Thinking of Christmas in July: Grilled Meats in Buenos Aires.

My birthday always happens near Christmas. It’s not that I’m complaining. People are in a full celebratory mode at that time. Wine and liquor flow freely. It’s just that it’s never warm that warm around this the holidays plus taking a tropical vacation at that time is incredibly expensive since it’s traditionally high season for the airlines and hotels. So, on my 40th birthday, an auspicious occassion indeed, I wanted warmth, pools along with great food and drink. I also wanted to cook…like I did in Paris. We went to Buenos Aires. Tango. Wine. Food. South America. Yep.

We choose an apartment to stay in the Palermo for it’s comfort, shopping location, huge balcony and it’s Argentinean parrilla, a large wood grill which is pretty common in most outdoor spaces and sometimes, for the wealthy, it can be indoors. (Think of a small park hibaci on steriods.)

For my birthday dinner, I don’t remember the place but I do remember what I ate. We went to a large cavernous restaurant, loud and painted blue where I had a Pork Sirloin with Chimichurri. The wine we drank was a bottle of Spanish red, a tinto del toro, which I recognized from the States. (Why I didn’t want wine from Mendoza, I don’t remember. Probably because its what I was drinking mostly while we were there.)

We had planned to spend Christmas in Buenos Aires as well so I planned out the Christmas dinner. It was definitely the parrilla that I wanted to play with.  I went to one of the local butchers to create an Argentinean dinner which is essentially just grilling everything except for the empanadas which were bought from a store front that only made empanadas. I purchased around 20lbs of meat (including chicken and pork) at a ridiculous cost of about $20 dollars. It was so inexpensive that I went a little hog wild. (Sorry, couldn’t resist). I also made the chimmichurri which was a little difficult without a food processor or a mortar and pestle. Everything was chopped with a steak knife. (Hey, we rented an apartment with a lovely kitchen not a restaurant.). We even had guests! We had met this lovely family from Chicago and invited them to eat with us and also the apartment’s caretaker came to celebrate. This time, we had copious amounts of Argentinean wine.

So, when I grill, sometimes I think back to that trip. It’s July and I grilled steaks. It made me think of Christmas in Buenos Aires.

Grilled Blade Steaks with Cucumber Tomato Salsa

You Will Need The Following
4 Blade Steaks
Soy Sauce
Olive Oil
Chili Flakes
1 large cucumber
3 lbs tomatoes
2 clovea of garlic
1 half a chopped red onion
1 small jalapeno.

Let’s Finish This Puppy Up! (I eyeball this so just go with it…if not…at least you had a little fun.)
1) Put the steaks in a zip lock bag and put four or five glugs of soy sauce, five glugs of olive oil, chili flakes (that’s me…joking), and a minced clove of garlic. Do this the night before or before you head out the door for work after the meat has defrosted. Essentially, this will tenderize the meat.
2) Chop all the other ingredients and put into a bowl or container. Toss and shake the container up to mix the flavors. A good rumba works well.
3) Grill the meat to your liking. (Argentineans love well-done meat. Funny, isn’t it? I wasn’t going to tell them how to cook it. I was in their country.)
4) Place on platter and spoon out the salsa on top of the meat.
5) Voila!

It’s been a little bit of time since I posted. Writing a blog is time consuming and I was trying to do three a week. I think two a week is a little more manageable plus cooking, working, hanging with my homies, and writing. I have a full life.

As life goes on, as it does, I’ve stopped pulling out the grays because I want to keep what remaining hair I have, I become more and more interested in spending quality time with my friends. To me, that means, cooking together. Not necessarily eating but the time you spend chopping and stirring. There is definitely something beautifully human in the idea of “hanging out in the kitchen”. We, meaning people, love being in the space where the food resides, not because we are hungry but because it’s where we are nourished. Physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually nourished.

Recently, I came to a place in my cooking where I kind of just wanted to cook but not eat. I know that’s an odd thing to say but it’s where I get my satisfaction, turning the ever-present “committee” off. You know, that round-table of voices saying, “You aren’t good enough”, “You can’t do that” and my favorite….”You will never be loved.” (I can only imagine what goes through Gordon Ramsey’s head….actually, I don’t want to know.)

So, on one of these past Sundays Shelley said, “Why don’t we cook?” With Shelley, since she’s always working, we need to do something simple. I like simple, easy, obtainable food even when eating out at restaurants and at home. Pizzas, Tuscan food, sometimes French. I know many people love 15 ingredients cooking like making Moroccan or even high-end dining where the food is pristine and artistically maneuvered. I was in the mood to make Pork Apple Burgers. Something kind of different but kind of not. Still an easy thing to make and it’s my recipe. (Really. I’m sure there is a recipe you can follow but I made this one up. A little shocking, I must say.) Then, I thought, while I was at the Farmers Market, since it was a Sunday, why don’t I get a couple of hero rolls and make a submarine sandwich. Instead of burgers, make meatballs.

That’s what I did. Served up with a salad, tossed with a Blood Orange Vinagrette which Shelley made. Couldn’t be simpler and more perfect for two friends, hanging in the kitchen.

You Will Need:
1 pound ground pork
1 Fuji Apple
1 egg
1/2 cup of breadcrumbs (Or more depending on how “wet” everything is when assembled.)
1 cup (or thereabouts) freshly grated Asiago, Pecorino or Parmesan.
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons each of assorted fresh herbs (Chopped). You can use rosemary, basil, chives, oregano, thyme…any combination or use them all. Just skip the dill.
1 12 oz can of canned tomatoes or prepared sauce. Happy Girl Kitchen in Monterey has the BEST canned tomatoes EVAH! If you live in the Bay Area you can buy it at Farmers Market in the Ferry Building. Stunning. Fresh. Not cheap but worth it if you don’t want to grow and can your own tomatoes.

Let’s Finish This Puppy Up:
1. Assemble everything minced or chopped into a bowl. Just go at it and mix…with your hand. (Make sure you washed them first though.)
2. Once that’s accomplished, form into “balls”. You can make your own size but you want to get them into the rolls and you want to get them into your mouth. (You can go there…) I make my about 2 inches approximately. It should yield about 12 balls. Three per hero….(If only…sorry, I know, I know…high school humor.)
3. Add some olive oil to a skillet and fry them up on until brown on all sides.
4. Once browned on all sides, add the tomatoes, cover and finish cooking.
5. Cut the bread, leaving the seams intact. Hollow out one side (This is for the meatballs to have a bed.) Brush with a little olive oil and toast in an oven. When toasted to a “toasty” brown, take a peeled garlic clove and scrub the inside of the rolls until the garlic becomes a nub and the bread is fragrant.
6. Place the meatballs in the “bed”, pour some sauce, add some grated cheese.
7. Voila….eat heartily….and with a lot of napkins.

During the brief period of time, I lived with my father and his family, I learned a lot about cooking, specifically, Filipino which from my childhood observations, involves one pot, lots of protein, vegetables and braising for a peiod of time. It involved soy sauce, fish sauce and/or vinegar. Everything was cooked together and never left the liquid that is was cooked in, which of course was always a delicious broth to pout over the ubiquitious rice.

Then, as I started working in the world of food, first in the restaurant, then as a publicist, I learned more about marinating, the act of tenderizing meat in a liquid. (Supposedly, the word “marinate” comes from a French word but the act of marinating actually pre-dates that usage to Asia by almost 3,000 years….so who knows…damn scholars…don’t they know anything.)

Not many things in Filipino cooking are marinated. There is a lot of grilling with sauces, continously basting the meat or braising. (I’m digressing but there is also a traditional barbeque sauce for meat which uses, of all things….7-Up, Sprite or Sierra Mist…or a soda that has a lemon/lime citrus connection…unbelievably succulent, sweet and spicy.)

As I grew, up I learned simpler ways of doing marinade through many of the chefs with whom I have worked as a publicist. Something really quick and easy like the one below is easy to perfect. I use this particular and quick marinade for pretty much any meat or fish. So simple. If you decide to use this marinade, try prepping it the night before or prior to leaving for work. Then when you can get home, turn the grill on and …voila, dinner is served.

YOU WILL NEED:
2 cups soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup oil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, jalapeno, serrano, Thai chili or habanero…(I think you get the picture.)
1/2 tsp ginger

LET’s FINISH THIS PUPPY UP:
1. Put everything into a gallon bag, bowl or Pyrex dish and cover meat/fish/poultry overnight or at least a couple of hours.
2. Grill/bake/ broil/ saute your meat/fish/poultry until desired temperature.
3. Easy-peasy.

I burnt what I cooked. It happens. Yesterday on the grill (flank steak…charred to a show leather state) and today in the rotisserie (Chicken thighs turned blackened hockey pucks). Why? Not paying attention. Busy with life as usual but I have been wanting to write about eggs, so I scrambled a couple. Yep, that little white orb full of goodness.

Let’s start with a discussion of my first encounter with Parisian scrambled eggs. First, you have to get to Paris, then you have to have them cooked at the Four Seasons, George V. Seriously, you already know you are not going to have just any scrambled eggs. Order them at 18 euros a pop (or have someone else order them so they can pay for them). Cooked in a traditional French manner, the eggs are whipped before going into a double boiler. Stirred ever so gently, adding melted butter a teaspoon at a time. Gently stir, until you get light, small yellow curds. It’s actually an intense, long process (longer than a music video) that we don’t see in the States. (At least, I never have.) By using, low heat under the double boiler, it creates the most insanely, decadent taste and mouth-feel ever. Luscious, rich, creamy, buttery….truly a Godly preparation. Serve with a warmed baguette and maybe, if you are Rockfeller, some caviar for dinner. Heaven.

Now let’s fly south to my favorite area of Italy, Umbria, the heart as it’s called and the only area of the country that is not bordered by water. It’s a stunningly, verdant low-lying mountainous region with medeival walled towns hanging form the sides of cliffs such as Spello and Montefalco. Down in the valley floor which would be Assisi and Bevagna and also vineyards and farms. The stretch of towns which include Spoleto, Norcia, Foligno and Trevi is also known as “La Strada di Sagrantino”, the delicious grape varietal made popular in the states by Arnaldo Caprai Wines, a public relations client that I which had brought me to the area.

While working with the homebase of Montefalco is where I discovered Umbrian eggs. The eggs are laid by just your garden variety Italian chickens and essentially fed a diet of whole grains, grown in the area. (This is a testament to Slow Food and local food production) These birds produce a bright, orangey-colored yolk that is slightly thicker than the American variety. At first glance, I questioned the hosts at the small hotel where we were staying, an Italianate home coverted to a bed & breakfast, “Where did you get these eggs?” And their reply was at the local farmers market. The color was so bright and a little disconcerting, as I thought they were produced by leftover radioactive chickens flown in from Chernobyl. They are the color of the African sunset and are really something to behold. For me, it’s the 9th World Wonder. Served with a variety of “norcineria” or Italian charcuterie (mortadella, salumi) and an Italian bread or tossed in pasta, like Pasta alla Cabonnara, a gentle feast for the senses.

I’ve had more experiences eating eggs, scrambled, fried, Spanish Tortillas, Filipino bulut (disgusting) but these two or the most serene when I think of some of my eating egg experiences and I just wanted to share. 🙂

Making French Scrambled Eggs
YOU WILL NEED:
4 Eggs (brought to room temperature)
5 pounds of butter (Kidding!) 4 (Joking) Seriously, 1 stick of melted butter
White Pepper and salt (I kind of insist on the white pepper for this as the black specks interfere with the beauty of the curds. Sorry, we all get a little anal about different things.)
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: A double boiler.

LET’S SCRAMBLE:
1. Put two melted tablespoons over low heat in the top of the double boiler.
2. Scramble together eggs, cooled and melted butter, salt and pepper until the whites and yolks are completely combined.
3. Slowly pour the eggs into the double boiler and stir with a wooden spoon as the butter melts. Continue stirring, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan, until the eggs have thickened into soft, creamy curds. Oh about 10 to 15 minutes. Serve on warm plates as you want the eggs to still cook while heading to the table. Also, have really good bread around to scrape up what you didn’t shovel into your mouth. BEST EGGS EVER.