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Vegetable Rolls

vegetable roll
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I have been watching a fascinating show online; Aventura Culinaria hosted by Gaston Acurio, which chronicles the culinary landscape of Peru. It can be found on youtube. In one of the shows he covers the Japanese influence on Peruvian cuisine and the way the sushi roll or maki roll has glided away from the rigid original interpretations to include whatever fresh ingredients where on hand.

In that spirit, I tried my hand (somewhat sloppily) to make some vegetable rolls. I started up the rice cooker, all I had was long grain rice so I used that, 4 parts rinsed rice, 5 parts water. (ideally sushi rice, a piece of kombu kelp added to the cooker).

I had some nice asparagus that a neighbour had brought us.



Also some baby carrots



I blanched the asparagus and carrot in a pot of boiling salt water for 3 minutes then shocked it in cold water... oh by the way I had some corn.





I made a soy glaze with 1/3 of a cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup water, 1/4 cup honey, chopped garlic, chopped ginger, the juice of half a lime and 3 tsp of sugar. I reduced it down by more than half (bubbles large).

Once the rice was done, I finished it with 1/3 cup of white rice vinegar with a tablespoon of sugar dissolved in it and a pinch of salt.
I spread it on plastic wrap (ideally a bamboo sushi mat)



I layered the asparagus and carrot and painted it with the glaze (could have used more glaze)



I then rolled it using the plastic wrap, it was a bit sloppy (I was) but the overall stayed together.



I served it with turkey breast and corn



It was very good if not as pretty as I hoped. The sushi rice tasted right to me and the vegetables were crisp and tasty. Will work on the technique some more.

Cafe Rustica

Gnochi and rabbit
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

The boy had a rehearsal at The Carpenter Theater, so we stopped for dinner at Cafe Rustica.



We started off sharing the frog legs baked with a hearty putanesca type sauce and grilled bread.



The legs were meaty and tasted flavorfull with just a hint of seafood. (what the boy said)



I had a Kelpie beer, which was interesting



The boy ordered the Gemeli with Gambero (shrimp and pasta with peas in a creamy red sauce) The shrimp in this dish were cooked perfectly, with a crispness to each bite.



I ordered the rabbit saddle with gnochi with apples and cheese.



Everything was very good, the boy brought home some leftovers, the service was great and they treated us very well. Will definitely be back.

Cafe Rustica
414 E Main St
Richmond, VA 23219-3822
(804) 225-8811

Gastronomy in Spain

My brothers Flickr set is worth perusing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericmonasterio/sets/72157622594265647/

Pictures of food through spain

Empanadas for school

empanadas
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

The boy volunteered me make food for almost 30 people in his spanish class. It was to be a latino food. We ran through some options, maybe arroz con pollo, paella but all seemed to difficult to transport and make 24 hrs in advance. We settled on empanadas as it is a ubiquotous dish in latin america (with regional variations) and the baked version was easier to mass produce in our kitchen than the fried kind.
I started on the filling, making a sofrito of carrots, onion, green pepper, celery, garlic, and shallots



and cooked it down.



Then we cooked some ground beef, browned in a pan with garlic, salt and a pinch of sugar.



The meat and sofrito was combined, chopped cilantro and oregano added, then on to the assembly



a couple of spoons of filling in premade (store bought) empanada wrappers



we crimped the edges



brushed them with an egg wash, and baked them at 375 degrees for around 20 minutes, till they looked like this



We made 60 (judging two per person) as far as the boy says people liked them. Will need to make some for the family next.

Rincon Latino

Sopa de res
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I took the boy for lunch and shopping to the Rincon Latino on Broad street (just up from Tan Am). We had lunch, he had the quesadilla rellena de carne asada.



I had the beef soup



we shared a tripe taco



everything was very good, with large portions. We bought some (60) empanadilla wrappers for his school lunch gig.

Kitchen counter redo

old kitchen counters
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

We are in the process of sprucing up our kitchen, consider it our stimulus package.
The old kitchen



New counters



and island with counter model



We are leaving the appliances as is (unless we go and replace the dishwasher... it's loud) Still pending is the tile backsplash and floors.
So far very happy.

Beef heart skewers - Anticuchos de Corazon

anticuchos
Originally uploaded by chuborupert

My wife went to the South of the James farmers market and bought me a beef heart from a grass fed animal from faith farms (how romantic!) Now to her defense she did call me and walk me through what they had and I steered her towards the heart. I had been reading about peruvian street food, one dish in particular is skewered meats or anticuchos, with the heart being popular. I planned on fileting the heart marinating it then grilling it. I went with a basic chimichurri marinade instead of a more spicy version but this cut could easily take a chili based marinade. I watched an excellent demonastration video with the kids from Chris Cosentino's web site Offalgood.com



We then got the idea to record our own version... warning, it's not nearly as interesting and gets a bit redundant towards the end as I'm not very quick.

Butchering my heart from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

After the prep I marinated the heart filets in the following overnight.
5 cloves of garlic mashed
one large handfull of fresh parsley chopped fine
1/4 cup of sherry vinegar
tablespoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of pimenton
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
1/4 cup olive oil

After soaking the skewers in water for a couple of hours (a step I usually forget causing them to catch fire) I threaded the meat on.
I tried to keep them a uniform size for cooking purposes.



I set the rice cooker up so we could have some white rice with it and went out to grill

peruvian grilled beef heart from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

They turned out very good with very tender flavorful beef taste, I would certainly make it again even though it requires a lot of prep. The kids really liked it, which makes me wonder if they were more into it as they were involved in the prep and anticipation of eating it.








South of the James Market
Shelter No. 2 in Forest Hill Park
New Kent Ave. & 42nd St.

Paella

ya esta lista
Originally uploaded by chuborupert

I have been practicing my paella making over the last several months. My main problem is that I tend to throw one together without much warning and subsequently don't have all the ingredients I would like to have at the time. For this paella, shrimp and tilapia make up the seafood, what it's missing is something (anything) green. some snap peas would have worked, maybe some roasted green peppers (actually I think I had some frozen but didn't think about it)
OK to start I peeled the shrimp and made a quick shrimp stock,
one onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
shrimp shells (I had a big bag of them frozen in the fridge)
I covered it all with plenty of water and set it on the burner.



At the same time I sauteed the shrimp and tilapia with garlic in the paella pan. I cooked it not quite through and set it aside.



I then grated a tomato (OK this sounds strange but it works great. You take a regular old tomato and grate it over a plate) This is sauteed with some garlic salt and pepper and then 1 tablespoon of pimenton is added. Sautee for a couple of seconds then the shrimp stock is added to the pan so as not to burn the pimenton.



The amount of stock added can be measured, but there is a trick with a standard paella pan. If you add liquid up to cover the screws that hold the handles in place (you can see the screws below, you want to just cover them with liquid)Then you can add a standard amount of rice (described below)



Once the liquid comes to a boil then you can add a single line (diameter of the pan) of rice down the middle till it reaches the top of the liquid. This is what I did and gives you the right amount of liquid to rice no matter the size of the pan.
The rice is then distributed throughout the pan.
When the rice becomes visible (as it absorbs water and water evaporates) then it is time to return the shrimp and fish to the pan.



You would also add the aformentioned greens at this time.
Several minutes later it's done



I tend to add too much fish or meat for the amount of rice in the pan, as traditionally this dish is about the rice not the other ingredients, but practice makes perfect.

Meson de Candido - Segovia

el candido original
Originally uploaded by chuborupert

A couple of pics from when we ate suckling pic and lamb in Segovia Spain this summer. Fairly evident how important the industry is to the town when you see the statue at the entrance to the city.
El Meson de Candido sits just to the side of the aqueduct of Segovia.
The suckling pig is served with a la carte sides and some good bread.



The pig is presented in grand fashion





and portioned with a plate to demonstrate it's tenderness.



It was succulent and worth the trip.