In a few more days I guess I’ll have to pick these fiery colored fruits. In the past, around this time of the year, a friend has plucked them off the two decent-sized bushes in my yard to make her popular dulce de rosa mosqueta (rose hip jam.) This year she’s decided to take a break so, instead of them wasting away and I don’t see the birds eating them, something needs to be done. But not with jam. Personally, I can’t stand the stuff. Not jam in general and her recipe was just fine, I think. That’s what others have said anyway. No, something different.

I’ve tried numerous times to get my taste buds to conform with the buds of others I know but they’re being utterly stubborn. Jam, jelly, or syrup. Nothing overly sweet works for me. The flavor reminds me too much of tomato jam, or jelly, and I can’t stand that either. I love all things tomato, well except tomato jam/jelly. Each day I probably eat tomatoes in some shape or form but I will never coat them in sugar. That is exactly what tomato jam tastes like to me. Tomato ketchups and barbecue sauces are sweet and have loads of sugar you may say, and I agree, but there are loads of other ingredients that balance everything out. Speaking of ketchup, I actually tried a rosa mosqueta ketchup from an small artisanal operation based somewhere in Patagonia but it too turned out quite disappointing. In that case, however, I believe it was the recipe.

So, what to do? If anyone out there has any ideas, please pass them along, but be quick. For now, I’m thinking of drying some and using the rest to make some sort of puree to use in sauces. Barbecue sauce? I think I’ll give that a try.

If you are unfamiliar with rose hips, they are the oval-shaped fleshy fruits, or hip, of rose plants. Plucked off a bush and opened, there is really nothing fruity about them in the classical juicy sense. The fleshy tough skin is not unlike a hot chili pepper and the inside is filled with seeds and a hairy membrane–both of which need removing before use. Since rose hips contain very high amounts of vitamin C, they are widely used in some parts of the world for medicinal purposes. The oil from the seeds is said to work wonders on the skin. You can read more about the plants and fruits here

Throughout Patagonia, it’s not hard to find rosa mosqueta sold as artisanal jams and liquors in various gourmet or touristy shops. A good bakery may fill alfajores with the rosy stuff as an alternative to dulce de leche. Restaurants may offer tasty deserts drizzled with rosa mosqueta syrup or perhaps as a sweet-sour sauce to dress a succulent portion of lamb or pork. If you’re ever in the area, try it out in some way or another.

This was pulled from a free Costco recipe book I picked up in the States a couple months back. Not a bad looking book I must say. A mixture of twists on simple classics from around the world to fare that one might find in many of today’s bestselling cookbooks of U.S. celebrity chefs. The book is online for full viewing along with over a thousand other recipes if you want to check them out.

While glancing more at photos than words (hmm), I stumbled across an interesting combination of stir-fried chicken laid upon a bed of diced watermelon. Interesting in how the two main characters were plated than seeing them together. Being one who enjoys a good pairing of salty and sweet, particularly of fruit and meat, I’m always eager to try something new. We’re in the midst of summer and with watermelon temporarily hanging out in the produce section, why not give it a shot. But, how would it turn out?

You can view the recipe here

Since no fresh ginger was to be found, I was off to a bad start. A local market that usually carries the stuff year round just so happened to be out of stock. What timing. I had ginger powder but that’s the equivalent of substituting a good meaty stock with water. Everything else? No problem.

Next was modifying the recipe (like always). I don’t want to delve too far into wok cooking but let me say that I’m not a fan of such recipes in general cookbooks. Follow the directions exactly as they say and you’ll often end up with an overcooked or steamed tasting pile of crap. Part of that is due to many recipes calling for four servings to be cooked all at once. For what should be a quick stir-fry, that is just a recipe for disaster. Even more if one attempts the recipe on an electric stove, in a teflon-coated wok, or the horrifyingly useless electric wok. Four chicken breasts, such as what this recipe calls for, will just crowd and cool the wok, making the process hardly different than using a sauté pan. Cooking batches of one to two servings in a well-seasoned wok is the key. Also, a high BTU super flame-spewing gas burner and/or not having a care in the world about filling your home with smoke would help–unless you have an expensive ventilation system that is far enough not to get torched. How many people have those?

I didn’t follow the proper measurements of soy sauce and oil, just eyeballed it to my standards, but stayed true with everything else on the list. Although, I did add a little splash sesame oil into the equation. The chicken was fried up until almost done, then went in the onions and garlic, and finally the mixture of soy sauce, vermouth, ginger powder, and sesame oil. I had to slice the watermelon into larger chunks than what the picture displayed. My green skin friend was too ripe and would have ended up being a big pile of melon slush if I minced it.

No sparks in my mouth. The sweet juiciness of the watermelon obliterated any other flavors. No contrasting clashes of flavors as one experiences with honeydew melon and prosciutto. I felt as if I was eating chewy salty watermelon. However, no hard feelings, it wasn’t wretched or anything of the sort, quite refreshing actually, but nothing memorable. Perhaps the lack of fresh ginger was partly to blame. The addition of a sauce might have helped too.

I’m a chile head. No I’m not infatuated with the country, I’m addicted to the hot stuff. I don’t care how much work someone puts into an elaborate dish, chopped chiles, chile powder, or hot sauce are going on top. If none of that is on hand, I start wigging out.

When the only available hot sauces are Tabasco brand and mediocre domestic brands that hardly tickle the tongue, certain measures need to be taken. When you go through two or three 2oz. bottles of Tabasco a week and the price of each bottle jumps from 9 pesos ($3 USD) to 15 pesos ($5 USD), drastic measures need to be taken.

Tabasco holds a big place in my heart. I love the flavors of their products but none of them pack much heat except for the habanero one–which is not available in my area. So to counter that, I’ll have various hotter sauces mailed in. But they don’t last long and the shipping is way too expensive to keep my pantry stocked at all times. When those ran out, I would fall back on the Tabasco. When Tabasco hit 15 pesos per bottle, I realized that I had a problem on my hands in regards to feeding my addiction. How could I maintain my junkie behavior at a lower cost? I bet those guys who moved from cocaine to crack thought the same thing.

Extract-loaded sauces. Just like crack to cocaine, more punch for the buck.

Let me tell you, the tides have been turned. With a little creative mixing, a $6 dollar ($18 ARS) bottle of extract-loaded sauce keeps me happy for months instead of paying more than that for a week’s high.

A bottle of Black Widow and those pictured above should keep me going through a good part of 2008.

Well the fish are winning by 2 points, as you can see on the scoreboard in the right column, but we’re still early in the game. Another match is scheduled for today and it looks like the wind is in my favor.

Anyway, a couple of days ago, someone dropped off two frozen competitors–one trout and one salmon. (Does that even the score?) The fish looked pretty decent in size and last night I had this fancy spread all planned out. Fillet and bake them with lemon, onions, and rosemary. Then top with a creamy green onion & cheese sauce. Served along with asparagus roasted with chopped bacon.

Halfway into filleting the trout, I realized that the fillets were going to be too thin and not large enough, overall, to fit into my plan. Suddenly, I thought about the salmon-substituted crab cakes I made last year that were quite tasty. But still, with these fillets, there wouldn’t be enough. What about mixing in some crab? Twenty minutes later, after hopping into my car for a quick trip to a local market, I had one pound of frozen lump shredded centolla in my hands. While that was melting away, the fillets went into the oven for about 10 minutes. Since the centolla was shredded to hell, I thought why not do the same to the fish. So into the food processor they went. Gotta be consistent, right?

I’ve made enough crab cakes in my life to the point where I don’t follow any recipes or measurements. Finely chopped a few stalks of celery, one large green onion, one small spanish onion, and one red bell pepper. Tossed them into a frying pan with some olive oil and cooked until they softened up a bit. Into a large bowl they went with mayonnaise, bread crumbs, worcestershire, sage, celery seeds, ground black pepper, cumin, oregano, salt, and paprika. After folding in the meat, palm-sized patties were formed and then drenched in the following order with flour, beaten eggs, and bread crumbs. Fried until both sides had a deep golden brown color. Served with a simple mixture of mayo and sliced green onions.

After digging in, all I could say was, wow! Salmonoids and crab go so well together.

Note: Just in case you don’t fully read through this post and come to conclusions, what I’m about to talk about has nothing to do with cuisine in Argentina.

One market that I frequent had a huge crate of ripe red jalapeños and, when I saw them, I instantly knew some sort of chipotle experiment needed to go down. The smoker still needs some modifications for heat control so attempting to fully dry peppers is just not a great option at this time. I did, however, want to see if I could at least cheat and get close to recreating that famous chipotle taste. Few hours in the smoker might just do that, I thought.

Each jalapeño received one slice down the side to allow the smoke to seep in while the smoker fired up to 140º F (60º C). The temperature bounced around a bit during the whole ordeal but that was expected. At four hours, the peppers were nicely wrinkled, with a decent amount of moisture, and for me that looked good enough. The skins refused to come off but I scraped away the seeds. What next? Hand blender with a little apple cider vinegar. Wow, really thick. A little more vinegar. Whoa, this is starting to look like sriracha sauce. Taste? Not chipotle, kind of close though, but more along the lines of pureed roasted red peppers with hints of fresh jalapeño. Oh, and LOTS of smoky flavor. Tabasco-level spiciness. After I added some salt and a clove of garlic, it was actually starting to lean toward sriracha but with an added smoky flavor. I added a good amount of vinegar but you could hardly tell it was there. Done!

Overall this chili paste is outstanding. Even after a two days, I’m amazed at how well it continues to hold itself together–meaning no separation. Next time I might add a little more garlic to raise the pungency level but I am quite pleased with it as is. Works wonders as a dipping sauce for meats.

Note: The following article focuses mainly on cuisine outside of Argentina

I almost missed them. If it were not for one last glance around the produce section they probably would have been purchased by others, more out of curiosity than extreme craving. Or maybe these shiny objects would have just rotted away on the shelf for prominently displaying that fear-inducing generic “aji picante” label that every pepper here receives for just having at least a touch of heat. That didn’t happen. I bought up half the stock one day and went back and bought the rest the next. I’m bad, I know, but maybe a few others were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and let their curiosity get the better of them to purchase at least one-I didn’t count. These were mine. Typically something of this sort makes an appearance once in a while if you are lucky. Maybe my purchases will show interest and bring them back.

Poblano peppers.

I actually have a few growing in some pots but they will only reach about 1/10 of the size of these and because of that, won’t be of much use. At least for what I had been craving, which are chiles rellenos. Yes, the chile relleno. A staple of the typical generalized Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurant. Yeah yeah, I know, there are many other chiles rellenos around the world, including some in Argentina, but I’m sure the majority of you know what I’m talking about.

When I saw these peppers, I knew their destiny was already set. The problem was I never made them before because (a) for all of the years I’ve lived in Argentina I have never come across them in markets until now and (b) when I lived in the U.S. it was obviously much easier to make a trip to the local aforementioned restaurants.

A few glances at various sites gave me an idea of what to do and then I ran with that. The problem with those sites was that they didn’t give any reassurances that the batter would hold everything in like a protective jacket. A whipped-egg-whites-with-yolks-mixed-in-separately batter is something I never worked with before and I didn’t make that batter until all of the peppers were stuffed. Therefore, when I actually stuffed the peppers, I did it lightly thinking that everything would just bust out into the hot oil if I went any further. I knew they wouldn’t be bursting at the seams with cheese as those tasty treats in the days of old but there’s always a first. Only when I performed the dipping and frying did I realize how wrong I was. The batter held everything in perfectly but the lack of mass filling allowed a bit too much oil to seep in through the cracks.

Greasiness aside, the cheese, meat, and pepper flavors melded together perfectly. The peppers had enough heat to tickle my hot sauce scorched tongue. My wife, on the other hand, who cringes at even the slightest touch of black pepper screamed “AHHHHHHH, WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME,”–plus a shouted few verbal obscenities in my direction–and chugged her glass of beer like a frat boy.

Sorry, but no recipe to post. The sauce was just a quick mashup of canned tomatoes with onions, peppers, and spices.

I’ll cover centolla in more detail another day, but for now, so you know a little, it is like the Southern counterpart of Alaskan King Crab. Huge suckers that love cold water. The meat, sweet and succulent, is perfect on its own or in a variety of dishes. The problem is, like so many other great products in Argentina, the damn restaurants buy up all of the good quality stuff. I live in Tierra Del Fuego, the renowned location for centolla, yet what I buy in stores comes from up north in Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut. Anyway, it’s pretty much available, frozen of course, year round in a couple of stores.

Here’s a quick & easy salad that I make all the time. (Note: This is my own recipe, not an authentic regional one. Everyone has their own special recipe that often has totally different ingredients.)

1 cup sour cream
1 Tablespoon vinegar*
1 Tablespoon lemon juice*
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 green onion; thinly sliced then chopped (about 1/3 cup)
1 small green bell pepper; finely diced (about 1/2 cup)
1 large celery stalk; thinly sliced then chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 pound king crab meat (or any that you can get)

Salt to taste
Tabasco pepper sauce (optional)

Pick through the crab meat to remove any pieces of shell. Break up any claw or leg meat into smaller pieces. Set aside.

In a large non-reactive bowl mix together the sour cream, vinegar, lemon juice, paprika, and black pepper. Next, mix in the onion, pepper, parsley, and celery. Gently fold in the crab meat-you want it to be a little bit chunky if possible- and add salt to taste. *Add extra vinegar and lemon juice for a little more zing. Shake in some Tabasco to taste. (I know there are 10,000 other hot sauces out there that you may think are better but it just works in this case)

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Best if prepared the day before.

Yeah, I always wanted to own a pizzeria too. Guess I’ll have to build a chain.

NYMag has a tiny piece on the profits and revenue for Nina’s Argentinian Pizzeria in New York (Hat tip to SliceNY)

“Annual Revenue: $186,000 ($18,000 is profit). ”

Well, at least I can play pizzeria owner and buy that wood-fired pizza oven in the hardware store down the street. Just need to figure out where to put it.

One usually associates an airport with heading out for or returning from a business or pleasure trip, dropping someone off, or picking someone up. Obviously all those things apply to me too but there is also another reason why I like going to the airport. The duty free shop. Actually the whole island is a duty free shop because we don’t have to pay the 21% IVA (value added tax) that breaks everyone else’s wallet around the country. You’ll find various self-proclaimed “free shops” all over the cities, but sometimes that doesn’t necessarily mean the prices will reflect that aspect.

The reason why I like this particular duty free at the airport is simply because they sell some of my favorite cookies that I guess are not currently sold in any other store around town. That in itself may not be a bad thing. You see, only one commercial flight arrives/departs per day and only around that time is the duty free open. The current arrival/departure time window is about 1 a.m to 3 a.m. Quite a ridiculous time for driving to the airport to buy cookies unless of course you have another reason to head that way-see above. Anyway, it is quite a treat to have an excuse to make a trip to the airport in order to purchase these delicious snacks to nourish my sometime sweet tooth cravings. Otherwise, I’d need to start a serious weight loss regimen or diet plan.

So just which cookies am I talking about? Those from Sugar & Spice of course. These are, hands down, the best store-bought packaged gourmet cookies that I’ve ever had here in Argentina and from what little memory I have, better than many I’ve had back in the U.S. I’m not much of a bakery shopper but for those few bakeries that I do frequent, these even blow their supposedly fresh cookies out of the water. And unlike Sugar & Spice, they don’t even do chocolate chip, just some type of sugar cookies that crumble into dust upon the first bite. Now just so you know, Sugar & Spice cookies are NOT loaded with trans fat to give them that chewy freshness in order to appear as homemade cookies like other brands out there. No, these are crispy, crunchy, and have a fantastic natural flavor. Also, they don’t skimp on added ingredients like nuts, dried fruits, and chocolate.

Biscotti

When I first bit into one of these I thought a visit to the dentist might be in order. Ok, that was a bit of an exaggeration but I did need to apply quite a few extra PSI to the action of my jaw compared to other biscottis out there. But then I remembered that these are made for dipping into liquids. A quick cup of coffee was brewed and the dunking process began. I’m very cautious when submerging any kind of bread item into coffee due to the dissolving effect. But lemme tell ya, these biscotti held up and there was still plenty of crunch leftover.

Chocolate Chip & Chocolate Cookies With White Chocolate Crunch

Typically when packaged cookies contain chocolate chunks those huge pieces of cocoa goodness end up being either dry and powdery or super dense. The chunks in these cookies melt in your mouth like taking a bite into a freshly opened chocolate bar. Out of all the cookies Sugar & Spice sells, these are my favorite.

Cantucci

The owner, Frank, has a good write up on his blog about Cantucci and Biscotti. Cantucci is somewhat similar to biscotti, yet the former is somewhat smaller and much softer. While there are three different types of cantucci offered, I have only been able to try the chocolate & hazelnut blend. Delicious with a deep buttery flavor.

Fudge Brownie

I have yet to see these stocked in the duty free but hopefully I can give them a try one day.

Sugar & Spice also offers a line of savory items with flavors such as pizza, parmesan, and a few others but I have yet to try them.

If you are ever in Buenos Aires, where they are much easier to find in various gourmet/specialty shops and cafes, give them a try.

Note: This is NOT an advertisement or paid/requested review.

Today is a day of celebration! You see, I have this habanero plant that has been flowering like you wouldn’t believe for six months but never produced fruits. The weather here is a bit too cold to have it outside so I’ve been trying my luck with it indoors. Proper sunlight throughout the day sucks and I have researched and researched ways to get this sucker to bear fruits. Believe me, I’ve tried everything except high-powered lights to enhance growth. The plant is huge and about a month ago I resigned myself to just watering it with no further inspection. The only idea I had in my head was to put the plant outside next summer to see what would happen. Nothing to lose right?

Well today my father-in-law paid a visit and poked around the plant a bit after noticing so many flowers. Spotted two peppers deep inside that were hidden by the huge leaves. Couldn’t believe I missed them. Hardly anyone here around me knows about the habanero and I’ve been telling them that one day I’ll let them sample one of the hottest peppers in the world. Until now my hopes were ruined. Well the day has arrived! But now that I think about it I might just keep them to myself.

Now unless those wacky scientists down in Antarctica are growing habaneros this may be the southernmost habanero pepper in the world.