Argentina | hungry sofia

Jul 12

Hunger Killer

I came across this recipe for an Argentinian matambre or “hunger killer” when I was reading about guachos in Savuer and had to try it. I was a little apprehensive about cooking it for three hours and so were the guys at Staubitz who butterflied the flank steak, but it worked well. There was another version on the site where the steak is seared first then cooked in the oven for a shorter time which I plan on trying soon. I choose this one first mostly because it was attributed to Rosa Angelita Castro de Flores from El Bordo de las Lanzas. I love a recipe with a landscape and with no immediate plans to go away this summer, it temporarily quieted my travel pangs.

Cooking Cowboys

In anticipation of the barbecues to come this weekend, I thought I’d post Connie McCabe’s Saveur piece, The Capital of Beef about the Argentine Pampa. Watching guachos Vicente Monte and José María Gallardo prepare a roast, she writes:

When the fire is nothing but glowing ash, Monte retrieves his saddlebag and pulls out a plastic bag of salt and three loosely wrapped pieces of beef. Placing one thick steak and two narrow strips of meaty ribs on the burnished leather, he seasons the flesh with salt, threads it all onto the skewer,and perches it on the supports near the heat. Read more

Jun 18

Ballet Break

You’ll have to excuse me for not writing about food. Yesterday, a ticket to see the American Ballet Theatre’s performance of La Sylphide at The Metropolitan Opera House fell from the sky unexpectedly, and I’m feeling a little ethereal today. There was a magical Sylph, a Scottish reel, and a poisoned gossamer veil, but it was still not as dramatic as the Edith Wharton story I cast myself in when I realized I’d be sitting in the romantic boxes ringing the theater. Watching principal Herman Cornejo dance the part of James, I thought of a Today segment I’d seen earlier that day about the recent emergence of Latin American artists and performers in film and television. This has long been true at ABT. In addition to the Argentinians Cornejo and Paloma Herrera, there is the Brazilian Marcelo Gomes, and Read more

Jun 7

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A Sweet Finish to the Weekend

I have a very dysfunctional relationship with my KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker attachment. I’ve tried a million recipes but the results have been inconsistent. It will give me my dreamed of ice cream for a few hours after it’s just made, but it develops an icy, fuzzy, rock hard taste by the next day. It’s the memories of my few successes that keep me going (there was a green tea ice cream once and a yogurt sorbet that were just right…). That’s why I like Mariana Crespo’s recipe for dulce de leche ice cream so much. It’s straightforward and simple and it gives you a creamy, decadent result every time, that you can take into the week with you.