Posting each meal’s menu and a description began to seem a bit boring, especially as we often repeat dishes. Besides, I post each meal with photos and menu on my Instagram account, so anyone who’s keenly interested can see them there. I kind of liked the approach I took last month of picking out a dish from each menu. That fits the blog approach better I think. Or at least I’m going with that as my stand for now.
Solterito de Langostinos – A longtime favorite, this is inspired by a traditional appetizer from Ayacucho, Peru. It’s a chilled salad of potato, broad beans, corn, tomato, black olives, red onion, rocoto chili, smoked gouda, parsley, and oregano – dressed in a vinaigrette of lime juice, shrimp stock, black vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. It’s topped with poached prawns. Dinner, November 5th.
Casarecce con le fave – Our version of this classic pasta dish from southern Italy and Sicily. I presented a step-by-step on how to make this a couple of months ago. Basically, casarecce pasta tossed with crispy prosciutto, broad beans, mint, and ricotta salata. A spring favorite! Private dinner for a group of seven friends from the east coast US, November 7th.
Tiradito de Langostinos – This one has become one of our signature dishes at this point. It’s easily the most requested cold appetizer we’ve got when people ask about the menu. It’s a ceviche of prawns, split and marinated in an emulsified leche of lime juice, strawberries (just one or two for color and sweetness), red chili, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and salt. It’s garnished with brined cucumber and radish slices, limo chili rounds, fried garlic chips, peanuts, black sesame, cilantro, and mint. Private dinner for a group of ten friends on a “mystery vacation” – a longtime correspondence with the organizer, as they actually had the first reservation we had to cancel when covid lockdowns went into place, just three or four days later. The organizer, each year, puts together a vacation for the group based on their budget, telling them what sort of weather to pack for and anything special they need to know, but they don’t find out where they’re going until the y arrive at the airport, luggage and passport in hand. What a cool idea! And so glad we were finally able to meet them, and they were able to get to Buenos Aires. November 11th.
Patarashka de trucha – Inspired by our trip to the Amazon a few years back, this is a reinterpretation of a classic dish of fish and aromatic vegetables that are wrapped in a local aromatic leaf and then roasted. I approached it with fillets of fresh trout topped with slices of tomato and red onion, capers, ginger, garlic, and chilies, drizzled with olive oil, mirin (sweet rice wine), salt and pepper, and then topped with a shiso leaf. The whole thing wrapped in foil and baked in the oven. Served with a corn, ginger, garlic, and mascarpone risotto splashed with some shiso oil. Lunch, November 14th.
Dark chocolate tart – We’ve got to get a dessert in here, and this is one of my favorites. It’s a dark chocolate ganache tart flavored with a bit of Chinese five-spice, over a sablé crust, and then topped with berries that are macerated for the day in red vermouth. A grating of dark chocolate over the plate, and what’s not to love? Dinner on November 18th.
Foglie d’olivo primavera – Not an overly traditional pasta dish, I was just in the mood for a good pasta primavera with asparagus, green beans, peas, mint, lemon zest, and a good dose of black pepper, all finished with some fresh ricotta. The pasta shape is called foglie d’olivo, or olive tree leaves – it’s a spinach infused semolina pasta shaped like… olive tree leaves. I hardly ever make it, so they’re a little “rustic”, but they do the job, and the dish was a hit! Lunch on November 21st.
Rosehip cheesecake – Oh heck, let’s get in another dessert. Sablé crust, and a cheesecake made with our own homemade cream cheese, flavored with a good amount of rosehip jam (not homemade, but “artisanal”, from a local producer). Topped with a cherry and tangerine marmalade (homemade) and a dollop of whipped cream. Everyone loved it, but the real hit was the cherry and tangerine marmalade, for which I’ve gotten two requests from guests for the recipe! Dinner November 25th.
Garlic-parsley tear bread and Maiale ubriaco – I couldn’t decide – actually, this was a three course lunch that I think might have been the best meal of the month. The garlic and parsley bread was so good that that entire “loaf” of tear off rolls was nearly gone before the first course was served. It’s a bread I resist making too often, because we have a tendency to overeat it ourselves. The first course, a classic fettuccine all’amatriciana, followed by a “drunken” pork chop, quickly seared and then cooked in a bath of the slow cooked sauce of… onions, garlic, celery, red bell pepper, tomato paste, mustard, rosemary, sage, oregano, red wine, marsala, bacon stock, thickened with a beurre manie afterwards to spoon over the pork chop. A sweet potato round and a mix of corn, peas, and green beans to round out the dish. And we finished off the meal with a fig cheesecake topped with more of that cherry-tangerine marmalade and whipped cream. Lunch, November 28th.
The cover photo – dropped jacaranda blossoms on a sidewalk. It’s that time of the year. And that’s that for November 2022!
