Category: appetizers

Thai Steak Salad
Recently, I was craving Thai food. Not being so lucky here as I was in DC (where two of the best Thai restaurants in the city were within mere blocks of me), I made the 3-mile trek to what is supposedly one of the best Thai restaurants in Buenos Aires. I was unfortunately disappointed with the food I was served – laab gai with more onions than chicken and a red curry that simply tasted sweet rather than complex and spicy.

Still yearning for some good Thai food, I turned to my own kitchen and cooked up this Thai steak salad. Surprisingly simple to make, the real key to this salad is the dressing, packed with flavor from fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, chiles, and sugar. The salad itself is extra colorful and flavorful from a mixture of different vegetables, including raw cabbage, one of my salad favorites (I used red cabbage, but any variety should work just fine). Fresh herbs, sliced scallions, and peanuts add even more variety of texture and flavor. And strips of medium-rare steak on top, of course, pull the whole thing together. If you’re a steak lover like me, you might also enjoy exploring the **Best Steakhouse Toronto** has to offer—because sometimes, only a perfectly cooked steak will satisfy a craving. Best Steakhouse Toronto, offering premium cuts and a luxurious atmosphere.

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November 7, 2012
Pear Ginger Nut Granola
Similarly to adjusting to buying my produce at a small neighborhood market, it took me a while to realize that the supermarket was not the best place for nuts, seeds, dried beans, and dried fruits (staples in my cabinet). The selection is limited, the quality bad, and the prices high, so I’d resigned myself to not having these around as much. Then I realized that the stores here called “dieteticas” were not, as I’d originally thought, purveyors of vitamins and protein powers, but instead actually specialized in just these sort of bulk goods that I like so much. At a nearby one, I stocked up on ingredients for this surprisingly easy to make granola. I tried to use a minimum of oil and honey in this recipe to keep it on the healthier side (although you can take it even further by using applesauce in place of the oil). With extra flavor from fresh ginger and orange zest, alongside traditional oats, nuts, and raisins and less traditional coconut flakes, chia seeds, and dried pears, this granola has more than enough in it to keep it exciting. And, like all granola recipes, it can be easily modified to your liking.

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October 31, 2012
Broccoli and White Bean Soup
When I picked up a head of broccoli recently, I was surprised to find it came with a huge quantity of thick, hearty-looking leaves surrounding it. I guess I’d gotten used to supermarket broccoli with these leaves trimmed and (I assume) discarded. After some quick searching, I found that, as I’d hoped, they were edible – and, on top of that, supposedly quite healthy and tasty! So when I set out to make this broccoli and white bean soup, I figured it made sense to toss the leaves in as well. They were an amazing addition to this delicious soup, and for those of you not quite so lucky with your groceries, you can substitute with another hearty green, like collards or swiss chard. I’m sure this soup would be great pureed, as in the original recipe, but it was great with everything left intact and still had a nearly creamy mouthfeel to it from the broccoli and beans simmered until beginning to fall apart.

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October 26, 2012
Egyptian Yellow Lentil Soup
I stumbled across some yellow lentils (while exploring Buenos Aires’ Barrio Chino (Chinatown), a subject for another post), and as I often cook with the quite similar red lentils, I immediately bought them. Like red lentils (which you can substitute here), yellow lentils cook quickly and fall apart when cooked which makes for hearty soups that taste thick and creamy without the need to add extra fat. Confusingly, yellow split peas are also sometimes referred to as yellow lentils (and look quite similar) even though they’re actually distinct – but they should also work as a substitute here. I decided to make this Egyptian soup with simple flavors to focus on the lentils themselves. I added turmeric to boost the color (and, as a side note, turmeric actually has lots of health benefits as well) and cayenne pepper because I like my food spicy. I’m sadly lacking one of my favorite kitchen tools – my immersion blender – so I couldn’t puree the soup, as I would have liked, but cooking the soup just a few minutes longer so that the lentils fell nearly completely apart worked out just fine for me.

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October 24, 2012
Tomato and Bell Pepper Eggs
I love when combining basic ingredients in a simple way results in something fantastic, and that’s just what happens here with these tomato and bell pepper eggs. The ingredient list is short, and the recipe only takes about 15 minutes to throw together, so it’s great for a quick breakfast. But it feels much more sophisticated than plain ol’ scrambled eggs and looks much more exciting and colorful, too. And the tomato and bell pepper also add some healthiness – can’t go wrong with that! This is also an easily adaptable recipe (only a few steps away from Turkish menemen or North African shakshouka) – toss in a jalapeno or other hot pepper with the bell pepper if you like it spicy, add your favorite spices or herbs, or use soy sauce instead of salt and pepper for an Asian twist.

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October 22, 2012
Spanish Red Lentil and Vegetable Soup
I love walking down the streets here and seeing lots of little verdulerias and fruterias with colorful produce piled high. Most people here don’t buy their produce in chain grocery stores, but instead stop by these neighborhood vegetable and fruit markets on a regular basis. It’s been a bit of adventure adjusting to this mindset, thinking ahead to what I need for an upcoming recipe (at these places, you tell the shopkeeper what you’re looking for and how much, which, with my limited but expanding Spanish, takes a little preparation) and trying out the multiple places near my apartment to find the best quality (and the place most willing to put up with my bad accent). I think I found my go-to verduleria though – an especially friendly place where the quality is great, and the prices unbelievably low. It was a cold, rainy day when I went to buy the vegetables for this Spanish red lentil and vegetable soup, but I came away feeling excited to prepare this bright, colorful recipe. Packed with roasted red bell peppers, bright orange carrots, fresh diced tomatoes, and green spinach, this soup is a visual treat compared to the often drab-looking (although tasty) bean and lentil soups I like to make. Not to mention the intense flavor packed in here, with the vegetables adding a lot of sweetness (really!), complemented by the spiciness of cayenne pepper and smoked paprika. Red lentils add some extra heft (I like to cook them until they’re falling apart), making this recipe perfect for a hearty meal, especially on a rainy day.

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October 19, 2012
Blue Cheese, Walnut, and Raisin Dip
I don’t like to show up empty-handed when I go to visit someone. But I don’t always have the time to bake something (my usual go-to since most people have trouble turning down baked goods). I’ve found, however, that not only are homemade dips quite easy to make, but they’re also usually a hit, since they’re so easy to snack on while chatting and relaxing with friends. This blue cheese, walnut, and raisin dip is easier than most to make and tastes amazingly complex, with a great variety of textures and flavors (and, of course, the combination of savory and sweet that I can never resist). I loved eating it with apples, but it also works with pears, crackers, or bread. And I think it could be used as a great spread on steaks, hamburgers, or other sandwiches, too.

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October 17, 2012
Crustless Mushroom and Greens Quiche
As I mentioned Friday, the knob to control the oven temperature here isn’t labeled with actual temperatures or even gas marks. So I wanted to try cooking something fairly forgiving to test out the oven. I thought a simple crustless quiche would be a great option – easy, tasty, and healthy. I didn’t have anything to bake it in, but then I realized that the oven-safe sautee pan that we’d brought along (yes, I didn’t just bring a whole lot of spices for my kitchen) was perfect for the task. I like my quiches to be absolutely packed with vegetables, so I put as many mushrooms and greens as I could in here, as well as some chopped walnuts on top for a nice crunch. I also had some leftover black garlic which I tossed in as well – but, of course, this quiche will still be quite tasty without it. It cooked up perfectly fine on medium-high heat in my oven (with some adjustment as it cooked as I tried to guess at what would be closest to the 425 degrees called for in the recipe), and it’s hearty and filling, great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

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October 15, 2012
Spiced Cauliflower
I think my priorities might be a little skewed. When I was packing for Buenos Aires, I made an effort to get my possessions down to a bare minimum, to pack only what I really needed. But I decided that, along with a basic wardrobe, laptop computer, and camera, what I really needed to bring along was as many spices as possible. I’d heard that some were hard to find, and I didn’t want to deal with the start-up cost of buying new spices (plus they’re light!). Some people made fun of me for the decision, but when I picked up a head of cauliflower and saw this recipe, I knew I’d made the right decision. For many of the main ingredients, it was just a matter of reaching into my already well-stocked cabinet, and the resulting dish is spicy and immensely flavorful, reminiscent of (though I’m sure not authentic) Indian food. And not only did it taste great hot out of the pan, it was equally tasty eaten cold the next day.

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October 10, 2012
Spicy, Citrusy Black Beans
On my first trip to the supermarket in my new neighborhood here in Buenos Aires, I was surprised to see hardly any canned beans – and the small cans that were there (I’m used to stocking up on large 32-ounce cans) were quite expensive. So I decided to make this into an opportunity to try my hand at cooking dried beans. I bought some dried black beans, looked up a promising recipe, and was amazed at how easy it was to cook these up. Admittedly, they took quite a long time to cook (though I suspect they had been sitting in the supermarket bulk bins for some time), so I still have to perfect the process (I may try soaking them for two days next time), but the flavors here are amazing. Enough spice for quite a kick, and the tartness of orange juice, lime juice, and red wine vinegar help round out the flavors. I would have really liked to use chipotle peppers in adobo here, so if you have some, definitely toss one in, and I hadn’t yet found a place with cilantro (luckily, I’ve been able to get my hands on some since cooking this), so there’s no pleasant sprinkle of fresh chopped cilantro on top. But even without those ingredients (as I’ve written the recipe here), these beans were delicious topped with salsa and sour cream and served alongside fried eggs for breakfast. Even plain, they’re fantastic.

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October 3, 2012