Lúcuma: Peruvian Speezy of the Week

A veces the need for fresh seafood calls and when it calls, Peruvian ceviche is the only answer in Buenos Aires.  The other week, I discovered the sweetest little Peruvian restaurant in Amalgro: Lúcuma.  I don't really want to blow the restaurant up because there are only 5 tables in the place and I'll be pissed if I start seeing a fat line outside next time I want some ceviche-socks.

Overall, the restaurant is perfect for a great, well-priced, good meal. The service was excellent, most notably from the 12 year old hostest/waitress/bar tender.  It's a family-owned spot and they go above and beyond to make the experience great.  Part of which included the FREE cocktail of chicha morada (peruvian fruit juice) and fernet.  I HATE fernet, but this was good!

We also ordered the quinoa, sun dried tomato, fresh farmer's cheese, and pesto salad.  Simple, bright, good.  Then we shared an abundant plate of ceviche mixto.  Besides the cilantro (kill me now) which I asked for on the side, it was great.  The best part were the corn nuts!

Conclusion: good spot worth a visit.

Fernet and chicha morada cocktail

Quinoa, sun dried tomato, cheese, pesto salad

Ceviche mixto

Lesson: Never be a "girl" in a restaurant and order a salad

My philosophy in college was that salad took up important space in my stomach reserved for food that actually tasted good.  A freshman 15 later and the discovery of Farmer's markets, I began to realize that salads actually can taste awesome (well, at least my 22-ingredient ones do). 

BUT, my most recent restaurant meal has led me to revert back to my college stance.  At Dobbs Ferry Restaurant, my friend and I made the GRAND mistake of ordering salads.  They were boring and we sat at the table picking at our sad greens while salivating over everyone else's luscious pizzas and pastas.  The only thing that salvaged the meal was our fried squash and fondue appetizer, so delicious that I nearly ordered another.  Overall, the meal was not worth it and shame on me for trying to be healthy- always a bad move in a restaurant.

Fried squash and fondue dipping sauce

Large garden salad

Small beet salad

Simple lunch: Polenta, egg, and salad

Roast beet, green bean, panceta, and corn salad

 So not the best photo for this one, but this salad was pretty delish in my opinion.  It's simple, colorful, and fresh.  I added a chipa on the side for a little treat!

Ingredients:
- Panceta, diced largely
- Beets, peeled and sliced thick
- Green beans, trimmed and cut in half
- Fresh corn
- Dressing of choice (I think I just did some lemon, honey, rice vinegar, and salt)

Directions: Place the beets on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt, pepper, some honey, and olive oil.  Roast until cooked through.  In the meantime, bring water to a boil and add green beans when ready.  Blanch the green beans for about 3 minutes and immediately strain into an ice bath.  This keeps them crunchy and bright green.  Add the panceta to a pan and let the fat render off until the pieces are crispy.  Drain excess fat and let cool on a pan.  Cut corn off the cob and set aside. 

Once the beets are ready add all the ingredients to a salad bowl.  If necessary, add a touch of dressing and salt.  I like to serve the salad warm, but any way is good. 

Sriracha grilled chicken salad and cheesy toast

Sriracha grilled chicken salad and cheesy toast

This is the best and easiest salad of all time.  I did cheat with a couple ingredients such as authentic sriracha from the US, but you can get knock off sriracha from Barrio Chino to do the trick.  My touch of jalepeno, chili jam, however, is only to be found at the farmer's market in San Francisco.  Anyhow, it's a very basic lunch or dinner that I love.

Ingredients: Serves 2

1 bread roll
Cheese of your choice
1 small onion
1 avocado
1/4 kilo of cherry tomatoes
1 salad mix of shredded beets and carrots
2 chicken fillets or 1 large chicken breast, skinless
1/4 cup of mayo
1 large tablspoon of sriracha
1 tsp jalepeno jam (can substitute for honey or other fruit jam)
1/2 tsp honey

Directions:  Whisk mayo, sriracha, jam, and honey together in a bowl.  Add chicken and let marinate while preparing the salad.  Slice onion into very thin slices and add to a pan with a somewhat generous amount of olive oil (this will become the dressing).  Cook on very low heat for about 30 min or so until the onions are carmelized.

Prepare the salad by cutting the tomatoes in half and the avocado into bite-size pieces.  Add to the beets and carrots and toss together with salt and pepper.  When the onions are ready, turn off the heat and let them cool. 

Add the chicken to a hot pan and let cook on high for a few minutes.  This puts a nice sweet and spicy char on it.  Turn the heat down a bit and flip the chicken over and continue cooking until done.  Once ready, slice into thin strips.

Place cheese on bread and toast in the oven. 

Add the onions and remaining oil from pan to salad and mix well.  Add chicken slices to top.  Take out the cheese toast and enjoy.

Curried squash, lentil, feta, and almond salad

 

This is one of my favorite meals when you want something spicy, not spicy hot, but spicy-flavorful.  It's healthy, hearty, and makes you feel good afterward.  I like to eat it as a salad or even better, in tortillas with a little extra cheese.   In this photo, I made the salad without any greens, but I usually put some rucula in with the mix to make it a little more fresh and colorful.

Ingredients:

1 Cup of dried lentils

1 package of cut squash

100-200 grams of feta (goat cheese is good too)

100 grams of almonds, chopped

Spices - curry, cumin, condimento para aves, garlic powder, salt, and pepper

2 Bay leaves

Honey

Olive oil

Directions: Rinse the lentils and let them soak for 15 minutes or so.  Once done soaking, rinse them again.  Bring them to a boil in a pot with tsp of salt, garlic, and the bay leaves.  Once they start to boil, let them simmer covered until cooked through.  Watch them because it can take 20-45 minutes and you don't want them to over cook and fall apart.  Although I've done it and lentil soup is a good backup dish!

Spread the squash onto a baking sheet and sprinkle with about a tsp of curry and 1/2 tsp of the remaining spices.  Drizzle a tsp of honey and tsp of oil over the squash and mix them all around with your hands until evenly coated.  Place sheet in a HOT oven and let roast, turning the squash with a spatula after about 15-20 min so both sides brown.  Cook until done and let them cool.

On another baking sheet, spread out the almonds and roast them for about 10 minutes.  Be careful that they don't burn.  Once they are done, take them out of the oven and drizzle with a touch of honey and salt so that they candy slightly, but aren't too sweet.  Let them cool and the honey harden.  

While each element cools down, chop the feta into little pieces and prepare the rucula.  Drain the lentils and put them into the serving bowl.  Add the squash from the baking sheet, scrapping off any of the juices and browned parts (there is no dressing, so make sure the get all the honey and olive oil goodness). Add the cheese, almonds, and rucula.  Mix all together, adding salt to taste.  Sometimes I squeeze a lemon onto the salad for an extra punch.

Beet, green bean, panceta, and walnut salad

 

This salad is my favorite salad of all time.  Well that's a lie, but it's damn good.  So good in fact, that I even convinced a die-hard non beet eater to convert to eating beets.  Honey roasted beets, crispy blanched green beans,  crunchy panceta pieces, and candied walnuts with a citrus mustard dressing.  Yes please!  Add it to the arsenal folks, it's a keeper.

Ingredients:

- 6 large beets, peeled and cut into large bite-size pieces

- 1/2 kilo of green beans, cut in half

- 100 grams of walnuts

- 150 grams panceta en un solo trozo, cubed

- dijon mustard

- juice of a lemon, orange, or grapefruit

- honey

- olive oil

- salt, pepper, garlic powder

Directions: Lay beets on a baking sheet, sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, pepper, large tbsp of honey and olive oil to coat each beet.  Roast in oven on high for 20-40 minutes until they are done.  Take them out, sprinkle with more salt to taste and let cool.

On a separate baking sheet, place the walnuts in the oven.  Roasted for about 10 minutes, constantly checking that they don't burn.  Take them out and drizzle over a teaspoon of honey and mix for about a minute or two to coat each walnut.  Sprinkle with a bit of salt and let cool and harden.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  While it's heating, get another large bowl ready with ice water.  You want it really cold.  Once the water is boiling, add the green beans and cook for 3 minutes max.  Strain them into the ice water to shock them and stop the cooking process.  This also keeps them bright green.  Let them hang out until you're ready to combine.

Add panceta to a pan on the stove top.  Cook until the bacon begins to crisp and get nice and brown.  Remove from heat and place panceta on a towel to drain the excess fat.  Save the bacon grease for soups, breads, or something tasty!

Now make the dressing with a tbsp on mustard, tsp of honey, the juice of a lemon etc, olive oil and salt to taste.  Mix to combine and add more of whatever ingredient to get the flavor you like.  Add all the elements of the salad together minus the walnuts.  Drizzle some the dressing over the salad and add the nuts to the top.  Delicious!

Mediterranean Roasted Veggie Salad

I like vegetables, what can I say?  I might even go so far as to get kicked out of Argentina for saying that I'm nearly a vegetarian by choice because I think that veggies taste better than meat.  Please don't stop reading my blog for that statement!  I just find that veggies and grains absorb flavor so much better than meat (especially beef - now I'm really going to get kicked out).  Here's a easy dish that can be a quick lunch, dinner, or side.  I had it as a salad with grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.  Check it out!

Ingredients: 
1 Package Squash/Calabaza
1 Eggplant
1 Red Pepper
Large handful of golden raisins
Basil - chopped
Spices - cumin, curry, cinnamon, salt, pepper
Olive oil
Honey

Directions: Chopped all veggies and lay onto a roasting pan.  Sprinkle with spices, drizzle with oil and honey.  Mix around so each pieces has flavor on it.  Place in oven on high and roast until cooked through (20-30 min).  Remove from oven and let cool.  Add chopped basil and raisins.  I sometimes add cheese and almonds for a more hearty meal.  Mix salad and add extra salt if needed.