salmon is now coming from Chile and while tasty, it is good to remember the cost of farmed fish. I am happy to report that the wild trout are still plentiful and were biting for me! I caught an 18-inch beautiful brown trout, with sweet, pink salmon-like flesh.
Did I mention ice cream? It is done in the Italian gelato style and called helado. The ice cream of Argentina is very rich and wonderful and comes in very exotic flavors, Andean chocolate became my favorite (a mix of bitter chocolate, dulce de leche and Patagonian walnuts), but you can get rosehip too and a variety of other inventive flavors!
About visiting Argentina in December…it’s early summer there, the lupines, wild orchids, and Scotch broom are in full bloom, kids are getting out of school for summer vacation, and it’s Christmas! The farms are also producing wonderful vegetables, nuts and fruits, honey, hops and berries of all varieties, cherries, strawberries, gooseberries and calafate, the mystery berry of Argentina. It’s a type of dark berry from a barberry bush. It’s said if you eat these berries, you’ll return for another stay. I bought some jam which I’ve not tasted yet, but I will keep you posted! I fully intend to return to this beautiful place for further adventure in the Patagonia.
