From Argentina With Love

Salsa Golf--'Golf Sauce'

Last year I attended a taping of the show 'Food Network Challenge,' famous for bringing you princess cakes and models of the Brooklyn Bridge constructed from cornflakes.  Four chefs were challenged to beat the clock to create dishes, that were tasted by three chef-judges, to ultimately win a prize of $10,000.  Three of the chefs had stations piled high with fresh fruits and vegetables, while the other (Sean Brock, who won) had a clean station that looked more like a lab than a kitchen.  He was using what the judges declared was the wave of the future:  Molecular Gastronomy. 

And while famous chefs like Grant Achatz of Alinea and Ferran Adria of El Bulli may experiment with dishes like bacon slices with butterscotch and apple, the concept of using chemistry to make tasty food has been around at least since the invention of Salsa Golf.

Salsa Criolla--Creole-Style Relish

'Fusion' is a hip term these days, as the globe seems to be getting smaller and information is constantly shared, creating nonstop connectivity.  Cultures are blending and melding at an amazing speed.  In cuisine, that has translated into a lot of 'East meets West'--merging Asian flavors with European techniques, or Fusion.

But just for just a moment, I'd like you to step into my time-machine and join me about 350 years ago.  The world was much bigger then.  Forget the internet, heck, cars and telephones aren't even down the pike for another 200 years or so.  Horse and cart, if you can afford it, that's more like it.  A voyage on a ship from Spain (if you survive) to the New World may take a year.  The letter telling your mother that you arrived and are alive (assuming either one of you can read or write) will take another year.

Milhojas de Dulce de Leche--Dulce de Leche Napoleons

 

If you had a dream pantry, what would be in it?  Would you have a few staples in a drawer, or maybe an infinite walk-in closet full of every food product imaginable?  The Perfect Pantry, hosted by the lovely Lydia, is a blog about all the items that would be in that ultimate pantry.  Lydia chooses a product, writes an amazing history of it (I always learn something!) and then makes a recipe with it.  On Saturdays, she does OPP (that's Other People's Pantries, BTW) and gives us a peek into how other folks stock their larders.

Provoleta--Grilled Provolone

 

 

To use the old adage 'A picture's worth a thousand words' would be trite, but in this case, there's not much I can say beyond what you see in the photo above to convince you to get up from your computer, jump in your car, race to the closest deli and ask for a one-inch thick slice of Provolone cheese so you can make Provoleta as soon as possible.

Plum Clafoutis--Clafoutis de Ciruela

My mother-in-law has never made Plum Clafoutis, which is amazing considering that she has spent more than half the year for the past forty years surrounded by plums of some kind.  They are the main crop grown on my in-laws' farm--acre after acre of Italian Plums.  This recipe is for her, since the growing season in Argentina is right around the corner.  (Even though the plums picked right off the tree are so sweet and fresh, they need no recipe to be enjoyed!)