Argentinian food is heavily influenced by Spanish, Italian and French cuisines so the flavor profiles are familiar. That being said, I discovered some intriguing new dishes on my Argentinian adventure.
Case in point: Grilled provolone cheese - yes, that means cheese cooked directly on the grill then served with bread. Sounds like courting disaster, right? As we discovered the key is getting the grill really hot and quickly searing the cheese before it melts all over the place. Easier said than done, but the cheese develops a wonderful smokey flavor. Here's the recipe and a picture of how it's supposed to look:
http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/appetizersfirstcourses/r/provoleta.htm
Also for an appetizer, I attempted faina, an Argentinian flatbread made with chickpea (a.k.a., garbanzo bean) flour. In case you're wondering, you can find chickpea flour at your neighborhood healthfood store (who knew?). The recipe includes parmesan cheese and black pepper in the batter plus a topping of blue cheese and spinach. One tip: faina works best if you serve it in the same dish used to bake it. I tried to flip the faina out onto a plate while still warm and let's just say the results were almost disastrous - I managed a quick save!
http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/snacksstreetfood/r/Faina.htm
For the main course I chose a selection of grass-fed ribeye steaks, ribs, and chorizo sausage, spicy and mild. The meat preparation was simple, just a little salt and pepper before going on the grill. The big flavors came from the sauces, the famous chimichurri and salsa criollo, a fresh salsa made with tomatos and peppers.
http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/maincourses/r/GrilledSteaks.htm
http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/saladssidedishes/r/chimichurri.htm
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/argentine-barbecue-with-salsa-criolla
For a some extra side dishes I made grilled corn on the cob and heirloom tomato salad.
http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/saladssidedishes/r/grilledcorn.htm
The grilled corn was a hit! Very simple - just put the corn on the grill and baste with a butter, ground cumin and salt mixture. You won't believe the flavor from these few ingredients!
For the tomato salad the key is really, really good tomatoes. I used some beautiful ripe heirloom tomatoes from the Union Square green market. I just sliced the tomatoes, added fresh basil, salt, olive oil and balsamic vinegar - no recipe required.
The biggest revelation was the dessert - alfajores, or shortbread caramel (dulce de leche) sandwich cookies. http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/snacksstreetfood/r/alfajorpe.htm
These cookies looked unassuming but they got rave reviews from all of the guests. Sample comments: "absolutely ethereal" and "better than sex". This unique recipe calls for nearly equal parts corn starch and flour - in fact, it calls for more corn starch than flour - which may account for the exceptionally delicate texture of the final cookies. You also had a splash of brandy (or Pisco, a South American liquor) to the dough, which adds interesting flavor.
