LATIN CUISINE - WEEK 4

This week in Latin Cuisine we moved from the cuisines of Mexico to the cuisines of South America. There are many similarities and many of the styles have moved around from South America to Mexico, so some of the menu may seem more Mexican than South American.

This class is quickly becoming the highlight of my culinary week. The food just keep getting better and I find myself excited to prepare the recipes. I would encourage anyone interested in Mexican food to delve in a little further and try to experience food from all over Mexico and South America. 

On to the menu-

Vatapa de Galinha with Ensalada de Tomate y Cebolla:

This is Chicken in Nut and Shrimp Sauce served with a Tomato and Onion Salad. The salad seems very boring but it was pretty good. We would probably want to add a few other things to make it a little more exciting, and the tomatoes in february are just plain awful. The chicken was excellent, this dish has some interesting flavors as the sauce really has a nice nutty and earthy taste to it. I would love to see this sauce served over grilled chicken and topped with a skewer of grilled shrimp on a bed of a rice pilaf. 

Churros:

No these are not the churros you see served at the mall food court or some amusement park. These are hand rolled directly into the fryer and dusted with powdered sugar. There were good because Preston made them and every desert Preston makes is good. However, I would prefer to change the recipe to make a slightly easier dough to work with that could be piped out to create a nice thin uniformity that would leave the a nice crispy outside while retaining the warm, soft center we all love.

Crepas con Salsa de Dulce de Leche:

This is exactly what it says, crepes with dulce de leche sauce. WOW! This was by far the best dessert I've had since starting culinary school. I could not stop eating these. Anyhow, they could easily be served as a dessert or a breakfast item. Pistachio is what you see as a garnish. Dulce de leche is a sweet milk sauce that can be so good you would want to eat it with a spoon. Way to go Preston.

Ceviche de Champinones and Sopa de Palmito:

This is a mushroom ceviche. Normally ceviche is thought of as a raw fish dish, but there are many different variations on the ceviche. I do not like the traditional ceviche, but this one was pretty good. It has the tanginess and the sweetness from the peppers. Also pictured is the Sopa, or Hearts of Palm soup. It is a pureed soup that is made from the expensive and tender heart of palm. This recipe is for a basic one but it could be really good with some variations to add some complexity to the flavor. I found this recipe to be kind of one-dimensional.

Couve a Mineira:

This is a dish of shredded kale in a garlic paste. Kale sounds pretty bad and it is a tougher leafy green, so one would expect this to be tough and not very flavorful. He would be wrong, this is surprisingly good. I will be looking for good kale once in awhile just for this.