Monthly Archive for May, 2010

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Orzo Salad

Published on May 13, 2010 in Beans + Legumes, Italian, pasta and Salads. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

I’m kind of obsessed with this pasta salad. It’s so easy and ridiculously yummy. I have to make sure not to leave a spoon in the bowl or it will all get eaten (I’m not pointing fingers, but you know who you are, Ryan. And Jennifer). So I was beside myself when I couldn’t find orzo ANYWHERE in Buenos Aires. Thankfully, my friend Madeline came to my rescue and pointed me to Valenti’s, a very posh Italian food shop in Palermo (they have a few other locations too). It sort of killed me to pay $5.50 US for a bag of orzo or puntalette as the package says, but I forked over my pesos and cleaned out their stock.

The goods.

I really do love this dish. You’ve got a nice salady crunch from the cucumbers and almonds, tanginess from the feta and sweetness in the dried cranberries, all delivered in the creamy deliciousness of the elusive-no-more orzo.

Sweet victory.

Orzo Salad

Salad:
1 pound (or 500g) orzo
6 cups vegetable stock (water is okay too)
1 15-ounce/210g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
½ seedless cucumber, cut into ½” pieces (if using a regular cucumber, just scrape the seeds out)
½ red onion, finely chopped (or a couple of scallions works great too)
¾ cup feta cheese
1/3 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped
¼ cup dried cranberries
A handful of fresh basil, chopped (about 15 leaves)
Salt
Pepper

Dressing:
¼ cup red wine vinegar (or balsamic or lemon juice, whatever you have)
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ tablespoon honey
Black pepper

Cook the orzo in the vegetable stock (or salted water) until al dente (note: there won’t be much stock left in the pan) and drain. While the orzo is cooking, make the dressing and prep the rest of the ingredients. Put the cucumbers, chickpeas and onion into serving bowl and add a bit of the dressing. Add the cooked orzo and the rest of the ingredients and then pour over the remaining dressing. You can cube your feta, but I like to break off rough chunks with a fork. Salt and pepper to taste, then gently mix everything together. Can be served immediately or refrigerated and served cold.

TIP: If you’re down to the end of your jar of mustard, just make the dressing in there.

Chow Down: Indian Food in BsAs

Published on May 10, 2010 in Field Trips and Indian. 0 Comments

When you live in Buenos Aires and your husband is a vegetarian (and yes, I realize this statement does not apply to a lot of people), it’s not necessarily easy to find a veggie-friendly meal out. Having said that, Buenos Aires has become quite a bit more vegetarian-friendly in the last few years with articles in the NY Times and others touting meat-free restaurants. Of course, Indian food is always a safe bet. However, there aren’t a whole lot of Indians in Argentina (only about 1,200 or so Wikipedia says), so the Indian restaurant scene is a bit limited. Let’s just say there is no Little India, like Sixth Street in NYC.

But we have found a few places we like and it’s nice to get out for a meal where there is (occasionally) adult conversation. When we go out for Indian, we always get veggie samosas to start, either channa saag (my personal favorite) or saag paneer (Ryan’s) and then some other veggie main course, like veggie biryani or aloo gobi (cauliflower and potato tomato curry).

Here’s a quick round-up of the Indian restaurants we’ve tried in Buenos Aires:

Mumbai
Honduras 5684; Palermo Hollywood
Tel: 4775-9791

http://www.mumbai.restaurant.com.ar

This place is my favorite. It’s got the red velvet drapery bordello thing happening which reminds me of so many of the places on Sixth Street in NYC, but it’s more spacious and a step up in terms of quality of service and food. And they get extra points for making me Chana Saag even though it’s not on the menu. Excellent mushroom bhajee and great garlic naan. And you have the option of going mild, spicy or “Indian spicy” — and it really is spicy, which is usually not the case in BsAs (there is a major aversion to spicy food here, which is mindboggling to me, Queen of Hot Sauce).

Taj Mahal
Nicaragua 4345; Palermo
Tel: 4831-5716

http://www.tajmahalbuenosaires.com.ar

I recently tried this place out on a girls’ night out and had mixed feelings. The space was nice, a bit more contemporary Indian with nice framed elephant embroideries and subtle lighting (no bordello drapery here). I felt like it was difficult to judge the food, as we all ended up ordering very similar things — either that or everything tastes alike! I had a chicken tikka masala, which was tasty, but rather salty. A friend’s dal was quite good, but I always feel like that’s more of a side than a main course. I think we need to give this place another go and do a full-on veg meal, so I’m reserving judgment until then.
UPDATE: Went last weekend for our 4th anniversary (yes, I was also wondering why we weren’t on a plane to Mendoza for the weekend…) and had an all-veg meal. And while we branched out and tried what I was hoping would be very different main dishes (aloo gobi, mushroom mutter, vegetable dumplings in a white sauce), many ended up tasting really similar! So, I’m afraid that may be the way it is here. Having said that, if you like spicy tomato-based curries, then you’ll love this place.

Tandoor
Laprida 1293
Tel: 4821-3676

http://www.tandoor.com.ar

The food is really good here, but the atmosphere at Tandoor is akin to dining at the morgue…very, um, quiet. Nevertheless, the space is a lovely windowed corner in Barrio Norte and the service was excellent (if a bit stiff — sorry, no pun intended). No channa saag, but the saag paneer was very good. We also had the aloo gobi, which was nice. The real highlight was the vegetable samosas — they were flavorful and fluffy, not just blobs of fried potato with a pea or two thrown in. Tandoor has a more varied menu than the other places we’ve been, and they’ve apparently imported not only their very own tandoor oven from India, but the chef as well! A bit pricier than the other restaurants. Good solid food, but a bit sedate.

Bangalore
Humboldt 1416; Palermo Hollywood
Tel: 4779-2621
Now if you’re looking for a party spot, Bangalore would be it. It’s essentially a cross between a curry joint and an English pub. The downstairs area is full-on pub where you can get dosas and basic pub grub (fries, burgers, etc.), along with jugs of gin and tonic and several different beers (including locally made cider and three ales from the Pilar-based Stones Brewery. You can also get the same menu that’s offered upstairs. Upstairs — the “restaurant” part — is a groovy, low-ceilinged little seating area with just a few low tables with comfy cushions and pretty lamps. Very romantic (minus The Who, which I seem to recall was blaring at top volume from the pub area down below). The food, however, left a bit to be desired. I realize sometimes a shrimp curry is just that — shrimp in a curry. I was a bit surprised when I got my plate and there was not a single other vegetable in the dish. What was really disturbing was when Ryan ordered the calabaza (directly translated as pumpkin, but what we’d call squash in the US) curry and received, literally, a giant hunk of calabaza sitting in a puddle of curry. Very odd. And not terribly good. I will say their chapati was excellent, but other than that, not impressed with the food. Stick to the pub (and gin & tonics) downstairs.

Beans: The heated debate over dried vs. canned

Published on May 6, 2010 in Basics and Beans + Legumes. 1 Comment Tags: .


Did you see how I did that? Heated? Get it? OK, sorry. So, I wanted to chat a little bit about this very hot topic. If you’re like me, you think you’ve heard something about how easy it is to use dried beans, how much cheaper it is, how much better they are, yadda yadda yadda, but you’re kind of lazy and there are the chickpeas (or some other bean) just sitting in their nice little cans all ready to go on the supermarket shelf…and you know where this is leading. Canned are just easier.

But! My friend, Dan, who is not only an amazing photographer, but also a fantastic and adventurous cook, told me about a little cannellini bean recipe he discovered when he was in Italy at one of his annual photography seminars in Tuscany (yeah, I want to hate him a little bit too right now). And he swears that it’s simply not worth making unless you use dried beans. So, I said, what the hell. I’ll give it a shot. (FYI, this is NOT a vegetarian dish [pancetta is involved, friends], so I’m holding off on posting for now. If you’re interested in the recipe, drop me a line). And it’s really not that big a deal. It just requires forethought (something I don’t always have handy…).

So here are the three methods:
1. Overnight soak
2. Quick soak
3. Quick cook

The first way is probably the easiest, but most time consuming. And not for those bad planners out there (like me — and, by the way, we prefer the term spontaneous). You rinse the beans several times, dump them in a bowl or pan, add water to cover beans plus 2″, and let them sit overnight (on the counter, not in the fridge; you can put them in the fridge, but then they need more like 24 hours as the cooler temperature slows the rehydration process). The next day, drain, rinse well, add fresh cold water and cook at a simmer until tender (it will vary depending on the kind of beans, so keep an eye on them). You can add a tablespoon of baking soda to the pot if you like (it helps to soften the beans). Don’t forget to skim off any of the foam that appears. That’s gassy stuff.

The second one takes less time, but requires a bit more effort. Cover your picked-over and rinsed dried beans with triple the amount of cold water. Bring the water to a boil and cook the beans, uncovered, over medium heat for 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat, cover and let beans soak for 1-2 hours. Drain, cook as above, and off you go.

The last one method consists of basically chucking the beans into a saucepan, adding water and cooking away until they’re done. Generally not the best way to go for the heartier beans (like chickpeas), as it doesn’t break down the complex bean sugars very well, and those sugars are what give you gas, so you know, um, yeah. Not recommended. :)

So there you have it. Three ways or the canned way. Good luck, Grasshopper.

Easy Peasy Tomato Sauce

Published on May 4, 2010 in Italian, Main Courses, pasta and Sauces. 2 Comments Tags: , .

I know everyone and their mother blogged about this sauce, but hey, maybe someone reading this little blog may not have seen it, so I couldn’t just keep it to myself. Tomato sauce is one of those things that yes, you can buy in a jar from Trader Joe’s for like $3.00, but then you don’t have the satisfaction of making it yourself. And you can’t personally vouch for the quality of the ingredients that went in that jar. And it’s really almost as easy as opening a jar of tomato sauce. Really. You only need to open a can of tomatoes and cut an onion in half. Oh, and cut a hunk of butter off your butter plate (this bit is rather important). So very easy. Easy peasy. As the title says.

I love this sauce with the fresh gnocchi from La Genovesa, an amazing old-school pasta shop in Palermo Soho. And I love that you can watch them roll the pasta out on their giant old machine, which is parked in the front of the shop. And they make killer ravioli (think fresh squash, spinach & ricotta, etc.). Love that too. This is the general consensus. Nothing but love, baby.

Adapted from Marcela Hazan’s Essentials of Italian Cooking

Serves 4.

28 ounces (800 grams) whole peeled canned tomatoes (chopped or crushed tomatoes are okay too)
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
Salt and pepper to taste
10-15 basil leaves torn (if you have them, no biggie if you don’t!)

Dump the tomatoes into a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Toss in the halved onion and the butter and bring the pan to a simmer over a medium-low flame and stir every so often. If you’re using whole tomatoes, smush them against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon or snip with kitchen shears once they soften up a bit. Let it simmer uncovered for 45 minutes (or about 30 minutes if your tomatoes are chopped already). Add salt to taste (careful as some tomatoes are already salted and I often end up using salted butter).

While that’s simmering away, creating a deliriously wonderful fragrance in your kitchen, boil some pasta — about a pound should do. Remove the onion*, then toss the sauce with the drained pasta, add black pepper, a few torn basil leaves and some Parmesan, if you like. Although, it really doesn’t need anything. It’s just perfect as is.

* The original recipe says to toss the onion, but that’s sacrilege in my house. Some little pieces will slither out and find their way into the sauce and they should stay there. Any extra pieces can be cooked up with some scrambled eggs or tossed into a quiche or frittata. Or you can even just eat them with a hunk of bread, standing over the stove…just please don’t throw them away. So wasteful. And really very silly.