And we're done!

No, not with the blog! Done with school :( It's sad yeah, but I can say that for the past 2 years, I've learned soooo much! And no, I'm not saying that I learned to cook, no, I learned about ME and how much I love to do it! It became my passion, my reason to wake up every morning, my motivation... well, honestly, became one MORE, 'cause you know, the kids and hubby are my REAL passion and reason to be... Cheesy!
Anyway, now that I'm "done" I expect I'll have more time to spend here, sharing recipes and finally translating them. I'm not lazy, I just procrastinate a lot (isn't that a fancy word for lazy?) but I will TRY to not do it anymore :D
Am I gonna share a recipe today? Nooooo! I have to organize my life a little now that I have the time, but I will share a recipe SOON... In the meantime why don't you do me a favor and at the same time motivate me? Help me please with this blog, tell your friends about it, I know I'm limited right now to people who only understand English, but I PROMISE, it'll be in Spanish soon. So please, I added a Facebook and Twitter buttons, so go ahead, press the buttons, I won't disappoint you.
I'm counting on you, I mean, if you don't like my food, at least you'll like my jokes, guaranteed!
See ya... soon :)

Testing 1, 2, 3...

Long time no see huh? Sounds familiar? Getting tired of it? Ha ha ha! Sorry! My life has turned 360 degrees no kidding! But I haven't forgotten my mission nor my biggest wish to create this for you and me... In the next days I may not have time but I will try to update this blog... I have some new cool dishes and for that pictures as well. Just have some patience and I won't disappoint you ;)
Have a wonderful Sunday my peeps!
Peace!

Arroz Chaufa

This is a classic, easy to make recipe. It is the peruvian version of the well known "fried rice"... of course, yes, I did twist it, mainly because I have no idea how the chinese really prepare it, but mostly because I can ;)

3 cups of white rice (if you can get the japanese kind, better)

4 cups of water (for the rice)

1 lb of beef cut in 2 x 3 pieces

7 or 8 whole eggs

Green onions (as much as you think you want in your plate) chopped in rectangular small pieces (it's called chifonaide)

Soy sauce, hoisin sauce, garlic, salt at taste.

Marinate the meat with salt (not too much), garlic, soy sauce and hoisin sauce, don't overdo it, all of them have A LOT of sodium; just enough to involve every piece of meat. Let them rest for an hour or so.

Then first fry the meat, once is golden brown, add the remaining of the marinate juice, lower the fire and cover it with a lid, let it simmer so the juices from the meat and the sauce come out. Once the meat is cooked and soft to chew, set it apart.

Cook the rice like you'd normally do: garlic, 3 cups of rice, 4 cups of water, one teaspoon for each cup of rice. If you want to do it like I do: Fry the garlic (on oil of course), then add the rice, when it's sort of fried add the water and the salt, wait for it to boil and then cover it with the lid, lower the fire, and let it simmer until it cooks.

Fry the eggs, make sure the yolk cooks too. Cut them in pieces, small, not too small preferably. Set them apart. On the same frying pan, lightly fry the green onions. Set them apart.

Once the rice is cooked first add half of the meat, then half of the green onions and half of the eggs.

Mix to blend. You will have more rice than anything else, that is when you add the other halves of the ingredients and the juice from the meat, you should have enough to "brown" and flavor the rice. However, if when you taste it, it lacks flavor or it seems a little pale, add soy sauce at your own taste (and risk because it may end up taking over the other flavors).

This rice won't necessarily be "grainy" (graneado, there is no translation for that word), but that is how it's supposed to be.

You don't need anything else to add to this plate, it has all the necessary ingredients for a delicious blend of flavors and nutrients.

You can also replace the beef for chicken or pork, or be crazy and cook them all in one!

Enjoy! And as usual, if you have any questions, ask me, I'm available 24/7 :)

Tiramisu de lucuma

This is going to be a tough one... The recipe is not mine, I found it in a blog and it's supposedly from Astrid & Gaston's restaurant. Well, I did twist it. Why? Just because I tend to to do that... sorry and thanks Pilar. Here's the recipe and I'll update the blog with a picture tomorrow, the tiramisu is right now in the fridge shaping up ;)

3 Lucumas (this is the fresh fruit, equivalent to 350 gr. of pulp)
400 gr mascarpone cheese (or philadelphia cheese at room temperature)
250 gr. champagne biscuits (aprox. 28 biscuits)
200 gr. Whipped cream (sweet)
Kahlua
Confectioner's sugar
Cocoa powder
Swiss merengue (optional)

Make a paste with the lucumas. Mix the mascarpone cheese with the lucuma paste in the mixer, at the lowest speed. Add the whipped cream with a spatula or a wooden spoon and mix carefully until they blend homogeneously (do this outside the mixer). Taste for sweetness, if needed add more sugar and mix, but beware that the biscuits are sweet.

In a rectangular medium pyrex lay the biscuits, previously soaked in the Kahlua (don't wet them too much because they will break, count to 4 while turning, that is my rule of thumb). On top of that layer, spread the lucuma mixture until covering the biscuits completely. Sift some cocoa powder. Repeat the same procedure for the next layer, first the biscuits, then the mixture. Finish it with the cocoa powder sifted on top and if you want to, with the swiss merengue.

Swiss merengue
3 egg whites

180 gr. of sugar

Add the sugar and eggs in a bowl in bain-marie (bano maria) until the sugar completely dissolves. Then transfer to the mixer and mix until it is a white, thick blend. That's it, spread it over your favorite dessert ;)

No oven, see? Easy, right? Now try to get the lucumas if you don't live in Peru... ha ha ha! Sorry, I had to make a little joke. I will help you find either the pulp or the flour, and we'll adjust the recipe, just let me know where you're at and I'll be happy to give you a hand.

Now, good night my peeps!

Peace out!

What's for lunch?

Today, as pretty much every day, I am my kids' personal chef; what does that mean? That I absolutely have to make whatever they want to eat, and thank God they are not into junk food anymore! Today they wanted LOMO SALTADO, which is a very common and well known peruvian dish, and since it turned out pretty good according to them (they may be a little biased), I'll share my own personal recipe... I honestly don't know who will read this, but in case any professional chef does, I am repeating what I stated before... MY OWN PERSONAL RECIPE ;)
Recipe for 4
1 Kg. beef (ideally tenderloin)
1/2 Kg. potatoes
1/2 Kg. ripe tomatoes
1/2 Kg. onions
Parsley, salt, pepper, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, chilli pepper.

Cut the beef in rectangular pieces of 2 by 3 cms. (don't use a ruler, just calculate it with your thumb)
Marinate the beef for an hour in salt, pepper, garlic and soy sauce, at taste, be careful with the sodium though.
Cut the potatoes for french fries (french cut) let them soak in water for a while, then dry them with toilet paper and immediately fry them until golden.
Cut the onions and tomatoes julienne and save them.
Chop the parsley and cut the chilli pepper in brunoise.
Cook the meat on a wok preferably, if you don't have a wok, use a wide, big frying pan.
Heat the oil and add the meat, stirring from time to time, making sure it is golden brown (don't overcook or it'll be hard to chew)/
Once the meat is golden brown, add the onions, and stir to blend.
Add the tomatoes and chilli pepper, continue stirring carefully until it blends.
Add salt, pepper and vinegar to taste, if it looks a little dry, add a little bit more of soy sauce. Cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes (low fire).
Remove from fire, and add the fries and parsley. It should be juicy and brown. Serve with white rice.
Enjoy :)

I'm back!

Yes! I know some of you will say "yeah, right!", but this time I'm back for real! Here's the thing, I have to work on my thesis, which is no less than a recipe book with at least 30 recipes... you may think that is a piece of cake... uhm... no! It's not easy but I'll make it fun, so you may want to join me for this 'cause in order to not go nuts and surrender to procrastination, I will need support and ideas.
Today I'll prepare a lucuma tiramisu, thanks to Pilar and her blog "en mi cocina hoy", which gave me the recipe, and the inspiration :)
Ok, ready? Good, at least one of us is ready...
I will see you later with a successful story on how to ruin a perfect dessert... ha ha ha! Just kidding! I will succeed and you will enjoy this fabulous dessert with me, at least by pictures :P
Good morning to you and good luck to me!
See you later ;)

Oops... I did it again?

So now it's been not one but more than two weeks... and no, there's no excuse for my absence, I just had a couple of hectic weeks :( From now on I commit to write as often as possible, maybe every day, maybe once a week, but I'll do it 'cause you know? It makes me feel better ;)

Besides I had the MOST boring class of all... Nutrition! Wait, it wasn't the subject though, it was the teacher! How can somebody so deadly boring teach a college class????? Anyway, I think I learned what I had to learn and that's that, and I'm glad it's finally over. Now I entered the world of Garde Manger, which for the ones that are clueless like me in regards of what that means, I'll share with you the meaning: Food keeper, or something in the neighborhood. It comes from the days when food had to be prepared and stored for the winter time, back when we didn't have refrigerators, remember? So it involves processes like butchering, pickling, salting, curing and smoking the food... sounds like fun? Well, it actually is because you learn how to take advantage of these processes and you can use them for leftovers! So far I've learned most of the basics, which is salads and dressings. Learning how to smoke and cure was something a little more complicated, and making a sausage was undeniably fun. By the way, you really don't want to know what goes in one, just keep enjoying them ;)

Well, tonight I won't share a recipe, why? Because I haven't made anything particularly extraordinary that I can be proud to share. However, I'll share with you my enthusiasm for the upcoming days, when I'll start working for my thesis book, and of course you'll be my partners in crime, because how else am I going to know if I'm going on the right direction? But hey, you have to promise me that you'll keep it a secret, this is something I've been dreaming about for the last couple of months, and since is my thesis, I can't strictly share it with everybody, right? So I won't share my work on Facebook, meaning that if you want to be a part of this, you'll have to be my fan here and swear to secrecy :P

Until the next time my friends...

Well, it's been a week...

And what a week! Busy, busy, busy, and I can't say that it was uneventful, but thank God it's over and now I'm back to my beloved blog, which I had inadvertently, abandoned. So with no valid apologies, I am publishing the recipe I promised last week, Cassarola Italiana, Brazilian version and revised by me... This is a dessert that can never go wrong, it's way too easy, and not too sweet, yet good enough to be the perfect ending to any delicious meal... enjoy!

6 whole eggs

2 cups of white sugar

1/2 liter of warm white whole milk

6 tbsps of all purpose flour

100 grs of grated parmesan cheese

2 tbsps of melted butter

Blend the eggs and sugar, add the warm milk, the flour, the butter, and half of the cheese. Pour the mix on a buttered pyrex or baking pan (preferably rectangular) and spread the remaining cheese on top. Bake on preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) or until the stick or knife come out clean and the cheese is "bronzed". Let it cool and serve.

If you prefer a "healthier" version of this delicious dessert, you can substitute the the white sugar for brown sugar, the whole milk for 2%, and the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour. Unfortunately the real enemies remain the same, but it'll be a 35% to 40% healthier than the original recipe. Good luck, see you tomorrow ;)

Food and life flavors

Food as life can be simply delicious or a terrible disaster. See, life to me is like a complete menu, where you mix flavors, colors, textures and sensations. So here is the tricky part; if you don't know how to blend the ingredients properly, you may end up creating something you will regret for good. I mean, sweet is supposed to taste sweet, not bitter, unless of course you meant for it to taste like that, which I consider simply not right. Yes, yes, you can use some bitter-sweet touches here and there, but not like totally bitter. Well, a couple of things you learn from bitterness is that; one, you discovered the flavor in your mouth, and then you realized how bad it tastes (when is not supposed to taste like that); and two, you know what went wrong and swear never ever to do the same mistake again... right? As in life, with food you have to be careful; choose the wrong ingredients and you'll be really unhappy.
Once again I'm rambling, but don't fear, I do have a point. Umami, you know what that is? I'll give you the Wikipedia concept (I'm quoting, not stealing): Umami, popularly referred to as savoriness, has been proposed as one of the basic tastes sensed by specialized receptor cells present on the human and animal tongue . Umami is a loanword from Japanese meaning "flavor" or "taste" (noun). In English, however, "brothy ", "meaty ", or "savory" have been proposed as alternative translations. In as much as it describes the flavor common to savory products such as meat, cheese, and mushrooms , umami is similar to Brillat-Savarin 's concept of osmazome, an early attempt to describe the main flavoring component of meat as extracted in the process of making stock .
Ummm... you know what that is right? MSG!!!! That nasty ingredients most of us have banned from our kitchens. But I have to confess that I've learned how to use it and take advantage of it because this controversial ingredient DOES enhance flavors (too bad we can't use it to enhance our lives). I just want to clarify something, I'm not suggesting you use it, I'm just making a point; you can use it, try it, experiment with it and IF (huge IF) you happen to like it, well there you go! Try mixing it with the other four flavors (sweet, salty, bitter and sour) and you'll see what I mean... just please, don't add it to your next chocolate cake ;)
Tomorrow I'll share something called "Cassarola Italiana", it's very easy to cook, cheap and definitely yummy. And, I'll give you the "healthier" option for it as well.

Have a good Friday my friends...

Chupe

This is my personal recipe. I sort of made it up one day when I was cornered and HAD to say I knew how to make it. It is actually what I could remember from how my mom used to do it and a recipe I thought I remembered too... Here is the improved version of what I prayed wouldn't be a total disaster.
First of all, shrimp are bought by amount per kilo, that is how you decide on the size. For example, if it says in the bag 25/35, that means there are between 25 and 35 units per kilo (or pound) and that should tell you about the size. That is for the commercialized in-store shrimp. Now, if you go to the market to buy them handpicked, then you're up for a treat! They have to be whole, remember, and if they have ANY black spots or are headless, discard them, they're not good.

1 kg (2 lbs.) of fresh whole shrimp

1 cup of white rice

1 cup of cooked green peas

1 cup of cooked yellow corn

6 - 8 cups of boiled warm/hot water

1 chopped medium red or white onion

2 chopped fresh cloves of garlic

1 chopped celery stalked

1 chopped small carrot

1 chopped leek stalk

1 tablespoon of tomato extract.

50 ml of white wine (dry preferably)

1 can of evaporated milk or cream (crema de leche)

Blend of spices (oregano, parsley, cilantro, black pepper)

Aji (hot chili pepper)

Salt

Butter

Remove the tails of the shrimp and wash them. Clean the shrimp, cover and refrigerate for later. If you want, save a few with the last ring on the tail for decoration purposes.
Clarify the butter (melt it first and remove all the white foam on top). Sauté the onions, leek, carrot and celery, don't let it brown. Add the tails and sauté for a couple of minutes, until they change to a darker color. Pour the wine and the tomato extract, make sure the wine evaporates and the tomato extract spreads over the mix. Cover completely with water (2-3 cups at the most) and let it boil. Once it has boiled, let it simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the stove, let it cool and blend preferably with the pulse function, you don't want to pulverize the tails. Sift it carefully, making sure there are no big pieces of anything remaining. It should be a thick but fluid orange blend.
Put it back on the stove, preferably in a big/tall pan, add the salt and spices to taste, remember you'll be adding rice, rice absorbs the water and the flavor in it so, don't be afraid to add more salt as needed. Once again, let it boil and once it's boiled add the rest of the hot water. When it boils add the rice and let it cook until it's soft. Add the shrimp and cook for 5 minutes or so, don't let them shrink too much or they will get hard and will taste like rubber. Add the milk/cream, don't let it boil, just heat up until it blends. Add the peas and corn. Turn off the stove. Correct the salt and spices, add more as needed and add the aji (chili pepper).

If you decide to use the shrimp for decoration, sauté those shrimps on olive oil, and serve them on top of the soup. You can use some pulverized parsley or cilantro also.

Good luck! Let me know if it works and if you liked it... I need the feedback... seriously!

Fish and seafood

It has come to an end, and thank God! Because I couldn't see those tasty, yet smelly creatures... I guess my cholesterol is way down now, I mean, after all that omega 3 I've been consuming for the last three weeks... I wonder... Anyway, it's over and I had my final test today!
And this too, is actually my excuse for not writing yesterday, I had to study 'cause it was a lot of information I had to get into my brain, which as some of you may know, it's not easy.
Ok, enough, off to a more interesting subject: Fish and seafood! Ha ha ha! No, it's not a joke. See, the purpose of this blog is not only to share recipes and frustrations, but also to share knowledge. In other words, whatever I learn, you will too, Cliff's Notes version of course, but you'll definitely learn something with me.

For example, did you know that fish is an excellent source of omega 3? That the colder the water, the fatter the fish, the healthier it is (salmon)? That tuna, one of the biggest predators in the ocean, when caught is hanged upside down in order to bleed out and this is how it dies? That lobster and crab are tastier when cooked alive? That an octopus grows a new tentacle when he loses one? And shrimp does the same with the eyes (creepy!)? That squid when cooked very rapidly or very thoroughly doesn't taste like rubber? That frogs are rich in flavor and nutrients, and that are allergy free? And that swordfish is a nasty fish than even dead can cause you a bad injury?
Well, this is just a little bit of all I learned the past three weeks, and I'll share more as I enter the recipes. There are a lot of fun and creepy facts about fish and seafood; some will make you want to eat them, some will make you never want to see them again, but you'll definitely, definitely learn something ;)
I will share a few recipes from now on; some may be hard, others way too easy, but all of them DOABLE. However, today, I will start with one of my favorites, and one that I didn't learn in my class... Chupe! Peruvian and personal style!
It'll go on another note, as you know I like to keep them separate so you don't have to read my rambling along with the recipe ;)

Much love!

Alfajores!

Well, today was a rough day, unfortunately... What whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? Then I'm on my way to becoming the incredible Hulk (I'm going to start charging this dude for mentioning him so much)!!!! I'm sorry to disappoint you, but today I just couldn't cook; I mean, I did, at school and a few minutes ago I finished supper, arroz chaufa (fried rice), peruvian style. Only that it wasn't for my little project, only 'cause I had to, not because I was inspired... do you know the feeling? But don't worry, today was the exception, that I can guarantee ;)

Ok, so to my dear beloved high school mates, and the few other that chose (and dared) to follow me here goes my recipe of peruvian alfajores, Anilu style:

4 cups of white flour

350 grs of BUTTER (no margarine please) unsalted preferably

6 tablespoons of confectioner's sugar
2 cups of dulce de leche (manjar blanco)

1 cup of grated coconut

2 shots of rum

1 shot of limoncello (if you can't get it, I'll share a recipe for it later)

By the way, by shots I mean not the tequila ones please, the official shot which is measured by the bottle lid; you can use the other kind for the waiting time ;)

Sift the flour, then the sugar, add the butter (should be at room temperature) on a mixer, and mix at the slowest speed. This dough is really difficult to blend, so be very patient and diligent, don't give up because eventually it'll happen for you. Once you see it's starting to blend, pour the shots, one by one. If you see that the dough is not coming together, wash your hands with very cold water, dry them and try to work the dough with your hands, until it gets an homogeneous texture. Even though it's done, it'll look like it's falling apart. Don't worry, this is totally normal ok?

You'll need parchment paper, to spread the dough. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to 1/4-inch (6 mm.) thick, then cut into 1 to 1 1/2-inch (25 to 35 mm.) circles with a small, round cookie cutter. Place circles onto an ungreased baking sheet (teflon is better), and poke each twice with a fork.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees celsius (350 fahrenheit. Disks should be removed from the oven while still pale, they should not brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To put them together spread the dulce de leche on one of the disks with a spoon, then put the other disk on top, press it a little so the dulce de leche shows, then roll it by the borders only with the grated coconut or if you prefer, use confectioner's sugar.

Limoncello: This is an italian alcoholic drink, since I don't know if you'll be able to get it, you can do this: Make a lemonade, more lemon less water (8 to 10 lemons), no sugar. Add either pisco or vodka (1/3 of a glass) and put it to boil on a small pan, let it reduce, but not thicken. Remove it from the fire and add a teaspoonful of honey, mix it and let it cool.

Good luck my peoples, let me know how it went ok? Also, you can play with your imagination, shapes and colors, they don't have to be round, and you can add other flavors to the dulce de leche, you know?

Love!

Going green

The title refers to today's wish to cook something green... why? I don't know, I just felt like trying something new. Remember when yesterday I mentioned connecting your senses to the food? Well, today I did a little experiment of blending different kinds of green. I made pasta (from scratch), green of course, a green bechamel and a compound butter (check my Facebook profile for details) with green herbs of course. I know it sounds like a lot of green, and it was, but the thing is that I didn't repeat the "green" anywhere, so in the end it turned out an interesting blend of flavors. Kids loved it, but then again they're biased, I'm the mom who HAS to cook for them, and they HAVE to like my food... although that doesn't necessarily apply all the time, they can be pretty demanding too. Today they DEVOURED the food, five minutes after serving it, it was gone! I guess it was pretty good. I'll post the recipe for you to try it, it's quick and easy, the only thing is that I made the pasta as I said, from scratch, so if you can't do it, at least try to buy the homemade kind, it will make a huge difference.
Well, the "Hulk experience" wasn't so bad, maybe tomorrow I'll try a different color, maybe not; all I know is that now I feel like playing with food, it's so much fun! And you should try it too ;)

From Evernote:

To my number one (and maybe the only one) fan

This week I've accomplished more things than I could've possibly imagine. I remember when I started this blog and I had every intention of writing every day... obviously laziness took over me, then procrastination invaded my mind and the result, nothing, no ideas, no words, no NOTHING. Now thanks to a great movie, and mostly thanks to my wonderful husband support, I am motivated to do this every day. 
So, since I don't want to disappoint him, here goes today's blog; although I didn't cook today, I need to say something right?

We are creatures of habit, probably most of us do basically the same things everyday, or at least every week day. Some may have a more interesting life than others, but in the end we always have a routine. One of the things we ALL definitely do, is eat. We do it because we're hungry or some times because we just have to. But regardless of the reason, let me share this thought with you... what if we make it a different experience every time we do it? I mean, try to identify every flavor you're eating, the texture, the ingredients involved; try to tie it up to a memory, to a person, to a happier time, even to your favorite color or smell... You'll see it'll be a whole different sensation!

Remember Ratatouille? Remember when the critic (ugly guy) started remembering his mom making the same dish when he was a little kid? Well, that's it! Food involves all your senses, which are managed by your brain, which also stores your memories... see the connection? I hope I'm not making it too complicated, especially if you're hungry when you read this because it won't probably make much sense and you'll end up hating me; but if you get what I'm saying, next time you have dinner try my little experiment and you'll see what I mean.

Tomorrow I'll cook "chorizo" (beef cut), and I have to figure out how to do it, so expect a new invention, right after the initial confusion and frustration of course!

G'night!

Give me an A!

Sorry, but I have to cheer myself today... at the end of a long day of cooking, I'm still in the kitchen! Today was fun, cooking with Ivan always is because we encourage and challenge each other as we go. But today was especially fun because we created pretty much everything we cooked. Remember I told you I was going to cook ribs? Well, considering I had never done them before, I was wondering how would I marinate them, and cook'em? Ivan suggested oven. I said fine, but let's make a BBQ sauce. So I made it, with whatever I had at hand, blending flavors I wasn't sure were going to mix accordingly, but in the end it came out just right... a thick, sweet and sour, and of course spicy, BBQ sauce! Then we crushed sweet and salty crackers, and there, we added texture. They came out great! Not as crunchy as we thought, but they were soooo yummy, Gabe ended up licking all the way up to the bone! We served them with a delicious risotto, made by Ivan of course, of shimeji mushrooms, artichoke and palm hearts. It was gooood! And I'll share the recipe soon, I just need to figure out how to make the ribs crunchier ;) Now, the alfajores are a whole 'nother story... I started them around 4:00 P.M. It is 8:30 P.M. and I'm not done! The thing is that peruvian alfajores are tough by nature (juuuust like us women), but I decided to make them with a kick; I added a couple of "special" ingredients, and that my people, made the dough even harder to work with. After a bunch of trial and errors, my public loved them, and that's all I need to know :)
Well, that's all for now, and for the rest of the weekend unfortunately because tomorrow is my day OFF... I deserve it right? I'm exhausted, mentally and physically, happy yes, but tired. And also tomorrow is Easter Sunday, so I'll give YOU a break too. I'll share the recipes next week, I promise, with all the secrets.. although I'm thinking about bottling my BBQ sauce, put a Spider Man band aid on it and sell it at the supermarket; God knows I need the money!
Happy Sunday my friends.
Love!

Gabe, this is "art"...

That is how Ivan described my plate yesterday... I felt so... flattered. I mean, I have the idea that when people see food, the chemical reaction begins, where your mouth starts to water, your nose starts developing this extreme sensibility and your brain starts desiring to enjoy that meal, imagining how will it taste... Well, that is art! I don't think I need to be an artist in order to create art; I just need the right motivation to get inspired. And what better motivation than food? Did you know that food is art? That is one of the two things where your 5 senses are involved? (I won't tell you the other thing because this is a PG blog). God knows I suck when it comes to art, my high school teacher always said it; in fact, I can't even saw. But when it comes to food, I guess I'm not that bad... Maybe I should email her a picture of a nice plate and she will change her mind? I don't really care. What I do care about is that since you (the ones who are hopefully reading me) can't taste my food, at least you will be able to savor it with your eyes, and that will make you want to cook it as well.
Ok, so, it's not that I didn't succeed yesterday when I recreated one of Adria's "tapas"; but let's just be real for a minute: This is not something I (nor you) can do every day. We simply don't have the time. So here's what I will do from now on. Once a week, I'll challenge ourselves to do one molecular recipe; the rest of the week I'll create something different, fun, tasty and pretty... You with me? I mean, I'll make the mistakes, but you won't, isn't this a sweet deal?
Today we'll make ribs... sounds simple? Well, it's not! I've never in my life have cooked ribs, and I'm inventing my own BBQ sauce too. For dessert we'll have peruvian alfajores, but not the ones you know... you'll see.
I'm off to the market, wish me luck!
See you later...

The recipe...

4 medium langoustines


200 grs. of quinoa

8 scallions

2 roma tomatoes

1 lemon (the yellow one)

5 grs. of gellan gum (I'll explain later)

150 grs.kefir

Water, olive oil, dried chilli, rosemary, basil, coriander (or cilantro), alfalfa sprouts, lime, salt.

First things first, gellan gum is a gelling agent, which you can find at bakeries or places where they sell ingredients for party cakes (weddings, birthdays, etc.). Unfortunately this is the most important ingredient so try to find it please. I'll add a couple of websites where you can look for it. It's cheap.

Dissolve the gellan gum in 100 ml of water, and blend vigorously for 10 minutes or until it has no lumps. Refrigerate for as long and as cold as possible DO NOT FREEZE.

Infuse the dried chilli in 50 ml. of sunflower oil (or olive oil, not the extra virgen one) and let it rest.

Chop the rosemary and basil, and infuse them in 50 ml of olive oil, add salt and a few drops of LIME. Mix and let it rest.

Remove the heads of the langoustines and discard. Peel the tails up to the last ring of the shell and remove the intestinal tract. Store the tails in the refrigerator.

Boil 100 grs of quinoa for 25 minutes with salt and plenty of water. Drain, rinse (in cold water please) and drain again. Spread the quinoa and let it dry. It needs to be as dried as possible, if you can't wait too long, do as I did: Use your blowdryer, but carefully, once they start drying, they will probably fly away :) Once they are dried, finish cooking them in the oven at 180 degrees celsius (350 fahrenheit) with oil until they puff or toast (be careful, they have to be crunchy). Soak up the oil with paper towel and season with salt.

Now cook the other 100 grs of quinoa, this time for 15 minutes only, once again with salt and plenty of water. Drain and rinse, drain again and refrigerate.

While you wait for the gellan gum, dice the tomates and cut the lemon and the scallions.

Tomatoes: Boil water and once is boiling, put the tomatoes and count until 20 Mississipis. Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and put them in a bowl with cold (preferably with ice) water. Peel them, seed them and cut them in 0.5 cm cubes. Refrigerate.

Lemon: Zest it first. If you don't have a zester, use the grater. Peel it in a spiral and cut the top and bottom. Remove rinds and pith and cut in 0.5 cubes and refrigerate along with the zest.

Scallions: Peel and cut into 2 mm. rings. Soak them in a bowl of cold water and refrigerate.

Now here's where the fun starts.

Mix the 2 quinoas with the gellan gum. I suggest don't do it all at once because you won't need all the quinoa. Mix enough so it looks like well blended and has an homogeneus texture.

Lightly salt the langoustine tails and coat them with the quinoa mixture so they are completely covered, all the way to the tail shell which will remain uncoated and uncovered.

Lay them out on a plate and refrigerate for an hour (I honestly put them in the freezer for 20 minutes, but it could be dangerous if it gets frozen when it gets fried, so be careful).

During this period of time while the mixture is hardening, the rest of the ingredients will also gain texture and flavor, so be patient OK?

Finishing and presentation:

Lightly salt the coated tails and fry them both sides on olive oil (one by one I'd suggest). Soak up the oil with paper towel.

On one side of the plate, arrange the onion, tomatoes, lemon, and coriander for a small salad as desired. Dress with the infused chilli oil.

On the other side of the plate, serve a spoonful of kefir and set the sprouts on top, sprinkle a bit of salt and some quinoa puffs (if you have some left).

Serve the langoustine tail horizontally to the salads on one extreme, and on the other extreme serve a tablespoon of the infused herbal oil.

Enjoy!

One down... this one is about PATIENCE!

Well, it is the end of the day and I finally finished the aforementioned recipe. After the initial frustration of not knowing how to deal with molecular ingredients and unsuccessfully trying to remember my chemistry class, I finally came up with a solution... the internet! I researched a looooot, and ended up understanding what I had to do. There was a point when I thought this is really not worth it! But you know? It is worth it. I came to realize that the limits are there because WE put them there, and today I went beyond my limits and boundaries... I challenged a recipe that only in my dreams I could eat (you know, at elBulli you have to make a reservation like 3 years in advance), and not only that, I recreated it MY WAY, considering I didn't have all the ingredients nor the equipments. I hope Mr. Ferrand Adria doesn't get mad and actually understands my limitations, that is geographically and financially speaking. So here goes MY version of this recipe, which by the way is a "tapa"; simplified for your sake and mine and hopefully affordable. If you want to attempt to do this, I suggest you immerse yourself in patience... No, I'm not discouraging you, on the contrary, I'm pep talking you! You can do it, come on!
(The recipe goes on another note, I don't want to bore you to death...)

Freaking out

I don't think this is quite the most motivating nor inspiring title for my note today, but that is how I'm feeling right now. I'm about to start playing with Adria's recipes and as clueless as I always am, I am also trying to figure things out and how to use these really complicated recipes.
Am I discouraged? NO! I'm reallistic and grounded, so don't fear, I'll still immerse myself in the kitchen today and won't come out until I have a big SUCCESS stamp on my forehead, or at least a little blue star, but I will accomplish something good today and of course I'll share it with you.
I will try to document photographycally as much as I can so you can have the laughs I promised, and then later I'll post the recipe, that I also promised... and I promise, too, it'll be DOABLE!
Menu for today: Langoustine with quinoa. This is a Ferran Adria's dish from one of his famous annual menus. He uses all these exlusive made by himself ingredients, to which of course I have no access 'cause simply I can't afford them. However, I do have some interesting molecular ingredients, creativity and willingness, that I assure you will help me come up with something gooooood! Let's be honest, neither of us can spend too much time or money on this right? so let's work with we have... shall we?

Cebiche

After much deliberation I decided to share this recipe... why? Because well, I recently discovered that cebiche is not necessarily peruvian, but rather a cooking method... disappointed? Please don't be, because the method is indeed peruvian! Well, here goes MY peruvian cebiche recipe:

Fresh fish, lime (the small really small, really green kind), onions, garlic, parsley, cilantro, salt, hot chilli peppers and loooooove!
Got that? Love, because without it, it won't work!

Fish: It has to be white, never pink please! Fresh and thick, sea bass is an excellent choice (lenguado). One filet per person you're serving. After cleaning the fish, cut in 2 cm. (1 inch) pieces and spread them on a rectangular pyrex (ideally). Salt them at taste, not too much, but enough so that the lime doesn't take over the flavor. Add the chopped garlic, 4 or 5 cloves if you're making a generous dish. Let it rest.
Parsley: Washed and chopped. Spread over the fish right after the garlic.
Lime: Squeeze it after you season the fish, because if you wait too long, it will get bitter. Enough lime to cover, yes COVER the fish COMPLETELY (not to the point of swimming, just bathing...)
Cilantro: Washed and chopped. Spread over the fish after the lime.
Let it rest until the fish looks "cooked", don't let it soften to the point of melting in your mouth. I can't give you exact amounts of time because all fish have different points of fiber breaking.
Before serving, spread the onions, cut in julienne and the chilli peppers, cut in brunoise (small squares).
If your public is not too kin on the pepper, then cut it and mix it with salt and a bit of olive oil, for the ones who'd like to add it to their dish.

A perfect companion for peruvian cebiche are: Sweet potatoes (boiled, peeled, and cut in medium pieces), yellow corn (boiled with anise, and cut in halfs), yucca (boiled, peeled, and cut in medium pieces, and of course lettuce.

Once again, I'm not giving you exact measurements because it's hard to determine how many people you want to feed, but here's a rule of thumb:
4 people = 4 filets (1/2 kg/1.1 lbs) of fish.
8 - 10 limes (or 10 - 12 if they're really small)
2 med. onions
2-3 cloves of garlic
The rest of ingredients are pure common sense...

Good luck! I expect comments :)
Peace out!

To Bulli or not to Bulli...

From Evernote:

Finally it is a new day indeed so I've earned the rights to start a new note for my blog... Yay! I'm at starbucks waiting for a friend, a new I might add, and with nothing left better to do I decided to write a note on my ipod's Evernote app. So as I struggle with the touch screen let's hope I'll get inspired...
This morning my much of a saint husband surprised me with the fact that he liked my blogging and actually encouraged me to go for it and also gave me a few ideas of where to start off. Hoping that I don't resemble a horrible copycat of the great Julie Powell, I'll start attempting to recreate no less than Ferrand Adria's recipes for elBulli... What? Yes! I'll probably spend a lot of money in the process (donations are welcomed!) and time of course, but I think it'll be worth it because this is a REAL challenge for me. We're talking about the greatest magician when it comes to food... What do we know about molecular food? Ivan thinks I'm scared and I have to agree 'cause I'm clueless, but I'll learn and the best part is that you will too! What? You thought that I was going to suffer alone? No, no! I need you for encouragement and support and in return I promise successful recipes and a couple of good laughs... Ready?  

My name is not Julie nor Julia, but I do share the passion...

So, after watching this wonderful movie Julie & Julia, I got really inspired about food; and after seeing how much these two women struggled, yet enjoyed while enduring the painful path they walked as they cooked, I can only follow their good example right? Well, since they paved for me the path I want to walk, here I go starting a painful task: I'm committing myself to write EVERY DAY, yes, every day, either a moment, a recipe (that actually works), a frustration or a joy, but I will, for real, write.
Starting with today, it will unfortunately be a frustration, because I feel old, although I'm not, I just feel and it's utterly frustrating... gosh! There is so much I want to do and because of my "age" I'm being rejected. Ugh! Anyway, this is about food right? Here is what I did today: Lobster! Yes, Julie, lobster! Only that it wasn't neither the way you did it, nor she was alive BUT, it was indeed a challenge and I survived.
Just so all of you know, I have boned a chicken!
Ok, this is it for now, maybe for today, but it is a big accomplishmente believe me!
Tomorrow I promise a recipe and if there is anybody out there listening to my rambling, ask me for something, anything but cebiche ok?
Toodles!

Enology
Some people say they know about wine and I don’t doubt it, but the truth is that wine is like a science, it is continuosly changing and if one doesn’t keep up with the updates we may find ourselves sounding kinda silly when asked about wines. From a chef point of view, mine, I have to say that knowing how to cook is never enough if you don’t know how to harmonize your dish with a good wine. It’d be ideal if every chef becomes also a sommelier, but I don’t see it as a requirement as long as said chef doesn’t own his own restaurant because in that case that would be a definite plus! Anyway, I’m just starting a new blog, which by the way will continue later with the same subject. Gotta go to the gym now. To the ones who dare to follow me, I’ll see you later!