Mas comidas

We've had some great dinners here, and I thought I'd highlight a few more. One night last week we had more of an "American" style dinner. Sonia served us smoked/grilled chicken that was fantastic. The chicken was cut differently than how we typically prepare a whole chicken in the US. We think she split the breast and back into four sections, rather than de-bone the breast and serve them in half.

With this, Sonia made a potato salad. It was different than our traditional potato salad, and much lighter and fresher in flavor. You could actually taste the potatoes, that were just lightly dressed with a little mayonnaise and egg and fresh parsley. Served with fresh sliced tomatoes, it was a really great side dish.

I think my favorite dessert so far is arroz con leche, both for it's cultural importance and it's flavor. It's basically a rice pudding, and we've had it twice now. It's rice cooked in milk and sweetened with a little sugar. Sonia made this version a little thicker than the one we had before, and I prefer this more pudding-style version. She tops it with cinnamon, which just makes it absolutely delicious.

Another dinner we had lately was a traditional milanese. This version was milanese de carne, but I guess you can also have milanese de pollo. It starts breaded beef (almost like country friend steak), the breading full of herbs and flavor. Next comes a layer of ham, then a slice of tomato, and then, just in case you need more fat and flavor, a layer of mozzarella. Sonia then sprinkled the whole thing with herbs and melted it together in the oven. This meal was for 4 of us, so if you do the math, there were 2 of these suckers for everyone...

I only had one, so somebody here is REALLY enjoying the food. :)

As if the milanese de carne wasn't good enough on its own, Sonia also made her version of buñuelos, a fried pastry. These were made of rice, cheese, and herbs, and then deep fried. Holy mother, these were incredible. I think this and the lentil stew from days ago are my top dishes for which I need recipes from Sonia.

For dessert, we helped polish off more of Sonia's homemade gelato. We can't quite tell what the flavors are - it has neopolitan stripes, and she serves it with dulce de leche and a fruit (I think blueberry) syrup. The stripes don't taste like vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate, but it's still very good. I think my favorite layer is the yellow one, which might actually be vanilla. I'm pretty sure it's not banana, or if it is I've gotten over my aversion banana-flavored foods.

Another dinner we have had lately is zapallito rellenos. It consisted of little round squashes (that taste like zucchini) hollowed out and stuffed with a beef and onion mixture or a ricotta mixture. These were then, of course, topped with sliced tomatoes and more cheese.

And just in case we didn't have enough cheese with dinner, Sonia made a tarta ricotta. It was like a dense cheesecake, but a little less sweetly-rich. Perhaps it helped being drizzled with dark chocolate.

This definitely put me into a food coma for the night...