December. Again. This year, the months passed as if they were weeks, but it has been awesome. Busy. Productive. Fun.

I´m always in favor of New Year’s resolutions and defining my yearly goals to achieve, but before setting off on that exercise, I take a moment to reflect on the year that I have just lived. Save those memories and highlights.

This post is a ranking of what most impacted and inspired me in flavors, wines, meals, places, trips, books, and experiences. It was not easy to choose. Honestly, I feel so grateful every day to be able to make a living from my passion, work with my husband, and share that with with the world. There are so many options. However, after thinking about this for a while, of course, I came up with the finalists.

Three memorable meals in the US: 1) Rasika in Washington DC is by far the best contemporary Indian food that has tantalized my palate as of late. Best. Chaat. Ever. 2) Spoon Thai in Chicago. My brother took me here, and although they speak very broken English, I quickly learned that what’s spicy for Thai, is something I cannot hack (call the fire department my taste buds are ablaze…). I did have an epiphany though with their Tom Kha soup. 3) Hugo’s in Houston. If I lived in Houston, you’d have to peel me away from this place which serves authentic Oaxacan cuisine at brunch, from chilaquiles to mole. Two lethal margaritas on the rocks lead to a fuzzy afternoon and siesta.

Three memorable meals in South America: 1) Last year I celebrated my 34th birthday at Osaka in the W Santiago. It was a parade of one sexy sushi fusion roll after another, and tiraditos that melted in my mouth. Heaven. 2) One freezing cold June afternoon in Buenos Aires at Brasserie Petanque in San Telmo, I ate the best steak tartar in my life. This dish is why I will never be vegetarian in this lifetime. 3) Gardenia in Montevideo, Uruguay is a nuevo resto by a young chef couple from Spain & Brazil. Its fun, edgy gastronomy that rewrites the rules and pushes the envelope with its traditional yet innovative flavores and textures.

Best road trip: Crossing from Awasi in San Pedro de Atacama over the altiplano (by vehicle) to Purmamarca, in Northwestern Argentina. On our vuelta, we went through Salta and its stunning canyons and charming adobe towns of Cafayate, Colomé and Cachi. This landscape bewitched me and made me fall madly in love again with South America and it’s amazing diversity.

Best surprises: 1) My birthday present #34 from my husband. 2) Business trips to the States that coincided with seeing my entire family in Chicago, Pennsylvania, and Florida. At times, I miss having everybody so spread out and far away.

Biggest challenge: At the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, among the events, I had to prep and serve food  for 1,000  people at the famous “Party of the Senses.” This was in huge scale not only in food, but in navigating the mammoth industrial kitchen and managing a team of willing interns. I didn’t think too much, I just crushed it.

Favorite new cuisine discovered: Korean food is driving me crazy. I am addicted to it. Kimchi. Bulgogi. Kimbap. Ddeokbukki. Fortunately, Little Korea is only three blocks away in Patronato.

Best new cookbook: Only one? Darn, that’s hard. Ok… Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food. The queen of the organic/fresh food movement shares her easy techniques to transmute ingredients and respect their noble origin. I love it because Chile has the most amazing produce (like California) which needs little to no doctoring. AND, I just got a huge mortero, mortar-and-pestle made from volcanic rock for Christmas. Forget the food processor, now I can grind it all up in the Stone, which Waters suggests. Yay!

Three words to describe 2011: Growth. Believe. Enjoy.

Three words to describe the culinary scene in Chile: Effervescent. Blossoming. Diversifying.

Three most memorable wines consumed in 2011: This was pure agony…but I did it. Chateau Haut-Bailly 2005; Chateau Cos D’Estournel  2000; Polkura G + i 2008.

Best new discovery in Chilean wine: Miguel Torres Santa Digna Estelado made with the País grape.

Favorite new ingredient: Mapuche pepper from the Canelo, cinnamon, tree.

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Grill Master, “Pelado,” from Estancia el Colibri in Córdoba, Argentina prepares his asado.

As a cook and foodie jumping between Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay on a regular basis, it has taken me a while to finally hash out the difference in cuts between what I grew up with in the US, what I prepare  in Chile, and what I dine on when in Argentina & Chile. Cuts of beef do considerably vary from country to country, so my intent in this post is to create this free chart as a resource for those of you scratching your head every time you head to the supermarket, an asado, or eat in a parrilla, grill.  This is NOT a discussion of grilling techniques, that’s another post entirely.

One cut that did not have an exact translation was Malaya and Matahambre. In the Southern Cone, they create tight rolls out of this flap of meat over the ribs, and stuff it with carrots, spinach, roasted red pepper, hard boiled egg, and poach it for a couple hours since it’s a tough cut of meat. You’ll commonly see it sliced down for cold cuts in delis or markets.

Another thing that also confuses the heck out of everyone is the doneness for steaks when dining out. There is nothing more tragic than a beautiful cut of grass-fed beef being transformed into a piece of shoe leather when it had all the potential to produce ecstasy for a carnivore. If you like your steak bleu, literally grilled 1 minute on each side, you can ask for it the same way in Chile & Argentina.

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www.gardeniamvd.com

I am at the end of what can only be described as one of those spectacular meals. You know … where you stop to take copious notes and numerous pictures (some call it food porn, I call it memories). The flavors, textures, sensations, all meld together into one warm, fuzzy, wine-induced meal full of love. I am quietly sitting here sipping on the last drops of a velvety, feminine Merlot from the boutique winery Casa Filgueira. I am not in Buenos Aires, nor Santiago, nor Lima, not even Sao Paulo. Nope, I am in the most unexpected, and perhaps most under-the-radar, up-and-coming foodie destination in South America: Montevideo, Uruguay.

Where did I have this gastronomic enlightenment in a city typically known for asado, asado y más asado?  Gardenia.

My day didn’t start out this good. After a meeting with fellow food writer Clara OCampo from El Gastronauta the night before, she raved about this stylish new spot breaking all the clichés with what Montevideanos love to eat: grilled meat, salad, a lot of potatoes, and most definitely nothing too spicy.

Enter Gardenia. In this newish restaurant, two foreign chefs both in their early 30s, armed with international culinary experience and a lot of ganas and passion, had come to Uruguay to innovate, educate, open, and dazzle the local palates.

I decided I would go at lunch. It was a beautiful, warm fall day so I took my time walking along the Rambla as the sun reflected off the bluish waters of the Rio de la Plata. From Pocitos, I trekked up a hill to an area coined as “World Trade Center” (why is there a World Trade Center in every Latin capital?). Clustered around a central plaza of tall office buildings, the upscale restaurants obviously catered to the lunch and dinner crowd. I entered following the sign towards what I thought was Gardenia. I surveyed the ambience. Not exactly what I would define as stylish, a bit ornate (dragons everywhere), but maybe that’s my taste.

Lunch was a mediocre glass of Tannat, an ok piece of lenguado (sole), a soggy salad, and when they served me macedonia as dessert, I just about lost it. Seriously, what a bad rec?! Well, it all became crystal clear when I got the bill. In fact, I nearly died. I was in Gardenia’s neighbors. I could hardly believe my stupidity in having wasted a meal on that place. Annoyed at myself, I stormed into Gardenia, next door, and immediately recognized my error. The space was luminous, spacious with high ceilings, jazz playing in the background and an instantly refined, warm vibe. S-h-i-t Liz.

Photo: www.gardeniamvd.com

Marina is certainly not alone in this project. Her husband, also the chef, Raúl Florenza, decided to expand the Gardenia brand, already successful in Marina’s hometown of Sao Paulo with three restaurants in Gabriel, Pinheiros, and Alphaville. Why Montevideo? Why Uruguay? When asked, they cited being tired of the big city Paulista life, a city of 18+ million people. They were looking for someplace close yet different, tranquilo, maybe have a family, a place to innovate. Ballsy? Making any international (business) move is, but I would say Uruguay was particularly daring. Uruguayans are particularly traditional when it comes to their food and opening their social circles to foreigners. After all, it’s a small country. All of Uruguay’s populations wouldn’t even make up 1/6 of Sao Paulo, to put it in numbers.

Marina and Raúl bring together a fascinating mix of cuisines: Mediterranean, Spanish, Brazilian, and make the most of the local, seasonal ingredients. Is it eclectic and adventuresome? Yes, enough to be constantly interesting, but not to provoke fear of the unknown in the diner. What most caught my attention were the details. There was a constant focus on contrasting, bright flavors, textures, temperatures and colors. A constant pushing and pulling so that with every forkful, spoonful, or sip (the wine, of course), there was a new layer to be discovered. Savory, thoughtful creations that provoked umami in my mouth. That’s right, my first intuitive impression I had of Marina and her caring, embracing nature showed up the food. And tack on near perfect service and great wines like Pizzorno or Casa Filgueira.

So where did I travel on this odyssey? Given I am wheat-free, we had to work around that but I started with crunchy, homemade sweet potato chips tossed with celery salt and the most perfect roasted garlic, paired with the Casa Filgueira Sauvignon Gris. Next, a bite of a sublime carpaccio with merluza negra, black hake, pounded paper thin and laced with minced green apple, chopped pistachios and parsley with a drizzle of peppery olive oil. OMG. Next was Raúl’s delicious, refined rendition of gazpacho. The soup was creamy, balanced, with perfect acidity and an addictive mouth feel as it was passed through a fine sieve. I uncovered a skinned cherry tomato cleverly nestled at the bottom of the bowl, a little mouth burst of the finest of fine brunoise veggies, which some cook had patiently stuffed into that tomato.

After, I savored one of my favorite Brazilian dishes ever, moqueca, a rich coconut sauce made with a touch of nutty dende (palm) oil with fish, shrimp, and seafood floating in the pinkish broth. Marina and Raúl insisted on bringing more “mini” courses. Sure, why not? The wine is flowing and company is good. How about oxtail braised in Tannat sauce with a sublime mashed potato purée? Gamey, meaty, tender, delicious. I was toast. I passed on the crème brulee made with mate. There are limitations to my stomach space. I decided my Merlot would be “dessert”.

Since my escapade in Gardenia in Montevideo, we caught up with Marina and Raúl in Santiago on a chilly, rainy Good Friday. We went to the markets and then came back to our apartment to cook together. Well cooking “together” really didn’t happen. With two totally creative restaurant chefs in the kitchen wanting to convert Chile’s bounty of produce and seafood, I stepped back and let them cook for me—again. A guest in my own kitchen, what a novelty. I even got to sit on the other side of our island to be entertained as Raúl seared, sauteed, fried, chopped, and delighted us. We ate and drank by course, for hours, and went on a different yet similar trip to the first one in Montevideo.

Passion, originality and details. Marina and Raúl get food and what makes a restaurant experience work. If you want to do something totally different your next time in Uruguay (or Sao Paulo), go to Gardenia and let them woo you. It’s worth the detour from Punta del Este, Carmelo, to see their way of conceiving food. Just be listos to go for a ride.

Photo: www.gardeniamvd.com

Gardenia is open from Mon-Fri 12-3:30pm; 8pm-midnight and Sat 1-4pm; 9pm-1am. Reservations highly recommended. Be sure to follow their wine recs too.  (598 2 628 8838)

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June 7, 2011. I wake up and peer through the heavy, draped, velvet curtains of our hotel room overlooking the roof tops of Palermo Viejo. Darn, it’s one of those icky winter days when the clouds descend and shroud the city in a bone-chilling fog. Thick, gray and dense fog. I grab my iPhone to check the Weather Channel (quite possibly my favorite app), to see how much I have to bundle up to head outside. The weather forecast reads, “Volcanic Ash.” Seriously. That’s the weather forecast? Uh oh.

We turn on the news. Apparently, the “fog” is not fog at all. It’s the fine, gray volcanic ash that spewed out from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano in southern Chile over the weekend, over a thousand kilometers away. The same ash that has buried much of Bariloche and the Patagonian provinces of Neuquén. The bad news? Buenos Aires airspace is closed until further notice and all planes are grounded.

“Control Liz, control. Do not have a meltdown.” We fly tomorrow to Salta in Argentina’s Northwest, or so we had planned. I resort to slightly delusional, self-calming measures. I convince myself it cannot be that bad. Not like Europe in April 2011 when thousands got stranded, including my own brother, in Paris for nearly a week. However, the gravity of the situation sets in as we take to the streets of Buenos Aires. As the sun rises, there’s a distinct brownish haze that distorts and reflects the sun’s rays. A thin layer of ash covers the cars. The normally busy skies of Buenos Aires have fallen silent. I will save you the rest of our travel saga, as I am sure you can guess what happened…

We got stuck in BA.

Not for an eternity, thankfully, but an extra 2 days. We did make it to Salta and back to Santiago on time. That morning our flight was cancelled over and over again, I was thankful that our wonderful hotel, Legado Mítico, had a great staff monitoring the flights online for us. Since, apparently, this issue could be recurring until the volcano calms down, these are two key sites for those of you traveling in Argentine air space. First, the news site that kept us up to date on the official committee meetings was www.infobae.com reporting on the air space that was opening or not. Then, for specific flight information, the official government website for Argentine airports including Ezeiza and Aeroparque, http://www.aa2000.com.ar, was infinitely more reliable. We learned that the airlines only updated, at best, a couple times per day with many times incorrect information. We discovered this after one bunk trip to Aeroparque to be told by LAN staff that “more info would be available in 4 hours”. Knowing that Argentines often say “maybe” when they really mean “we have no freaking clue,” we said, “screw this” and rebooked for the last flight to Salta the next afternoon. When you have the luck to get stuck and be forced to stay in a cool city like BA, who wants to waste time at the airport? We wanted to get down to more important things like enjoying our Buenos Aires querido.

In all fairness, I think that I brought getting stuck in BA upon us. Prior to our trip, I had been moaning about how, once again, we were embarking on a flash trip to Buenos Aires. Another in-and-out of the city in a bang in only 3 days with virtually no free time to just estar, be, and soak up what makes Buenos Aires so delicious—its urban lifestyle: the restaurants, boutiques, cafés, arts, walking the beautiful neighborhoods and parks.

And so I got my wish. Two extra days in Buenos Aires.

We revisited some perennial favorite restaurants like lunching atSudestada in Palermo Hollywood with its attractive picture glass windows and spicy (if you ask for it) pan-Asian cuisine. I had the vegetable-pork rice noodles and to my surprise, I think I may have actually scalded my taste buds for the first time in Buenos Aires thanks to the Laotian chef. Another day, we lunched for hours on end and soaked up the daylight over a lush Fabre Montmayou Malbec, succulent steak tartare and duck confit at Petanque, a wonderful brasserie in San Telmo. Being in Argentina, I let my true carnivore self come alive so I delighted in forking into a bloody, tender bife ancho with a glass of the slinky Urraca blend (made by Walter Bressia in Mendoza), at the oh-so-local Don Julio parrilla.

We walked from our hub in Palermo Viejo deep into the neighboring Villa Crespo passing through Little Armenia, where bakeries filled with Middle Eastern treats and the aromas of fresh pita tinged the air.  We hit the “Murillo” leather district, where store after store, block after block, is filled with every imaginable leather item. Only in Buenos Aires could I envision dressing myself from head-to-toe in leather. We walked up to Almagro to take my husband to the classic café,Las Violetas, far from the throngs of tourists at Tortoni off Avenida de Mayo. We sat down to a perfectly frothy espresso, glazed medialunas and families delighting in the Saturday paper while digging into their sweet pastries. As we walked, I savored these old school barrios, so evocative what life in Buenos Aires is all about, not just the glitzy storefronts of Recoleta and sights that tourists see. Buenos Aires is a city of neighborhoods and hard working folks. The corner verduleria (vegetable stand), butcher, dry cleaner, pasta shop churning out tons of homemade pasta and artisans still working over marble slabs to fold ricotta-stuffed agnolotti. Of course, there is always the empanada joint, bakery, and quintessential porteño meeting point: the café.

While we did have some food land mines (note: don’t do Mexican of any sort in Buenos Aires, what was I thinking?!), we discovered some new gems. On Friday, we dined at the under-the-radar foodie spot, Las Pizarras. There are no menus, just pizarras (oversized blackboards), touting the fresh-from-the-market menu that rotates on a nearly daily basis. The chef, Rodrigo Castilla, is cooking up orders in the back. We dug into a perfectly executed shaved roasted beet root, butternut squash, and baby spinach salad drizzled with a mandarin dressing and a silky goat cheese mousse, paired with Lurton’s zingy Pinot Gris from the Uco Valley in Mendoza. For the main, I couldn’t resist the braised, pulled lamb shoulder made into a ragout and stuffed into roasted eggplant. My husband was tapped out on all the red meat and went for an earthy, mushroom risotto with sheep’s milk cheese, both paired with a bright, fruity Malbec from La Madrid. Homey, real food, satisfying flavors and a good price-quality ratio (something that is getting out of whack these days in BA, ojo). The next day, we lunched at a newish El Efímero Festín, a vegetarian and gluten-free (hoorah!) haven in Buenos Aires. Off a quieter block of Palermo, on Uriarte with Cabrera, the restaurant has retro décor and a young vibe. The emphasis is on fresh ingredients with a selection of main course salads, fish and vegetarian dishes using abundant quinoa and tofu. I loved that everything was marked as gluten free as I felt like between pasta, pizza, sandwiches, and medialunas, I was in a wheat land mine, constantly, clinging to steak and salad (and Malbec) fervently.

During our extended stay, we hung out at one of my favorite hotels in the city, Legado Mítico. If you have ever longed to step into someone else’s shoes, here you can channel Evita or other legendary Argentines. The location is superb in the heart of Palermo Viejo, Buenos Aires’ food-and-fashion quarter, although it sits quietly tucked away from the action on a block lined with jacaranda and rosewood trees. The project of Salteño Javier Figueroa, with another luxe outpost in Salta, the 11 rooms pays homage to a cultural figure from Argentina, from Jorge Luis Borges and Che Guevara to Eva Perón, each with its one décor. We camped out in La Mecenas, dedicated to writer Victoria Ocampo. The room was tastefully filled with her books, photos, and memorabilia as if we were staying at her home. And that was just it. Legado Mítico made us feel totally at home. It didn’t matter that we were “stuck”. We were taken care of. And on Saturday at 7pm, we finally touched down in Salta to pick up the rest of our journey.

Isn’t an unplanned detour sometimes just what we need in life?

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These gluten-free cheese bread puffs are delicious and fast to make!

Hailing from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, these cheese breads, known as pão de queijo, are extremely popular throughout Brazil and are gaining popularity abroad.  Brazilians use polvilho, a type of yucca starch, or yucca flour to achieve a crunchy outer crust and a chewy, cheesy interior.  These breads are perfect for those with celiac disease, since they are completely gluten-free.

Pão de queijo is normally served piping hot, straight from the oven, with espresso for breakfast or as a snack. They are a perfect complement to wine. Leftovers may be frozen for up to three months.   Once they cool, place them in a toaster to reheat and maintain texture.

Ingredients:

(Yield: 2 1⁄2 dozen)

2⁄3 cup whole milk

1⁄2 cup vegetable oil

2-2 1⁄2 cups polvilho doce or yucca starch

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup grated Parmesan

 Cheese Bread Bites:

• In a saucepan, bring milk and oil to a boil. Sift yucca starch with salt in a mixing bowl.

• Whisk hot mixture into dry ingredients in a steady stream. Incorporate eggs and grated Parmesan.

• Let cool slightly, then knead with your hands till smooth. Break off walnut-size pieces and roll into balls.

• Bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes until golden. Serve immediately from oven.

Mix the Ingredients:

• When heating the milk, use the low setting to avoid scalding.

• To mix, use a plastic bowl rather than stainless steel, ceramic, or glass, which can cause the dough to stick.

• As you whisk, the dough will become slightly sticky and unwieldy for a moment. Keep mixing until uniform dough is achieved.

Add Cheese and Bake:

• After mixing, use the heel of your hand to knead the dough to achieve a smooth, elastic texture and fully incorporate the cheese.

• Let the dough rest for 30 minutes before baking.

• To keep the dough from sticking to your hands, periodically wet them in a bowl of water placed next to the work area, or grease them with oil.

• Place the balls on a greased baking sheet. Leave extra room between them since they puff during baking.

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Polvilho is a cassava starch that replaces wheat flour and gives the cheese bread an intense tanginess. There are two kinds of cassava starch: sweet cassava starch and sour cassava starch. They are both made from the same raw material, the cassava root, but the sour version is left to ferment for 2 days before processing. The sour version is commonly used in Brazil.

RECIPE VARIATION

Smoked Sausage and Feta: Bring milk, salt, and oil to a boil. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil; add

1 sliced smoked sausage or chorizo. Sear 7 minutes until fat has rendered. Remove sausage, cool,

and coarsely chop. Add hot milk to polvillho and mix. Add the eggs, 1/4 cup Feta cheese, and sausage and knead until smooth. Roll into balls; bake at 350F for 20 minutes until golden.

This is an original recipe and photography from Liz Caskey & Francisco Ramírez’s cookbook, Knack South American Cooking. To get your copy, click here.

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Today’s video uses indigenous Chilean ingredients now being exported to the US.  Chilean papayas are known as “carica candamarcensis,” or Mountain papayas, and have no resemblance to their tropical cousins. Similar in shape to a starfruit with a thin, yellow skin, these papayas are grown in the Northern arid areas near La Serena and MUST be cooked before being consumed. They have a barely sweet, musky taste and a toothy texture between a pear and peach. They are now being conserved and exported in jars to the US and available at major supermarkets or specialty grocers like Puro Chile in New York City or Foster’s Foods in Atlanta. This flavor is uniquely Chilean.

In this recipe, the inherent sweetness of the fruit, akin to a shirt-soaker tomato, is used instead of tomatoes in the traditional pebre dish.  Pebre is a type of local salsa found on every Chilean table and used on everything from bread to potatoes, eggs, meat, and of course, fish. The fruitiness of the papaya plays with the tropical fruit and bold acidity in this fruit forward, unoaked Natura Chardonnay from Emiliana Orgánico. Here we pair it with corvina, a type of sea bass (not Chilean sea bass). You can use any firm, white fish with some fat like grouper, halibut, or even sea bass itself. The fullness of the wine also complements the oils in the fish for bite after bite of bliss.  Enjoy!

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Leche asada, meaning “roasted milk” in Spanish, is a rustic form of flan popular all over the region due to its simplicity (milk, eggs, and sugar) and ease of preparation.  Cooks aromatize the milk and infuse different flavors, ranging from vanilla in Peru to cinnamon and lemon peel in Chile, or rich dulce de leche in Argentina.  Use whole milk for a creamy texture.  Free-range eggs also increase the flavor, texture, and nutritional value. To make the caramel, try cane sugar to achieve amber-colored syrup quickly and consistently.  Prepare in a large pan, or divide into ovenproof ramekins.  This flan is served inverted with the juicy caramel around it.
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients:

2 1⁄4 cups sugar

4 cups whole milk

Zest of 1 lemon

1 cinnamon stick

4 large eggs

• In a deep skillet, distribute 1 1⁄4 cups sugar evenly over medium heat; melt to form a rich caramel.
• In a saucepan, steep milk with lemon zest and cinnamon stick for 5 minutes; let cool and strain.
• Beat eggs with 1 cup sugar until glossy and pale yellow.  Whisk into cooled milk mixture, mixing well.
• Pour caramel into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Cover with milk mixture.  Bake in 350ºF oven in a bain-marie 30 to 40 minutes until top is slightly browned.  Chill before serving inverted.

Tips for Making the Caramel

• As the sugar caramelizes, pull the melted sugar towards the center to avoid burn marks.
• If the sugar looks grainy, lower the heat and continue to stir. When the caramel has completely melted and is a deep amber color, it is ready.
• Handle hot caramel with precaution, as it can cause burns.

Baking in Bain-Marie

• Coat the dish with the caramel.  Then add the milk-egg mixture to the baking dish, filling to 3⁄4 full.
• Place the baking dish in a larger roasting pan and fill with hot water up to the halfway point.  This protects the custard as it bakes. To test for doneness, the custard should slightly jiggle in the center; or test with a toothpick that should come out clean.
• Let cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

MAKE IT EASY!

Don’t be afraid to try making caramel at home. It is simple and fun. Use a heavy pan with a clear bottom—this way you can observe as the caramel changes color to know when it is ready. Also keep in mind that because the pan is so hot, once the caramel begins to change to golden, it goes very quickly. Turn off the heat just before it reaches dark amber, as the residual heat will finish the coloring.

For a recipe variation, try sinful Dulce de Leche Flan!

In a skillet, distribute 11/4 cups sugar evenly; melt to form caramel. Coat 8 ramekins with caramel. In a saucepan, whisk  1 cup milk, 11/2 cups cream, 11/2 cups dulce de leche, and seeds from 1 vanilla bean. Remove; let cool. Beat in 4 large whole eggs and 2 egg yolks. Place ramekins in roasting dish and bake.

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The first (white) strawberry on Earth was discovered in the south of Chile in the 16th century by the Spanish. Today, all berries are an integral part of the Chilean diet and fruit abundance found throughout the Southern region and Central Valley. The berries reach their sweetest peak in the summer months from January to March when you can even see gatherers filling buckets with blackberries by country road sides. This simple dessert is a perfect “make ahead” dish that also incorporates Chile’s flagship wine varietal, Carmenere. Here, we pair a Natura Carmenere from Emiliana Organico which has inherently spicy notes on the nose with homey notes of cloves and cinnamon. The wine reduction sauce steps that up a notch and intensifies the lush fruit flavors. The exotic addition of basil adds pizzazz to the palate although grated dark chocolate is another tempting alternative. If you want to mix it up, try it with a Malbec.

Serve it in a wine glass for a stunning presentation. Best part? You can make the sauce up to 2 days ahead and the cut up the berries the night before. Easy entertaining. Did I mention that leftover wine sauce is REALLY good on dark chocolate, dulce de leche, or even vanilla ice cream? Que disfruten chicos.

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Francis Mallmann. If you don’t know his name, take note. He’s South America’s most famous “celebrity chef” with restaurants in Mendoza, Buenos Aires, and outside José Ignacio in Uruguay. He’s well known yet low profile. A seemingly chilled out, laid back guy who prefers to be in the Argentine or Uruguayan countryside than amist all the fanfare. He may be a cooking icon in these latitudes but he’s not opening a restaurant on the strip in Vegas, nor in New York, nor anywhere in the US. Perhaps he shares more in common with kindred spirits in Texas who proclaim love and dedication to the sacred art of barbecuing. That’s right, he likes to play with fire – seven of them to be exact – as is portrayed in his book Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way. Mallmann is truly the “man” when it comes to the art of cooking over fire.

Born in Patagonia and trained in France’s top restaurants, the fact that he abandoned the fine dining scene is a testament to his love for the elemental fire-driven cuisine that is such an integral part of Argentina’s food culture. His style is refreshingly simple.  Stripped down. “Barbaric,” in his words and ultimately driven by the top-notch, whole food ingredients we are so blessed to have in this corner of the world: grass fed meat & game, trout from Patagonian streams, calamari and brotola (a white fish similar to grouper in Uruguay), along with ethereal seasonal produce. While flavor influences may nod to the European ancestry from Spain and Italy, his attempt to achieve the pinnacle of flavors through the use of fire, whether the massive heat of a bonfire, the slow steady warmth of dying embers, cooking in a mud oven, over a spit, in a disc or cast iron skillet, to name a few, pay homage and keep alive the ancient traditions in the region.

Mallmann’s world is one to you have to experience first hand to truly understand. For those of you in the US, if you cannot jump on a plane to Argentina or Uruguay in the near future, I suggest getting his book and finding an afternoon to pop open a Torrontes or Malbec and read it. Its photography is as compelling as the writing and recipes. While some of the outdoor cooking ideas are projects that you may logistically not want to undertake (barbecuing half a cow? Hmm…), you can take away inspiration, ideas, and a kinship towards charcoal grilling and the social unity around grilled meat that is so embedded in South American culture. It’s the social ritual around the preparation, not just blazing something out back on a gas grill for dinner.

Try some of the signature Mallmann dishes like Whole Boneless Ribeye with Chimichuri; Salt-Crusted Striped Bass; Whole Roasted Andean Pumpkin with Mint and Goat Cheese Salad; Killer tapenade and chimichurri recipes; and desserts such as Dulce de Leche Pancakes.

Want to come experience Mallman first hand? We dine in his flagship restaurant on many of our journeys in Mendoza.  We also visit  Garzón, Mallman’s gourmet outpost 30 minutes from the chic beach resort of José Ignacio east of Punta del Este in Uruguay. More than a restaurant, his style of cooking is evocative of a lifestyle; a way of being. That’s right, grilling the Argentine way.

Join us on the Age of Argentina where we’ll be dining one evening in Francis Mallman’s flagship restaurant in Mendoza, 1884 in the historic Escorihuela winery.

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If there’s one fruit that claims my total devotion, that fruit is figs. We are blessed in this Mediterranean oasis to have many fig trees adorning the countryside around Santiago and in the Central Valley. They grow into shady, majestic trees which bear fruit twice every year. At Christmas, their branches become laden with large, juicy brevas. In early fall, the same “mother” tree gives life to higos, smaller and rounder figs that are sweet and often made into chunky jams. In the campo (countryside), figs are consumed raw with queso fresco, fresh cheese, or commonly made into a sticky-sweet jam to be spread on rustic bread like the famous tortillas de rescoldo from the Curicó region.

In this video, I team up with my favorite organic and biodynamic winery in Chile, Emiliana Orgánico, to pair fresh figs, melt-in-your-mouth sheep´s milk cheese, and their youthful Natura Cabernet Sauvingnon.  Simple and straightforward.  The combination of tangy, earthy tasting sheep’s milk cheese, juicy figs, and succulent Serrano ham is a match made in heaven. The arugula adds a little note of spiciness and contrast with its crunchy texture. Love pizza? This recipe can also be transformed as a topping for gourmet pizza.

If you cannot find fresh figs, don’t despair, just plump up the dried ones for 30 minutes or so in some lukewarm water. The flavor will be more intense but the combo will deliver. Que disfruten…

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