It’s spring and artichokes are in season.  It’s such a delight to see them in the verdulerias, next to the sweet, dark red strawberries that have recently arrived as well.  Unlike the commercially produced artichokes you see at major grocery stores, the ones I buy here in the verduleria still have their long stems attached to them and give off a fresh fragrance that makes me almost want to eat them right there.

The artichoke, native to the Mediterranean, was apparently first developed in Sicily, and was evident in Greek and Roman literature as early as 70AD.  If you have ever seen a field of artichokes it is a beautiful thing - these large thistle plants grow on thick stems, and almost make me think of sunflowers (though perhaps not as tall).

I recently found a recipe for spring artichokes cooked in white wine and tossed with tagliatelle.  (Recipe link below.)  I thought I’d give it a try, but of course I wound up doing my own thing.  The recipe is a good guideline though, and was very inspiring.

I of course made my own pasta by hand, because I like to and I had a special dinner guest. :-)  But if you’d rather buy your tagliatelle and you want to know what pasta I like in Buenos Aires, I think the Don Vicente brand is pretty good (their pastas are made with egg), and if you would rather just use a good semolina pasta (without egg), Lucchetti is a good brand that is of similar quality to Barilla.

The original recipe can be found here.

I should note that I didn’t use mint as the recipe called for.  I forgot to buy it and I still had some sage left, so I added sage instead, while the artichokes were cooking.

First I cleaned and prepared the artichokes - it’s important to clean them well if you buy them from the verduleria because they are organic and therefore sometimes little bugs like to hang out in them.  Here are good instructions on how to clean and prepare an artichoke for cooking.

I heated three tablespoons of olive oil with two minced cloves of garlic.  I added the prepared artichokes and fried for about a minute.  Then I poured in a good amount of Torrontes (an Argentine white wine), added salt, covered the pan (I used a large wok), and checked on them once in a while.

In the meantime I cooked the pasta in salted, boiling water (follow the instructions on your package).

Once the artichokes were done (I could easily put a fork into them), I tossed them with the cooked and drained pasta and a bit of extra virgin olive oil.  Topped with some parmigiano (or whatever grated cheese you can get your hands on), this made for an excellent meal.  I want to make it again!

P.S. I didn’t use as many artichokes as the recipe called for.  Use just as many as you think you’ll need.

**First of all, those of you who currently live in or have lived in Italy, take a look at this contest.  All you have to do is complete the sentence “You know you’re in Italy when…” and you could win some mighty fine coffee!**

Since I abandoned “Love Thursday” after two weeks, I’ve decided to try writing a “What’s Cooking Wednesday” entry instead, particularly aimed at those foreigners living in Buenos Aires who wish to eat food with a little more variety, yet don’t know where to start.

Now that spring is here and the weather is warm, my food cravings have changed.  Instead of warm, hearty soups I want tomatoes and olives and strawberries and artichokes.

Today I was in the mood for mozzarella.  I have issues with most of the mozzarella made here (here it’s spelled “muzzarella”) - while it’s really good (especially on pizza), it’s not anything close to what I was used to eating in Italy - but that’s just because the recipe/method is different, so the flavor and texture is different.

But Disco near the Congreso carries an Argentinean brand that makes a pretty good cow’s milk mozzarella, called “Fior di Latte“, and its made like the mozz I ate in Italy, and comes stored in whey.  The same brand also makes what they named “Bufarella” which is their rendition of bufala (buffalo) mozzarella, which is more traditional and has more bite to it - that’s not always available so I usually get the cow mozz.  It costs 9 pesos at Disco and you get a pretty good amount for the price.

**Here’s something interesting: I’ve heard that a lot of the cow’s milk mozzarella in Italy is made with milk powder from Argentinean cows!**

Anyway, I stopped at the verduleria on my way home for tomatoes and basil, thinking I could make an insalata caprese, but he won’t have basil until tomorrow, so I nixed the caprese idea and opted for parsley and lemon instead.

I diced the tomatoes, cut the mozzarella into smaller pieces, added some white beans, the parsley, juice from the lemon, extra virgin olive oil and some salt, and I had myself a delicious and healthy salad.

Tonight I have an asado to go to, which I’m definitely looking forward to - I don’t eat very much meat (yes, me, in Argentina) so this is always a special occasion for me.

Next Wednesday I’ll write about artichokes!

Recently my roommate G had some friends over, one of whom is Spanish and cooked dinner for the lot of them.  Unfortunately I was on my way out the door to a milonga when they arrived, so I didn’t get to sample what he was preparing (though I did see that he brought sea scallops which was almost enough to make me skip tango.  Gotta find scallops, and soon).

There was plenty of gazpacho leftover and my kind roommate let me have some.  At the first taste, I started feeling inspired.  Then my roommate shared his pasta with me, which had been tossed with green olives.  All of this beautiful tanginess, all of this color!  I immediately got out my Mediterranean (mostly Italian and French) cookbooks, started re-reading this book, which is full of inspiration and nice recipes, and went online to my favorite recipe sites, preparing myself culinarily for the coming seasons of sun.  I’ve always eaten Mediterranean, but was not so inspired the first few months here, and now with the change in seasons, comes a change in the ingredients available and a change in what I crave, which means a change in recipes.

One of my favorite sites from which to get recipes is Divina Cucina, an inspiring site by a woman based in Florence, Italy, who gives cooking classes.  Her recipe page is great, full of things that make me think of my relatives in Lucca and the wonderful dinners we’ve had together.

The other day for lunch I decided to make my own spin on her recipe for tonno e fagioli.  Never one to follow a recipe exactly, I used chickpeas (garbanzos) instead, and added some sliced green olives to add a little extra tangy flavor.  Absolutely wonderful!  Then yesterday I had Miss Tango over and I tried the recipe for spaghetti di vino, which was very simple and delicious, only I used bucatini instead of spaghetti, and added sage.  It was wonderful and we decided it would be very nice to add some black olives next time.

See?  It doesn’t have to be all about meat and papas fritas down here (though I love both).  If you have a kitchen and some inspiration (and a verduleria nearby), you can get creative and eat very well.

Reading Melinda’s post about her ortolano, green grocer, in Florence, I was inspired to write about mine in Buenos Aires.

Here we call them verdulerias. They are all over the place here, in just about every neighborhood.

On my block there are two verdulerias that I like, depending on what I need. One is right downstairs (well, on my street anyway) and one is around the corner. I mostly go to the one downstairs because the verdulero is just wonderful with me. He helps me learn the Spanish names for the various items and he is patient with me. I never touch the produce, he picks it out for me - and he really knows what he’s doing. I’m always happy with what I get.

He also will sometimes suggest things that are particularly good right now, or steer me away from something that might be just average. He always knows where something came from. If the price of a particular item has inflated a lot (which happens here), he will tell me right away and give me a chance to decide if I really want it (or that much of it).

It’s something I’ve always loved to do. In Seattle there is Pike Place Market which Seattle residents enjoy in the winter and avoid in the tourist-filled summer. Pike Place can get expensive though, so there are also local farmers markets in most Seattle neighborhoods that I found a lot of times to be more affordable (and delicious!) than the supposed “organic” sections in the supermarkets.

I always try to buy produce from markets/ortolani/verdulerias because it’s fresh, in season, (mostly) local, harvested when ripe, rather than supermarket produce that lacks luster and is kind of sad to look at under fluorescent lighting.

There is something romantic and so human about being able to walk a few steps down the street, and make contact with another human being as they personally help me pick out fruits and vegetables.

There is something quite satisfying about coming home with colorful vegetables that still have their dirt-covered roots in tact. Something so natural and real about having fruit that has seeds (read: non-GM) and tons of flavor. (Might I add that the grapefruits here are the possibly best I’ve ever had?)

Since getting over my linguistic shyness that prevented me from going into verdulerias and finally taking advantage of the ready availability of delicious, nourishing produce, my energy level has gone up, my skin is clearer than ever (a side benefit of eating more fruits and vegetables) and I have been more inspired to cook interesting things.

We also have a butcher in the same location (I’m finally over that linguistic fear too and have started going), and across the street there is a panederia, bakery, where one can buy some different kinds of bread and various facturas, pastries. I realize that this way of food shopping is not possible everywhere (at least in most cities in the U.S.) so I feel fortunate, grateful, that I have it right at my fingertips.

I’m doing some translation work at home tonight, and thought it would be nice to have a glass of wine beforehand, as a way to separate my daytime work from my nighttime work.  What a lovely ritual, I say.  Normally I go for the Tuscan wines, as an homage to the birthplace of my soul, but tonight I thought an Argentine wine would be wonderful.

I chose something I’ve never seen before: A grape called Bonarda.  It’s a grape brought to Argentina by Italian immigrants.  I was surprised when I found this out - an Italian grape the I, l’Italiana-Americana, didn’t know about?

Here is some information on the Bonarda grape.

Cin cin! (pronounced “cheen cheen”)

Here I am at the tango festival in Denver. It was a very last minute decision, and I’m glad I made it.

It was very easy to get here - Frontier Airlines was good. Very friendly service and they don’t charge for snacks. Imagine that. I got off the plane, hopped the shuttle to the hotel (where most of the festival events are being held), checked into my room, changed my shoes, and went downstairs to the alternative milonga. I never, ever do alternative because the whole reason I started dancing tango was for the traditional music, but I enjoyed this. Quite a lot of French music, which usually works for me. I saw many people I knew right away. I didn’t feel that I danced very well because like I said, the traditional music is exactly what inspired me to start dancing in the first place, so I just don’t “feel” alternative music. For the sake of having fun though, it’s fine.

The “Elegant Milonga” went last night until 3am. The DJ was Shory Myers, who I’ve always found has good taste in music. She played a few things I hadn’t heard before and it was really enjoyable. It was nice to dance with some friends that live elsewhere (Hawaii, Canada, etc…) The crowd was wonderful, as everyone danced close-embrace and everyone danced relatively calmly. I wasn’t feeling too energetic so this suited me just fine. Every invitation I received was done via the cabeceo, I’m happy to report. The setting was good for using such codes.

Being a cranky traditionalist who has a thing for dancing with milongueros, I was quite content with the quality of the dances. For the most part, I was able to seek connection and find it very easily. Steps were not important so much as just sharing in the romance of the moment. I felt very well taken care of (meaning, didn’t get bumped into or kicked. I felt safe.). I wasn’t in the mood for fancy footwork, just a nice relaxing time, and I’m glad to say that I got it.

Today there is a milonga and BBQ in a park, and then tonight, the all-night milonga - after which I will pack and head to the airport. I plan to spend Monday sleeping.

Denver is quite the foody town. I went with a couple of friends from Seattle for a couple of food adventures. Last night we ate at a restaurant called Potager, which had a very industrial-chic feel to it. The menu was a little weird (there were peaches in everything!) but the ingredients were local, the beef grass-fed, everything organic, and the wine list, fabulous. Today we ate lunch at Bistro Vendome, where I ordered steak frites… again, grass-fed beef. Let me tell you, beef tastes SO much better when the cows eat what they’re supposed to eat (grass, instead of cheap grains). Everywhere we went downtown, I saw all kinds of beautiful restaurants with incredible menus. My friend has been here many times and knows a lot of the restaurants and he can vouch for the fact that one can eat well here. So I think I’ll be back in Denver, if only for the food.

On another note, as if you couldn’t decifer it from my previous post entitled, “Febrero”, I’ll be back in Buenos Aires in February, which will be my 5-year Tango anniversary. Woohoo!! I’m spending this entire upcoming week (with the exception of my birthday) getting my translation career moving a little faster, re-establishing connections with some agencies, and I hope to be doing more of that freelance so that I can keep working while I travel. Wish me luck!
Oh great. Now I have an annoying song from Evita in my head… I have Madonna’s voice singing, “Rio de la Plata… Florida… Corrientes… 9 de Julio…” It wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t have that gringa accent that I probably have as well. (You think that being fluent in Italian, I’d be able to speak Spanish a little better than I do…)

I’m typing this blog entry with sticky fingers. I had today off and have been thinking a lot about alfajores and how much I enjoyed them in Argentina. I found this recipe (which also explains what they are) and decided there would be no harm in trying. I took advantage of the beautiful sunny day to walk down to Pike Place Market, where I bought some dulce de leche. A stop at the store near my house for some other ingredients, and I was ready. I had fun making them, and at the end I decided to cover the tops with a little bit of powdered sugar. I’m not Argentine and not an expert on the cuisine, but I know what I like, and these were delicious! They are in the picture above. Not bad for being on the north side of the equator.

In this blog entry by TangoCherie, she talks about how it can be kind of hard to find anything green (other than salad) at Argentine restaurants. And how! I had a tough time digesting during my first couple weeks in Buenos Aires, until I was able to figure out how to get some extra vegetables in there. If you know where to look, there’s actually plenty of variety - but it takes time, and can cost a little more money. But it’s well worth it - these people can cook!

But in general, unless you know your way around the verduleria, it is tough in Buenos Aires (at least in restaurants) to find the variety of vegetables that I’m used to in Italy and in Seattle. Not that I’m complaining of course - the food is wonderful in Argentina, so fresh and yummy. But just like Cherie, I like my green.