Mexican Lasagna

Mexican food is a crucial part of the Californian diet.  There's not a week that passes by without picking up a monster burrito.  We can thank the large Mexican population for introducing us to authentic carne asada, mole, shrimp a la plancha, churros, or whatever heavenly Mexican treat that graces nearly every legit corner in California.  Mexican food is about as common as a media luna and about as necessary to my spice-seeking survival as mate is to an Argentina circle of friends.  With my last remaining package of trader joes corn tortillas, I made my version of lasagna Mexican-style.  And let me tell you, it's a little tricky, but it's the beeeeeeeeeeeest!

Ingredients: (for 2 lasagnas or 10-12 people)
1 whole chicken
1 jar of crushed tomato (the large glass liter-like jar from super chinos)
2 bay leaves
10-20 corn tortillas - cut in half
2 cans refried beans (get them at disco)
2-3 packages of cheddar cheese (the already shredded ones)
1 jar crushed tomato
1 large onion - chopped
1 red pepper - chopped
2 ears of corn - cut off cob
2 tomatoes - sliced
1 green onion - chopped
2+ pieces of garlic - diced
Taco seasoning (cumin, chili powder, garlic salt, onion powder, Cayenne pepper, salt, dried oregano - these are kinda hard to get here, but you can get cumin, chili's, garlic, salts, provenzal easily).
1-2 chili peppers or more depending on how spicy you want it.

Directions: Have the chicken quartered and the skin taken off.  Place in large stewing pot and fill with jar of tomato sauce and water until covered.  Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1-2 hours until chicken is falling off bone.  Let cool.  Save stewing liquid to make rice if you want. After it's cool enough to handle, shred chicken off bone.

Saute onions until golden.  Add pepper, garlic, and chilies, saute 3-5 min.  Add spices and crushed tomato from the can.  Add water if necessary.  I often add some of the refried beans and a couple spoons of finlandia cream cheese if I have it to thicken it up a bit.  Add corn and stir.  Add 3/4 of the shredded chicken or as much as looks right depending on size of your pans and amount of sauce.  You want there to be enough sauce.  

Assemble the lasagna.  Place a layer of tortillas on the bottom of each pan.  Add a layer of beans (1/2 can), a layer of chicken sauce mix, layer of cheese.  Add another layer of tortillas and repeat.  Top with cheese and tomato slices.  Bake in the oven of medium heat for about an hour or until cheese is melted.  This is just to incorporate it all together, but everything is cooked so bake until lasagnas look good.  Remove from oven, top with green onion and let cool.  I like to serve with guacamole, rice, and sour creme (mendicream or whatever it's called)!

Amici Miei - Great Italian with a view

Amici Miei is a great find for Italian in the city.  I'm not a huge fan of Italian overall because I think it's a bit redundant and a little too tomato based for me, but I gave this place a shot and was pleasantly surprised.  It wasn't only for the never ending bread basket with 5 different types of freshly baked rolls and breadsticks, but the intriguing menu that broke my Italian mold.  We started off with Parmesan Flan and caramelized apple chutney and then moved onto squid stuffed with black couscous and an overly indulgent stuffed pasta.  The flan was to die for and the pasta was great.  The squid was a bit chewy, but different enough to keep me interested.  While I prefer my pizzas with caramelized onion, squash, and goat cheese, I'll definitely keep this one in the arsenal for the future.  Definitely worth a try!

Cooking Class and Pura Tierra

Pura Tierra is without a doubt one the best restaurants in BA.  It focuses on showcasing the best ingredients found in Argentina.  With hefty weakly shipments from the Northwest region, this Buenos Aires gem cannot be missed.  I had the opportunity to take a cooking class and learn about all the indigenous products that can be found here if you know where to go.  Bottom line is, this restaurant is unmissable and Barrio Chino and Mercado de Liniers are crucial shopping areas for foodies.

Breakfast for Dinner

This week my ganas struck for buttermilk pancakes.  Perhaps the most defining American classic second to the hamburger, pancakes are an important part of of the yanqui diet.  On my last trip back from the states I picked up some Whole Foods buttermilk powder which has revolutionized my life.  You might think that buttermilk doesn't exist in BA, but it can be made with just milk and the juice of 1 lemon mixed together and let sit for 15 min!  With the idea of breakfast for dinner stuck in my head, I began my recipe search, invited the girls over, and got ready for a chill friday night of mimosas, biscuits, banana pacakes, a chorizo-squash frittata, and fresh fruit.  Check out my recipe inspirations:

Banana Buttermilk Pancakes
Buttermilk biscuits
Chorizo, Squash, Red Pepper Frittata - no online recipe for this one because it's super easy

Ingredients:
6 Eggs - lightly whipped with 1/4 cup of milk
1 Package of chopped butternut squash
1-2 Chorizo (I tried the light version from Disco to be more healthy.  Super good move)!
1 Red bell pepper - chopped
1/2 Onion - chopped
Salt/Pepper to taste

Directions: Lay squash on a pan, sprinkle with honey, salt, and pepper and roast in oven on HIGH for 10-15 min while preparing the rest of the ingredients.  Chop onions and peppers and saute in a pan with oil over medium heat.  While they are cooking for about 5-10 min, take chorizo out of casing and crumble into onions/peppers.  Cook the chorizo until almost done and add squash after a couple of min.  Turn heat off.  Lightly beat eggs and milk and combine with saute mixture in a bowl.  Prepare a circular baking dish with a bit of oil and pour mixture into pan.  Bake in oven for about 10-15 min or until cooked through.  I like to sprinkle some cheese on top for a little extra flavor!

Valentine's Day Scones

Scones are my favorite food.  Buttery, crumbly, perfectly sweet, but not too sweet, moist dough balls of heaven.  My Sunday ritual is walking around to each corner bakery and testing a new scone.  So far the winners are from La Barcelona on Billinghurst and Charcas and Natural Deli, but the search continues.  Tonight, I decided to take measures into my own hands and dabble in the art of scone-making.  I also wanted to take advantage of my remaining Trader Joes dried cranberries and heart shaped cookie cutter I found here.  They were pretty successful, but a tad over cooked due to the distracting peanut butter, banana licuado I was enjoying.

Here's the recipe I found from the awesome blog Pinch my Salt.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/8 cup granulated sugar - less than recipe calls for because I don't like them too sweet and like to add my own honey or jam after.
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1/3 cup dried cranberries
finely grated zest from one small lemon (about 2 teaspoons)

Directions: Preheat over to 425 degrees.  In Argie ovens, I just turn it on and hope for the best.  Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and add butter.  Rub butter into flour with your fingers until coarse crumbs form.  Add cranberries.  Mix eggs, milk and lemon zest and add it to the butter/flour mixture.  Lightly stir to incorporate.  Place dough on floured counter top and knead lightly to form a ball.  The less kneading the fluffier the scone.  Pat dough into 1 inch thick circle.  Cut scones out with cookie cutter and cup flipped over.  Place on butter baking sheet so that scones are very close together to rise up higher.  Bake for 10-15 min until golden brown.  When you take them out I like to drizzle honey over the top.

Lesson 1: Barrio Chino

I don't know why I'm convinced that Belgrano is too far away for a weekly trip when it's my only source of hope once my US supplies run dry.  Barrio Chino is the best place for spices, sauces, herbs, and flavorful finds - the essentials for cooking any tasty meal.  I took a trip there this Sunday and stocked up on everything my pantry was missing so that no matter my ganas, I can prepare my meal of choice without searching in 4 super chinos, 2 dieteticas, and a disco only to discover that Sriracha doesn't exist anywhere else.  Here's my shopping list from this week.  I recommend a little viaje to Barrio Chino to stock up on supplies that make any meal taste better.

1. Spices - curry picante, garam masala, mustard seed, ground mustard, dried chili's
2. Rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar
3. Coconut milk
4. Jugo de Maracuya
5. Tofu - firm and carmelized
6. Produce - mango, bok choy, chili peppers, portobello mushrooms, ginger
7. Tahini
8. Turkish lentil, butter beans
9. Basmati rice
10. Granola and granola bars
11. Whole wheat bread with flax seed

Mastering the Tuna Melt

Sandwiches are key to my happiness, but let's be honest here, melted cheese and butter-toasted bread can't really go wrong.  This week's mission was making a big, nearly embarrassing, would never be eaten by an Argentine, monster tuna melt.  Pretty simple to make with only a couple US-cheating ingredients, this sandwich should be a staple for tuna lovers.

Ingredients:
Whole wheat bread
1/2 round tomato slices
1/2 avocado sliced
3-4 Tbs mustard - I cheated with brown sugar, ginger mustard from the states, but any will do
Feta cheese
Other cheese - I used fontina, but any melting kind is fine
Butter
Canned tuna - must admit that I used trader joes white chunk from my supplies
Salt to taste

Directions - Mix tuna, mustard and or mayo, and a handful of crumbled feta cheese (the cheese melts in the tuna and adds a little salty, gooey goodness.  Slice 2nd cheese in 1/4 inch pieces and lay on top of 1 slice of bread.  Pile on tuna, then tomato and avocado slices.  Lay other piece of bread on top.  Heat up a pat of butter in a pan on low heat.  Place sandwich in pan and put another pan on top and press down hard to condense the sandwich.  Leave the pan on top with another heavy object to weight it down (I used a glass pan).  Cook for 2-3 min until bread is golden and toasted.  Remove sandwich, add another pat of butter and flip sandwich.  Press, weight, and wait.  Remove sandwich and enjoy the most delish quick lunch ever!

Surviving in Buenos Aires

I'm a fanatic for flavor and self-proclaimed foodie whose primary goal in life is to eat, cook, and discover the most delicious food in the world.  Originally from San Francisco, California where dim sum, wheat germ pancakes, and pumpkin stuffed flat bread with yogurt cheese and chili jalepeño jam are integral to my sunday brunch rotation, my decision to move to Buenos Aires, Argentina has taken some adjusting.  Rather than daily farmer's markets, ginger kombucha, and chicken apple sausage, I'm surrounded by empanadas, pizza, more empanadas, and over cooked meat.  Yes, the meat can be incredible and a cold Quilmes suddenly tastes better when it's accompanied by a choripan, but Argentine cuisine by nature is lacking in the spice department.

After 2 years of living in a city where guiaoleo is a permanent bookmark on my browser and I've scoured the city in search of essential foodie fixes, I'm dedicating my remaining time here to share my secrets and create a survival guide for how to cook and eat well in a city sin spice.