So, Henry headed to Peru to visit his family at the end of April. The plan was about eight weeks, but Argentina has once again more or less closed down its borders, this time even to citizens and residents (not 100% shutdown, but pretty close), and it now looks like he may not be able to return until early September! It’s a vague and futile attempt at preventing the entry of the “Delta variant”, which already hasn’t worked out, but they’re not going to back down on their decision, because they can’t admit to having done something that doesn’t work. At least he’s with his family, living at home. Had I gone with the idea of taking a trip to the States during part of the same period, it would have been a much bigger issue, since I generally end up staying in hotels for the majority of the time I’m there. Adaptation is where we’re at these days, no?

It’s been awhile since I just posted one of my “what’s for dinner?” sort of posts. Given the changes that the pandemic has wrought, Casa SaltShaker has been pretty much closed, other than a few private dinners, and a feeble attempt at delivery food, since last March, and I’m still figuring out what form it will take when we reopen. At least for awhile it will need to be more casual, aiming at a more local crowd than the international visitors that have tended to dominate the table. Mostly for economics – Argentina’s economy (as many other places) is in the toilet, and very few here can afford the sort of price we used to charge. Though, interestingly, a few new spots have opened up here that cater to that price level crowd and seem to be doing well, so who knows? I haven’t reviewed any of them because, once again, haven’t been working, so they’re a little out of my reach as well these days.

Back to this post – and mostly, some dishes that I’ve been experimenting with for dinner that I can adapt to a new “paradigm” for the restaurant down the road….

Although Asian cuisine hasn’t been our primary forte, we have delved that way now and again. When life gives you wax beans…. well, I went for a spicy, salty stir-fry of pork, wax beans, and fermented black beans. Put that with some garlic rice and I could make that work.

Who doesn’t like fried rice, and who doesn’t like an omelette? Okay, there are people out there who for some strange reason seem to have an aversion to eating eggs, I even know a couple. Not one I’ve ever understood. I’m sure there’s a childhood trauma involved. My one-off take on an omurice, a seasoned omelette, over, in this case, bacon fried rice, a dish that’s claimed by both the Japanese and Koreans. They tend to use different sauces and flavorings. In my case, the sauce is a mix of a reduced brown gravy blended into a little sweetened mayo and ketchup. I’m not sure this one would work so well for Casa S, unless, maybe we tried doing brunch again.

I’m a big fan of offal, and while I constantly hear from people about how they never touch the stuff, what’s been interesting over the years at our table is that we’ve served up one or another kind of innards dish many a time, and people clean their plates. I often think it’s just one of those “you’ve never had them prepared right” circumstances. Here, a really classic English dish, deviled kidneys, served not so classically over brown rice. I’d forgotten how good these are.

Turning a bit French, chicken braised with fresh figs, onions, rosemary, and sage. I’m not sure if it’s a dish that can be called a classic, but it’s one I learned a long time ago and think of as a classic in my French repertoire. Probably have to serve it with something other than tomatoes and cucumbers with yogurt, but I wanted a fresh salad and I need my veggies. And, of course, figs have to be in season.

When Masterchef came to Argentina I wasn’t impressed. Neither were a whole lot of other people. I wrote a fair amount about it back when it aired for two seasons in 2014 and 2015. This year they brought it back as a “celebrity” version, with local stars from the theater, television, music, and sports world. I didn’t have high hopes, just because of the past two seasons, and because celebrity versions of these shows are usually worse than the regular ones. And, in some ways, this was too – early on, when the folk who were there simply because they were stars, or really, mostly, has-beens, but couldn’t cook a microwave dinner, were on. But they got eliminated quickly, and it turned out there were quite a few who were actually pretty damned good cooks…

…and hey, I’m a sucker for a pretty face, and my favorite, Gaston Dalmau, ended up winning the competition. Okay, he’s too young for me, and his boyfriend and my husband would have objections, but, nonetheless. Anyway, at one point, one of the contestants came up with this really interesting “salad”, and I kind of took his idea and ran with it. This was a seared hanger steak, sliced and served over half a burrata cheese ball, with cherry tomatoes, arugula, frying peppers, and pistachios, and the whole thing dressed in a mustard and cocoa vinaigrette. Yum. I’d serve that again.

I’ve mentioned the Pepe Carvalho series of detective novels once or twice in the past, and just the general field of detectives who also happen to be really into food, one of my favorite reading genres. In each book, there tends to be one or sometimes two recipes that the author, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, details the making of, and I’ve made a few in the past. This one sounded really delicious, and it was. I’ll leave the description in the translated work:

His hands delved simultaneously into cupboards and drawers as he laid out ingredients on the marble top. He cut three aubergines into one-centimetre rounds, and sprinkled them with salt. Then he put oil in the frying pan and fried a clove of garlic until it was burnt almost black. He tossed some prawn heads in the same oil. He shelled the prawns and diced some pieces of ham. He removed some of the prawns’ heads and put them to boil in a pan. Having rinsed the salt from the aubergine slices, he dried them individually with a tea towel. Next he fried all the aubergines in the garlic-and-prawn oil, and left them to drain in a colander. Still in the same oil, he sautéed grated onion with a spoonful of flour, and added the bechamel and prawn-head stock. Having arranged the aubergines in layers in an oven-proof casserole, he strewed them with shelled prawns and diced ham, and bathed everything in the bechamel. He grated cheese all over the crisp whiteness of the bechamel, placed the casserole in the oven, and waited for the cheese to melt. He cleared everything from the kitchen table with a sweep of his elbows, laid two sets of cutlery on the white tablecloth, and brought a bottle of Jumilla claret from the cupboard outside the kitchen. When everything was ready, he returned to the bedroom.

Yes was sleeping on her side, with her face to the wall. Carvalho shook her awake, helping her to stand up, and virtually carried her into the kitchen. He sat her down in front of a plate, and served. Aubergines au gratin, with prawns and ham.

‘I admit it’s not very orthodox. Normally it’s made with chemically pure bechamel and much less of a prawn flavour. I have rather a primitive palate.’

Yes looked at the plate, and at Carvalho, and made no comment. She was not yet fully awake. She dipped her fork into the delicate crispness, put it in her mouth, and chewed thoughtfully.

‘It’s very good. Is it out of a packet?’

And, let’s cap things off with a recent class that I did online. Yes, I’m still doing those, and yes, you should still be contacting me and setting something up. I’ve done a bunch during the last 15-16 months, and had several people book second and even third classes. It’s a fun way to learn to do something in the comfort of your own kitchen. This class, a request for a seafood paella for a trio of folk split between the US and France. We even started from making our own seafood stock to use in making it. And, it turned out spectacularly well! And while I wouldn’t make the dish for a large group here at Casa S, if someone booked us for two to four people, it would make a great main course!