From Argentina With Love

Alfajores de Maicena--Dulce de Leche Cornstarch Shortbread Cookies

Today I want to take you to Mendoza's Peotonal--the cafe-lined pedestrian mall near the Plaza Independencia; to sample the Alfajores at Havanna.  Havanna is Argentina's oldest and best-known producer of alfajores, the shortbread-like sandwich cookie filled with gooey, sweet dulce de leche.  At the Havanna cafe, visitors spend long afternoon hours sipping cortitos con leche with a seltzer on the side, smoking, laughing, talking politics--and eating the company's famed cookies.  The cafe tables are lined up in rows on the wide sidewalk, shaded by trees and blooming red umbrellas that look like poppies.  Like a trip to the glamorous era of Fellini films, guests sit in director chairs with 'HAVANNA' written across the canvas back.

Pizza de Palmitas con Salsa Golf--Hearts of Palm Pizza with Salsa Golf

After all the time travel we've been doing, you must be starving! 

This pizza should take care of that--today's recipe is a simple, straight-forward Argentinean classic,  always accompanied by Salsa Golf.   Salsa Golf is either drizzled over the top or is used with each slice for dipping.  I made my version of this pizza vegetarian, but using a layer of ham slices under the cheese is also common. 

Salsa Golf--'Golf Sauce'

Last year I attended a taping of the show 'Food Network Challenge,' famous for bringing you princess cakes and models of the Brooklyn Bridge constructed from cornflakes.  Four chefs were challenged to beat the clock to create dishes, that were tasted by three chef-judges, to ultimately win a prize of $10,000.  Three of the chefs had stations piled high with fresh fruits and vegetables, while the other (Sean Brock, who won) had a clean station that looked more like a lab than a kitchen.  He was using what the judges declared was the wave of the future:  Molecular Gastronomy. 

And while famous chefs like Grant Achatz of Alinea and Ferran Adria of El Bulli may experiment with dishes like bacon slices with butterscotch and apple, the concept of using chemistry to make tasty food has been around at least since the invention of Salsa Golf.

Salsa Criolla--Creole-Style Relish

'Fusion' is a hip term these days, as the globe seems to be getting smaller and information is constantly shared, creating nonstop connectivity.  Cultures are blending and melding at an amazing speed.  In cuisine, that has translated into a lot of 'East meets West'--merging Asian flavors with European techniques, or Fusion.

But just for just a moment, I'd like you to step into my time-machine and join me about 350 years ago.  The world was much bigger then.  Forget the internet, heck, cars and telephones aren't even down the pike for another 200 years or so.  Horse and cart, if you can afford it, that's more like it.  A voyage on a ship from Spain (if you survive) to the New World may take a year.  The letter telling your mother that you arrived and are alive (assuming either one of you can read or write) will take another year.

Milhojas de Dulce de Leche--Dulce de Leche Napoleons

 

If you had a dream pantry, what would be in it?  Would you have a few staples in a drawer, or maybe an infinite walk-in closet full of every food product imaginable?  The Perfect Pantry, hosted by the lovely Lydia, is a blog about all the items that would be in that ultimate pantry.  Lydia chooses a product, writes an amazing history of it (I always learn something!) and then makes a recipe with it.  On Saturdays, she does OPP (that's Other People's Pantries, BTW) and gives us a peek into how other folks stock their larders.