All that and a can of diced tomatoes

2 Dishes from 1 can of diced tomatoes:

Eggplant Milanesa

Milanesa usually refers to breaded meat (beef or chicken) but Guille's mom passed along this eggplant recipe to me. It's a lighter, simpler version of eggplant parm with a quick sauce (but you can use any marinara recipe). We made it with Panko style bread crumbs that really made a difference.

• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 T. EVOO
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
  
• 3 slices white bread, without crust
• 1 eggplant, cut into 1/3" slices
• 1 egg
• Oregano, salt & pepper to taste
• Cheese!

If you're using a dark eggplant, generously sprinkle the slices with kosher salt and let sit for 30 minutes (they will ooze), rinse off salt, and lay flat to dry. No need to do this if you have white eggplant since it isn't so bitter.

Saute the red pepper flakes in EVOO for 30 seconds, add garlic and saute until it starts to brown, add tomatoes and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Give the crustless bread a spin in the food processor until evenly ground into crumbs--place into a shallow bowl for dredging. Whisk the egg in another shallow bowl with a sprinkle of oregano, s&p. Dredge each slice of eggplant through egg and then breadcrumbs, and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 200C for 10 minutes, flip and bake another 5 minutes.
Remove from oven to add a spoonful of tomato sauce to each (don't smother it--save the rest of the sauce for breakfast tomorrow) and top with a slice of cheese. (We used sliced Muzzarella, it isn't Mozzarella but not bad either). Bake until soft (another 10 minutes).

Baked Eggs in a Spinach Tomato Sauce

• 3 cups fresh spinach, chopped
• 1/2 T. EVOO + drizzle for top
  
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• Shake of S&P
  
• 1 cup tomato sauce (or the leftover)
• 4 eggs
• 100g. Gouda cheese (or whatever kind you've got), cubed or shredded

Saute red pepper flakes in EVOO over med high heat for 30 seconds, add spinach and saute (constantly stirring) until wilted, add a shake of s&p. Add tomato sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Transfer to casserole dish (I think mine is about 6 inches), create a well with a spoon for each egg, sprinkle in cheese, top with a drizzle of EVOO, and bake at 190C (375F) for 20-25 minutes. If you like your eggs runny, you may want to check on them earlier.

Spinach Mashed Potatoes

Listen, spinach is so good for you. So mix it with mashed potatoes and eat it, already.

• 4 medium potatoes
• 3-4 c. (loosely packed) fresh spinach, chopped
• 1/2 T. olive oil
• 1/4. c. milk or sour cream
  
• 1-2 T. butter
• 1/4 c. veg stock
• Salt & pepper to taste

Scrub, peel (or not), chop and boil potatoes in salted water. Wash spinach obsessively and lay out on a towel to absorb some of the moisture. When the potatoes are almost done, saute the spinach in olive oil on med-high heat until wilted (about 2 minutes). I added a splash of veg stock, but not too much since it's already wet. You could saute chopped garlic for a few minutes before adding the spinach, if you like. Season with salt and pepper. Warm up milk (or sour cream), butter, and the rest of the stock. Use as much of this mixture as you prefer, remember that the spinach is quite moist. Drain the potatoes and immediately mash with liquids, salt, and pepper (I've also heard that a touch of nutmeg is nice), and fold in spinach.

Felices Pascuas!

Happy Easter!
Hope you're all enjoying chocolate eggs about the size of your hand...

with little candy surprises inside!


Hippity Hoppity.

The Bagel Hole

Things I took for granted in NYC:

• free stuff to do
• clean-enough-to-walk-on sidewalks
• crosswalks
• shoe shopping
  
• pizza
• pickles
• bagels

Listen, I knew that I was lucky to live in NYC and I tried to savor every experience but I got lazy. I stopped doing all of the free stuff, like movies in Bryant Park, in favor of Blockbuster in bed. I didn't buy nearly enough pairs of shoes. I didn't go to Bleeker St. Pizza often enough, and I never got around to trying Gus's pickles. But what I really missed out on was the abundance of fresh bagels, baked daily by the experts. Sure, I had one here and there but now that there is no bagel in sight, I could just kick myself!

So I made some. These didn't taste exactly like they came from a NYC deli, but we can definitely work with what we've got! These turned out a little small for me, but yummy. As it was my first time, I made half of this recipe, which yielded 4 bagels.

• 2 cups bread flour
• 1/2 T. sugar
• 3/4 t. salt
• 1/2 T. veg oil
• 1 t. instant yeast
• 3/4 c. warm water

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until a dough begins to form. Turn out onto a floured surface and kneed for 10 minutes.

Cut into 4 balls and let rise for about 15-20 minutes.


Briefly kneed each ball again, poke a hole in the middle of the ball with your thumb and flip around on your finger to make the hole bigger. Let rise for another 20 minutes.



Bring a large pot of water to a boil and drop in the bagels - boil for 2 minutes on each side (don't crowd them). Remove from water and set on a towel to dry for just a moment.


Place bagels on a greased non-stick baking sheet and bake at 425F for 10 minutes, flip and bake another 10 minutes.

We wanted sesame seeds on ours, so we brushed the bagels with egg white after boiling and sprinkled with the seeds. We flipped them after 10 minutes and the seeds stayed in place.


Mmm...perfectly browned bottom. (How's that for a round-thing-in-your-face?)


We made sandwiches and took these on a picnic. Mine was tomato (with a touch of basil) and Finlandia light cheese. Guille had good ol' egg & cheese.


So what have I learned from all this? Well, I suppose that I learned how to make bagels. But I also learned that I better eat my fill of empanadas and gelati while I'm here. These moments are fleeting, poppets. Eat to live.

Roast Schmoast

Apologies for taking so long to write another post. You see, it's just that I've had too much caffeine to sit still since Guille's birthday. Sure, I did my time as a barista in grad school. But all of those lofty principals of foam and crema were lost on me - I was too busy making silly candy bar inspired lattes with hoards of syrup for the masses. And when any of those pretentious types came around, I wanted to smack them for making high-quality demands in, essentially, a fast-food joint. Often times, I was more concerned about the bathroom and who was living in it that day.

So I never embraced coffee culture. You've probably noticed that one of the things I love about Argentina is the abundance of cafes - places where you must sit down to drink your coffee. Don't pretend you're too busy, just have a seat already. But Guille was tired of having to put on his pants every time he wanted a good coffee. So he got an espresso machine for his birthday. Nothing fancy, but it. makes. damn. good. coffee.

I'm not going to pretend to know enough to provide guidance on this topic, but I will mention that we got a DeLonghi machine with 15 BAR. It was a little bit of a splurge, but an affordable option down here. If you're interested in knowing more, Coffeegeek has too much information for all of your caffeine-induced web surfing needs.


And La Fazenda (Santa Fe y Pte. Roca) makes espresso blends that they'll grind for you. We're trying the house blend first, and it's really very good. So wake up! Roll out of bed, and make delicious coffee...pants free!

Happy Birthday, Darling

What kind of cake do you bake for the love of your life when he says that he wants brownies for his birthday cake? Well, you could just make brownies but these don't usually come out of the pan and sit nicely atop a vintage cake stand. So you could amaze him with this simple recipe instead.

I found this version from Chocolate & Zucchini, who found it from someone else, and I thought it was helpful to read through the comments people left. Some of them encountered random problems when making this cake, but it came out perfectly for me. I think the trick is to use a gas oven and parchment paper, and to let it cool before attempting any flips.


All you need is:

• 200 g butter, cubed (high-quality is suggested, I used stuff from the grocery store)
• 200 g dark chocolate (at least 60%), roughly chopped
  
• 200 g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 rounded Tbsp all-purpose flour
  

Butter an 8 inch pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, and butter the paper too. Melt the butter and chocolate together (I used a make-shift double-boiler but the microwave works well too, as long as you stop and stir frequently). Pour mixture into a different bowl and stir in sugar (the sugar should not melt - it will be gritty), allow to cool about 10 minutes. Using a spatula or wooden spoon gently mix in eggs one by one, being sure to incorporate each one fully before adding the next. Finally, stir in the flour until shiny and properly mixed (the batter thickens). Pour into prepared pan and bake at 180C (350F) for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven but leave the cake in for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely (the cake will sink a little) before inverting (remove parchment), and then reverting onto its final resting place.

This cake is better after it has rested for a day so make ahead of party time! I left it in the refrigerator overnight in the pan. Then I let it sit out on the counter for an hour before flipping it out (I placed a tinfoil-covered cutting board on top of the pan to flip, then put the cake stand on top of the cake and flipped again).


Now this isn't going to look like something from Martha Stewart. It's simple and modest, and best dressed with a dollop of homemade whipped cream. I made two flavors for variety - vanilla and Tia Maria (coffee liquor).

Vanilla Whipped Cream

• 250 g. heavy cream
• 1/2 t. vanilla
• 2 T. powdered sugar

Using a hand-mixer, blend vanilla and cream, and add in sugar. Continue to blend on medium high speed for 3-5 minutes, until it reaches whipped cream consistency!


Tia Maria Whipped Cream
(you can also use Kahlua or any other coffee flavored liquor)

• 250 g. heavy cream
• 4 T. Tia Maria
• 1 T. powdered sugar, if you prefer

Using a hand-mixer, blend booze and cream, and add in sugar. Continue to blend on medium high speed for 3-5 minutes, until it reaches whipped cream consistency!

If you're making this as a birthday cake, don't forget the super candle. Feliz Cumple!

When Words Fail

Sometimes in life, unavoidable situations occur which make people sad. I don't usually know what to say in such situations. A sympathetic 'I'm so sorry' is about all I can muster.

And sad people don't really think about food or even remember that they are hungry. But they do have to eat something. This is where you can help them.

Casserole-giving isn't a tradition in such situations in Argentina, but if you get the chance, leaving some slices of banana bread or a few brownies on the table might help some sad nibblers. Without being too specific, Guille also decided to invite over our saddened loved ones for a casual lunch (and an opportunity for them to leave the house).

Although we live above a gourmet pasta shop, we thought it would be worth it to make homemade pasta, along with tomato sauce, in order to squeeze every bit of love and care into lunch. Nothing fancy, just food.


Guille brought home a retro pasta maker last week and I had no idea how simple it would be to actually make it work (I'm always underestimating him). But he made me delicious spaghetti last week in the time it took me to whip up a simple pesto.


And so, Guille got it out again to make fettuccine and zini shaped pasta for our lunch. This recipe makes enough for 2 conservative servings but it is easy to double, triple, quadruple...

Egg Pasta

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 T. water
• 1 T. oil

Whisk together flour and salt in large bowl. Add egg, water, and oil and stir until it comes together to form dough (adding additional flour as necessary). Turn out onto a floured surface and knead a few minutes to bring it together.


At this point we push it into the pasta maker while turning the hand crank (but you can roll it out and cut into strips). It took us a while with this thing but our guests even jumped in to help, momentarily distracted. It only takes a few minutes to cook fresh pasta - drop it into boiling water with a drop of oil. In the end, shared effort and a shared meal resulted in full bellies. And when a sad person says 'I'm full,' and you know that it's true, those words mean more than anything in the world.

Guille's Tomato Sauce

• 2 T. evoo
• 1 large onion, chopped
  
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  
• 1 large carrot, shredded
• 1 med bell pepper, chopped
• 1 can peeled, diced tomatoes
• 1 Knorr veggie cube
  
• 2-3 cups water
• s & p to taste
• 1/2 T. freshly chopped basil
• 1/2 T. freshly chopped oregano

Saute onion and garlic in evoo over med high heat for 4 minutes. Stir in pepper and carrot, cook for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, 1 cup water, and veggie cube (or you could use 1 cups of veg stock). Season with s&p, drop heat to low, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, adding water (can use pasta water) every 5 minutes or so. Finally, stir in herbs and toss with cooked pasta.

There were leftovers, which Guille mixed with a couple dollops of Casancrem (not-so-sour cream), topped with shredded parm cheese, and baked for 10 minutes in a moderately hot oven.


To make brownies from scratch, follow Joy the Baker's recipe (I cut it in half and baked in a 7" round pan). You will never want to use a box again. Be sure to use quality cocoa powder - if you live in Argentina, that means you'll need to ask for it at a specialty cake store. I also left out the nuts and coffee, to create a simple chocolate brownie.