Two dinners this last weekend – our usual Friday night communal table affair, and a private dinner for a group of mortgage brokers from Puerto Rico. Fun times had by all!
Tiradito de Palometa – palometa, variously translated as butterfish, leatherjack, or pomfret, all of which are actually different fish, so, who knows… cut into sashimi style strips. Cured in a mix of lime juice, chañar (northern Argentine fruit) syrup, fish sauce, ginger, sesame oil, and salt. Topped with brined cucumber slices, lightly pickled beet slices, chili rounds, and chives.
Codorniú “María” Extra Brut – 100% Chardonnay sparkling
Locro de Papas – one of our favorite regular soups, a potato soup flavored with caramelized onions and yellow chili, and finished with a touch of cream, egg yolks, and cheese, for a triple whammy of richness. Garnished with diced avocado and chopped cilantro in smoked chili oil. Recipe here.
Salentein Corte de Blancas 2019 – blend of Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon blanc
Fettucce con Portobelos y Aceitunas Verdes – a fusion of a long time favorite pasta recipe, umbricelli alle olive, with a dish that we tried at Donnet, a few years back, that has stayed in my mind. The classic pasta dish uses the Umbrian version of pici, called umbricelli, thick, twisted rope-like noodles, tossed with a portobello and green olive cream sauce. The dish from the mushroom-centric restaurant was portobello mushrooms that had been marinated, roasted, and glazed in green olive liqueur, served over a cashew puree. Now, first off, finding green olive liqueur proved to be more difficult than expected – it exists, but the place that I’d once seen it at didn’t have any anymore. An online search yielded one solid recipe for making it myself, and with a bit of tweaking until it came out tasting palatable, I ended up with about half a liter of green gold. I marinated the halved portobellos for about an hour in a bit of the liqueur, then roasted them in the oven until lovely and browned, and the liqueur nice and syrupy. I decided on a slightly thinner pasta, fettucce, basically slightly thicker and shorter fettuccine, which are tossed with a basic aglio e olio along with toasted chopped cashews, some chopped green olives, and the roasted mushrooms. Finished with a touch of sour cream. Loved the way this one turns out!
Lagarde Malbec Rosado 2022
Matambre Braseado – four-hour braised flank steak in a mix of milk, miso, espresso, cumin, rocoto chili, black pepper, and salt. Topped with sautéed peanuts and green onions with a splash of soy sauce. Served over black-eyed peas cooked in beef stock, and with a piece of purple cauliflower roasted in olive oil with a touch of espresso and coriander.
Lagarde “Teia” 2021 – blend of Cabernet sauvignon and Cabernet franc
Cheesecake de Anana – vanilla cookie base, topped with our homemade cream cheese filling blended with pineapple and Chinese five-spice. Over that, strawberries roasted with maple syrup and a local amaro, Hierro-Quina Perretti.
La Liga de Enologos “BB4” Blancas Dulces 2022 – a lighter sweet wine of Torrontés, Pedro Ximenez, and Moscatel
