Deconstructed Caprese Salad

I love the taste of a good Caprese salad, but I always hated the way it is presented. I have done it in layers, in form of a tower, etc, etc... I think the way I did it this time is the one I like best.

Deconstructed Caprese Salad

Ingredients:
A bunch of tomatoes, mixed, any size, color, and kind.
1 small bunch basil.
1 small bunch purple basil.
Sea salt.
Freshly ground black pepper.
Dried cracked chili pepper.
2 to 4 buffalo mozzarella balls.
Olive oil.
Sherry vinegar.

Method:

1. Chop the tomatoes in different sizes and ways. Put them into a bowl, add the salt and let them rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

2. Add basil, olive oil, vinegar, and pepper to the tomatoes and toss to mix.

3. On a plate, place the mozzarella on one side, sprinkle some cracked chili pepper on top and garnish with a couple of basil leafs. Drizzle with some olive oil. Place the tomatoes by the mozzarella and serve right away.

Enjoy! The Fat Guy.

Malbec Short Ribs

This is a dish that requires 20 minutes of work and 2 hours of patience. Very tasty, especially for a cold winter day. Serve it with potato purée.

Malbec Short Ribs
(or Cabernet if you can't get Malbec wine)

Ingredients:
2 kg. short ribs cut 8 cm. thick.
1/2 tablespoon chopped parsley.
1/2 tablespoon chopped thyme.
1/2 tablespoon chopped rosemary.
1 tablespoon neutral vegetable oil.
250 gr. smoked pancetta or bacon, chopped.
1 big yellow onion, chopped.
1 carrot, chopped.
1 celery stick, chopped.
1-1/2 cups red wine (malbec or cabernet).
2 cups beef broth.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Potato purée for serving.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan. Add the pancetta and fry at medium heat until golden and crunchy, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from pan and add to a large dutch oven (preferably with lid). Add the ribs to the pan, turn the heat to mediumhigh and sear the beef on all sides until golden, 5 minutes. Add to the dutch oven.

3. Add the onion, carrot and celery to the pan and cook at medium-high until tender and slightly browned, 5 minutes. Add the wine and the broth and using a spatula, scrape the bottom of the pan to release the burnt and stuck beautiful tasty bits. Add the liquid to the dutch oven and the chopped herbs. Cover (if you don't have a lid, use foil), and cook in the oven for 4 hours turning the ribs once.

4. Place the ribs on a serving dish and let them rest for 10 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, pass the liquids throw a fine sieve and into a small pan, and cook at high heat until reduced and thickened, 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning.

Place the ribs on serving plates, add a spoonful of purée and some gravy on top.

Enjoy! The Fat Guy

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

You can match this gnocchi with anything you want. I have tried them with arugula and hazelnuts, borwn butter and white truffle, and this one, which for me goes excellent. I'm sorry I don't have a photo of the completed dish, but truthfully speaking, they are so good that we never have time for the photo once they are finished.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage

Ingredients:
800 gr. sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed.
350 gr. ricotta cheese.
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated.
2 tablespoons brown sugar.
2 teaspoons salt.
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg.
2-3/4 cups all purpose flour.
200 gr. unsalted butter.
6 tablespoons sage, chopped.
Sage leafs to serve.

Method:

1. Boil the sweet potatoes in salted water until tender. Using a purée masher, mash the sweet potatoes. Transfer 3 cups of the purée to a bowl with the ricotta and mix well. Add the Parmesan, brown sugar, salt, nutmeg and mix well. Start adding the flour 1/2 cup at a time until you get a nice dough.

2. Drop the dough onto a floured surface and divide it in 6. Using your hands, roll each piece of dough into a sausage of 2 cm in diameter and around 50 cm long. Cut each sausage into 20 to 25 pieces. Transfer to a floured tray.

3. In a pot of boiling salted water, working in batches, drop the gnocchi until “al dente”, around 5 minutes. Let them cool.

4. In a large sauté pan at medium-high heat, melt the butter and cook until the solids turn brown, about 5 minutes. Add the sage and take off the heat.

5. Transfer half of the brown butter to another large sauté pan and add half of the gnocchi to each pan, and cook at medium-high heat until the gnocchi are heated through, around 5 minutes.

Serve right away with a couple of fresh sage leafs per plate.

Cheers! The Fat Guy.

Ceviche

This is my version of a Peruvian Ceviche, a little different, it's made with hot potato. You can make it with any kind of white fish. Try it, it is really good.

Ceviche Peruano with Hot Potato

Ingredients:
450 gr. firm white fish fillets.
1 bell pepper, cut into thin strips.
1/4 teaspoon hot chili powder.
1/2 cup olive oil.
8 small potatoes, whole.
2 spring onions, white parts and some light green, julienne.
1 small red onion, in half and cut into rings.
The juice of 2 lemons.
1 haas avocado, filleted.
Salt and freshly ground pepper.

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes whole and keep them warm.

2. Cut the fish into bite size and not thicker than a slice of smoked salmon. Place the fish on a plate and using the bottom part of a glass, squeeze it to remove its milk and to break its structure.

3. Right before serving, mix the fish with the lemon, then the olive oil, salt, pepper, and the rest of the ingredients.

4. Break the potatoes into pieces using your hands, place them on the plates, add the olive oil and fish mixture and serve right away.

Enjoy! The Fat Guy.

Fior Di Zucca

My pumpkin plants have given me too many flowers this fall. I got tired of frying them, baking them, making risottos, etc, so, I used them to make something really easy and actually quite tasty.

I was starting the Sunday barbeque one morning, and realized I had many flowers in my plant (which is right behind my barbeque), and had just bought some bocconcino mozzarella in the store. I made an appetizer, a pre-barbeque bite…

Pumpkin Flower Wrapped Bocconcino

Ingredients:
2 Butternut squash flowers or 3 Zucchini flowers.
1 dozen bocconcino mozzarella.
Olive oil.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Toothpicks.
Some basil to add color to the plate.

Method:

Divide the flowers in petals. Wrap each bocconcino with one petal and secure it with a toothpick. Drizzle some olive oil on top and season with salt and pepper. Eat up!

Cheers! The Fat Guy.

My Flowers

The Cochinillos (Suckling Pigs)

I have no words to describe how good they turned out. A friend of mine said "It looks so wrong, but it tastes so good". Here are the photos.

Cochinillo with Barbequed Asparagus

Ingredients:
1 suckling pig of not more than 3kg in weight.
1 handful fresh thyme.
1 handful fresh oregano.
1 garlic head, cloves pulled apart, skin on.
200 gr. pig's fat or unsalted butter.
1/2 liter olive oil.
1 teaspoon black pepper corns.
1/2 teaspoon Sichuan pepper corns, toasted.
1/2 teaspoon salt.
30 big green asparagus, whole and unpeeled.
Lemon and olive oil for the asparagus.

Method:

1. Pat dry the pig with paper towels and season with salt.

2. In a medium saucepan at medium heat, melt the fat in the olive oil. Lower the heat to low and add the thyme, oregano, peppers, and garlic, and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and let cool slightly.

3. Add the oil mix to the pig. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

4. Pre-heat the over to 75°C. Remove from the fridge and let it naturally reach room temperature (It'll take around an hour). Remove from the marinade and stick it in the oven for 5 hours.

5. Light a barbeque using wood or charcoal (not gas), and set at 20 cm over the fire.

6. Remove the pig from the oven and barbeque it, skin side down, until the skin is golden and crunchy, about an hour. 20 minutes before removing the pig from the barbeque, arrange the asparagus by it. When the asparagus are done, remove from the barbeque and immediately squeeze a lemon on top and add a splash of olive oil.

To serve: Set the cochinillo on a big tray with the asparagus by it. If the cochinillo is perfectly done and the skin is crunchy and golden, you'll be able to cut it using a small plate, try it, it'll amaze your guests.

The Photos of the Event:

The marinade

Marinating

In the Oven

On the Barbeque

Presented

Cutting it with a Plate

Served

Greets, The Fat Guy.

The Argentinean Asado

We, the Argentinos, get together nearly every Sunday with friends and family to have our asados. And what are our Asados? The Asado is a lot more than a Barbeque, it’s a ritual, and it’s our history, our culture. Argentina is famous for its beef and the amount of beef per capita that’s ingested year after year. They say a true Argentinean has beef for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and leaving breakfast aside, I would say that is true.

Our asados start with a “Choripan”, a sausage sandwich with “Chimichurri”, a typical Argentinean spicy salsa. After that we sit down and different things start coming, first the Provoleta (a provolone cheese round that’s barbecued inside a cast iron mold until melted and golden), cow kidney, sweetbreads, intestines and blood sausage (Morcilla). We love everything that comes from the cow, and in different regions of Argentina, from other animals such as Lamb and its intestines, or goat and its kidneys.

Time for the meat! Our most famous cut, the “Bife de Chorizo”. Same as the prime rib but usually from Aberdeen Angus cows not older than 2 years, and we do not age the beef. Center cut ribs is another that we must have, and then all the other cuts of beef, that only depends on the person barbequing or what people bring along. We serve the meat with a variety of salads and another salsa called “Salsa Criolla”, and always a good Argentinean Malbec red wine.

Okay, no more talking, here are the photos.

Choripan

 
 

Chorizo & Morcilla

(Sausage & Blood Sausage)

El Asado (Starting it)

 

 

El Asado (Finished)

Salads

Chimichurri

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sunflower or corn oil.
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped.
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped.
1 tablespoon Kosher salt.
1 tablespoon cracked dried chili peppers.
1 teaspoon black pepper, ground.

Method:
Add all the ingredients into a jar and stir vigorously.
Let it stand for at least 2 hours before serving (12 hours recommended).


Salsa Criolla:

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped.
1 red bell pepper, chopped.
1 green bell pepper, chopped.
2 green onions, green parts only, julienned.
1 big round tomato, seeded and chopped.
1 cup olive oil.
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar.
1 tablespoon salt.

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin.
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper.
Cracked dry chili pepper to taste.

Method:
1. Dissolve the salt in the vinegar in a medium bowl. Add the onion and let soak for 10 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the vegetables, the olive oil, the spices, and mix well.
Let it stand for at least 2 hours before serving.

I hope this tells you a little more about me.
Greet! The Fat Guy.

The Pasta Bake

For you guys in the northern hemisphere, weather’s getting hotter; but for us in the southern hemisphere, weather’s getting colder. This is a nice cold day dish.

Potato Gnocchi with Blue Cheese & Spinach Gratin

Ingredients:
For the potato gnocchi:
1 kg. potatoes.
500 gr. self raising flour.
1 egg.
1 pinch nutmeg.
1 splash olive oil.
Salt and freshly ground pepper.
For the gratin:
2 bunches fresh spinach.
200 gr. blue cheese.
1/2 cup cream.
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese.
1/3 cup walnuts.

Method:
For the potato gnocchi:
1. Boil the potatoes until tender. Let them cool slightly, then peel and mash. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg.
2. While the purée is warm, add the egg and the splash of olive oil, and start adding the flour, little by little until you get soft dough. If you make the dough hard, the gnocchi will turn harder to the bite. Roll the dough into long sausages and using a knife cut it into 2.5 cm. long gnocchi. If you want to add them the stripped shape, use a fork to do so, I like them plain.

For the gratin:
1. Boil the gnocchi in enough salted water until "al dente". At the same time, place a steamer on top and steam the spinach until welted and cooked through.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan at medium-low heat, mix the blue cheese and the cream until the blue cheese has completely dissolved.
3. Add the gnocchi into a nice oven-proof serving platter (you're going to take this dish directly to the table), add the spinach and blue cheese cream and mix a little to coat. Add the walnuts on top and finally the grated Parmesan cheese.
4. Using the broiler of the oven at medium-high, broil the dish until the cheese has melted and has a golden color.
Serve right away.

Greets! The Fat Guy.

Figs, figs, figs...

Figs, one of my favorite things in the food world. They come in spring, they come in fall, and I just love doing everything with them. This is a really yummy salad. If you can't get sugarcane honey, replace it with simple bee honey, and if you can't get water buffalo mozzarella (buffarella), use the common one.

Arugula, Mozzarella, Fig and Prosciutto Salad

Ingredients:
2 large handfuls arugula, washed and stemmed.
4 ripe figs, quartered.
1 big water buffalo mozzarella or 10 bocconcini.
8 thin slices Parma Ham, or any good cured ham.
2 tablespoons olive oil.
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar.
Sugarcane honey to drizzle.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Method:
1. Using your hands, brake the mozzarella into 15 to 20 pieces (if using bocconcini, break them in half).
2. Mix in a small bowl the arugula with the olive oil and the vinegar.
3. Using a big shallow serving dish, arrange the arugula and top it with the figs and mozzarella. Using your hands, break the Prosciutto slices into small pieces and add them to the salad.
4. Adjust the salt and pepper to taste and give the salad a good drizzle of sugarcane honey.
Serve right away.

Enjoy! The Fat Guy.

A Not So Common Salad.

This is a salad I learned while in cooking school in the States. Since then I have been prepairing this salad for my friends and family, and every time I make it, I get positive feedback.

Arugula, Beetroot & Garlic Chip Salad

Ingredients:
250 gr. soft goat's cheese.
1 handfull arugula.
1 handfull small and soft beetroot leafs.
6 beetroots washed and with their skins on.
8 big garlic cloves, slivered with mandolin.
Red wine vinegar.
Olive Oil.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Method:
1. Boil the beetroots in enough water until tender, around 40 minutes. Let them cool enough to manipulate with your hands, peel and brake into medium size pieces.
2. Using a small saucer, heat 1/3 cup olive oil until it starts smoking. Fry the garlic in batches until they are (chip like) golden and crunchy. Dry in paper towels.
3. In a big bowl, mix the beetroots, arugula and beetroot leafs and season to taste. Divide this into 4 dishes. Sprinkle the garlic chips on top, and using two small spoons, spoon little goat's cheese balls into each plate.

I hope you enjoy this tasty and not so common salad.
Greets, The Fat Guy!

Finally... a Salad!

After the weekend I've just had, with the bolognese, the muffins, wine, etc, what I need is a refreshing salad.

Grapefruit-Hazelnut Salad

Ingredients:
1 big grapefruit, peeled and sliced.
1/3 cup toasted crashed hazelnuts.
1 centre of a big fine escarole lettuce.
Juice of half a lemon.
1 tablespoon olive oil.
Parmesan cheese slivers.
Sal and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Method:
1. Peel the grapefruit making sure not to leave any white skin on it. Slice it leaving behind the skin separations (see photo).
2. Place the lettuce in the centre of the plate. Arrange the grapefruit slices around it. Sprinkle the hazelnuts on top.
3. Mix the lemon juice and the extra virgin olive oil together and dress the salad.
4. Cut some extremely thin slices of parmesan either with a mandolin or the back of a big knife (only if the parmesan piece is big). Arrange them on top of the salad. Salt and pepper it to taste.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Greets! The Fat Guy (pretending to be light).

Saturday, Sweet Craving

Things like this happen. I usually don't eat sweet things, but this past Saturday morning I woke up craving. The fastest thing I know how to make, muffins. Speaking truthfully, they come out incredibly tasty. They only take 20 minutes in the oven, and only 5 minutes of active work.

Incredible Muffins

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour.
3/4 cups sugar.
2 teaspoons baking powder.
1/2 teaspoon salt.
1/3 cup vegetable oil.
1 egg.
2 tablespoons vanilla extract.
1 cup filling*

Method:
1. Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl.
2. Add while mixing with a spatula, the other ingredients and the filling*.
3. Fill the 6 muffin molds and bake at 190°C for 20 minutes.

*Fillings:
Banana-walnut muffins:
1 tablespoon cinnamon + 2/3 cups chopped banana + 1/3 cups chopped walnuts.
Raisin muffins:
1 tablespoon cinnamon + 1 cup raisins.
Carrot muffins:
1 tablespoon cinnamon + 1 cup grated carrot.
Blueberry muffins:
1 cup blueberries.
Chocolate chip muffins:
1 cup white, or dark, or mixed chocolate chips.

Use your imagination and try different combinations. You can use any combination you like, dried fruit, etc… Makes 6 muffins.
Enjoy, The Fat Guy.

Sunday, Friends and Pasta.

A strong dish, heavy, an injection of cholesterol, but amazingly tasty...

For the ones that have sometime tasted this dish, this recipe's going to be a warning sign. You're going to find out exactly how heavy and how bad is it for you when eaten in big quantities (nearly impossible not to do so). Next time I make it, I'm sure you're going to eat it wisely.

The Fat Guy's Bolognese

Ingredients:
3 large spanish onions, chopped.
2 garlic cloves, chopped.
3 laurel leaf.
250 gr. smoked bacon, cubed.
2 long italian style pork sausages, in 5 cm pieces.
1-1/2 red bell peppers, chopped.
1 red hot chili peppers, unseeded, chopped.
4 tablespoons tomato extract.
500 ml. tomato pulp.
1-1/2 liters beef broth.
1 kg. minced beef.
3 tablespoons unsalted butter.
2 tablespoons olive oil.
1 tablespoon sugar.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Ricotta cheese and chopped lemon verbena, to serve (optional).
Grated Parmesan cheese to serve.
500 gr. dried noodles; I recommend the big ones used in stews.

Method:
1. In a heavy bottom big pot at medium-high heat, heat the butter and the oil until melted. Add the onions and laurel and fry until the onions are translucent and tender, around 5 minutes. Add the bacon and cook until golden but not dry, 3 more minutes. Add the garlic and chili pepper and cook for another 1 minute, lower the heat to medium, add the bell peppers and cook stirring occasionally until cooked, 5 more minutes.
2. Add the tomato extract and sausages and cook until the sausages are opaque, around 5 minutes. Add the stock and the tomato pulp, boil, lower the heat to medium-low and simmer to thicken the sauce for around 20 minutes.
3. Add while stirring, the minced beef to prevent it from sticking and forming meatballs, continue to cook for 10 more minutes. Add the sugar, and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
Let cool completely and refrigerate for at least 12 hs.
To serve: reheat at low heat and serve together with a spoon of ricotta cheese, sprinkle some lemon verbena on top and some grated Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy it on a cold winter Sunday.
Greets, The Fat Guy!

Getting Cold in Buenos Aires

The cold weather is here and with it comes the tripe stew!

My mother, a great cook even if not dedicated to the art, has 3 excellent dishes. One of them is the tripe stew made with cream "Mondongo a la crema". This is a dish that I have always loved. When I was 10 years old my friends could not understand how I could love it so much, obviously they had never tried my mother's tripe stew. Here's the recipe, which nowadays I enjoy every winter with my friends (every year I have more addicts to the cause), with minor modifications to my mother's recipe, which I consider my personal touch to this amazing winter dish.

Beef Tripe & Garbanzo Bean Stew

Ingredients:
150 gr. smoked bacon, chopped.
2 beef tripes, fat removed.
1 pork sausage, cut into 2 cm. pieces.
3 large spanish onions, halved and in 1 cm slices.
1 cup cream.
1-1/2 cups whole milk.
1 tsp. cayenne pepper.
1 tbs. sugar.
4 cups (1 liter) beef broth.
1 cup cooked garbanzo beans.
2 tbs. cognac.
1 tbs. dried oregano, chopped.
2 tbs. unsalted butter.
Freshly ground white pepper to taste.

Method:
1. Using a sharp knife remove all the fat of the tripe no matter how hard it might be (the fat is white, the tripe is yellowish). In a large sauce pan at medium-high heat, boil the tripe in the beef broth until very tender, about an hour. Let cool enough to handle with your hands, then cut into 1 by 5 cm strips. Do not discard the broth.
2. In a large heavy bottomed sauce pot at medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the sausage and fry until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the onions and fry until translucent and tender, another 5 minutes. Add the bacon and cook until crisp but not dry, 3 to 5 minutes. Lower the heat to medium, add the tripe and cook for 10 minutes mixing once in a while. Add the cream and continue cooking for 10 more minutes.
3. Add the spices and sugar and mix. Start adding the broth 1/2 a cup at a time, then the milk and last the garbanzo beans and cognac. Cook for 10 more minutes, adjust the seasoning adding white pepper and if it appears to be to dry in consistency, add 2 cups more beef broth. Let cool completely.
4. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (48 hs recommended).
To serve: Remover the top layer of fat and reheat in a bain marie.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I have enjoyed it all my life.
Greets, The Fat Guy!