In Chile service can be, honestly,well let’s just say challenging. There are many shinning and brillant exceptions. When playing the role of a culinary host or guide, it’s even more critical to find that right spot to frequent. Good food can be found everywhere but a whole on good meal where you leave full, satisfied, almost like you had a meal with close friends and family and discovered something new…is nothing less than a gem.

-Colin

But if you really want to grab the reins on your romantic evening and have a meal that goes straight to the heart (through the mouth and stomach of course), then preparing a meal at home can be a real winner. However, to really pull off that memorable meal, care must be taken. Here are what I would call the essentials (written from the male’s perspective I must add):

-Be ready: There’s a fine line between taking the DIY route to supreme execution impossible to find in a food establishment and last minute improvisation/desperation. If you don’t take the time to really think through the meal, it will look as though you forgot. And you probably did if you didn’t plan. So if you don’t have time, better pick up that phone and order your heart shaped pizza or make a reservation.

-Buy fresh and choose well: A good meal starts with good ingredients. Make a visit to the market and avoid that ugly supermarket produce. You need ingredients that are at the perfect state of ripeness for this meal, not ones that will survive on Lider’s shelves for a week and a half. Also remember that your ingredients are also powerful tools for setting the mood. Do some research, choose well, and be thankful that it’s easy and cheap to buy asparagus, avocados, shellfish (they say picorocos, the funky looking giant barnacles at the market work great) and almonds. It doesn’t hurt to throw in some chocolate and champagne either. Don’t set the whipped cream out on the table though. That’s for dessert.

-Don’t skimp on the wine: So you went to the market and got a better deal on your ingredients than in the supermarket. What do you do with that little bit of savings? Put it into the wine. Go bubbly if you want with one of Chile’s great bruts –Miguel Torres makes a great one- or pair your meal with something proper. It’s a special night; maybe you’ll even get into the 6 figure wines (in pesos). Want something with character? Try one of the independent MOVI labels. All small batch production, so there’s a bit of love already in each bottle.

-Take a calculated risk: It’s time to shine, and that means pushing the envelope a bit, but don’t get too experimental. This is not a spaghetti and meatballs night, but maybe you should try your first Beef Wellington at a different moment.

-Setting is everything: The music, the smell, the lighting, take care to control it all to match the mood and the dish. Maybe this means making some changes, buy a new bowl, a tablecloth. Change it up a bit. But remember setting is almost as important as the food.

What do you have planned for Valentine ’s Day? And have you ever read the history behind it? Much better than the slightly cheesy corporate sales driving version we know today. Enjoy!

-Colin

The first thing that might come to mind is a long smoky BBQ with a whole animal. Chile’s got several of these, but nothing can seem to touch a proper curanto. It’s not necessarily a refined meal, it’s instead a bit of everything inside a large hole, topped with a leaf of southern Chile’s giant rhubarb -like plant Nalca.

The word curanto comes from Mapudungun, and credit is given to the Huilliche people that have inhabited the island of Chiloe for first cooking this creation. The first evidence of a curanto dates back thousands of years ago to the island. Hands down, this is the place to experience an authentic curanto like no other. Chiloe, due to it’s physical isolation (you can only get there in a ferry) has maintained its own unique style and culture, something different from the mainland of Chile.

But while true curanto is cooked in a dug hole. But there’s another version, curanto en olla or Pulmay, that lends better to the modern world and small little plots of backyard, not so apt for digging holes. In this version you use the same ingredients, but cook it in a large pot. Besides eliminating the need to dig up a hole, you also get to save the broth. (Good for a hangover I hear)

What goes in a curanto?

The short answer, just about everything edible in Chile. Fish, pork, beef, sausages, potatoes, vegetables, shellfish, more shellfish, top it off with the large leaf of the nalca, throw in a sort of potato bread called milcaos and chapaleles, Pour in a whole bottle of white wine and let it cook for about an hour to an hour and a half.

This is not a dish prepared for an average dinner, rather it’s a celebratory dish. It’s entertainment, something to gather around and drink to, to celebrate something worthwhile and to feel that bond that eating together generates.

As much as a trip to Chiloe would be great this Febuary, it’s a bit out of the question, too much to do here in Santiago. But we did get to visit the Fogón Chilote Nahuelgui, which is run by a Huiliche Chilote, Blanca Nahuelquén Huichaquelén. Along with the government agency INDAP and a few others, we got to sample this southern cooking here near the capital, in the town of Limache, near Viña del Mar.

Curanto en Olla or Lumay

(Recipe adapted from Roberto Marin’s Chilenos cocinando a la Chilena)

What you need:

-1 crab: jaiba mora, a crab found throughout South America that reaches up to about 13cm wide, and preferably a female one.

-7-9 KG of Shellfish: This depends on where you are. The traditional recipe calls for those in abundance in Chiloe, choritos or Chilean blue mussels,  cholgas or ribbed mussels,  choro zapaito or almejas, both different species of clams, and locos or Chilean abalone. You could also throw in shrimp, although they aren’t native to Chiloe.

-2-3KG of fish: Use a local favorite Corvina, robalo or common snook is also suggested, but the important thing is to have plenty of it. You probably want a bang for your buck here since the whole mix of flavors would overwhelm a fish. You also wouldn’t want something too frail, like the merluza since it will most likely fall apart when the food is served.

-10 Smoked pork chops: Using smoked chops does make a difference for the overall flavor.

-1 KG of longaniza: Use a red longaniza, a fatty but tasty Spanish sausage similar to a proper chorizo. Best pork sausage and not a white meat bratwurst, although if that’s what you got it’ll still taste good. Preferably smoked sausage here.

-1.5 KG of pork ribs: Also best if smoked beforehand. Doesn’t have to be the small baby back ribs, keep it to the tradition go with the attitude of bigger is better.

-10 Chicken thighs. You can also have a few drumsticks in there.

-2 Large white onions

-2 Large heads of cabbage

-10 milcaos: A form of potato bread that in effect is steamed by the large curanto below. Mix 2 KGs of cooked and mashed potatoes with 2 KGs of uncooked grated potatoes that have been pressed to get the liquid out. Mix them together along with a 1/8 KG each of pork rinds and shortening and form a ball.

-15 chapaleles: Similar to the milcao but made with 2 KG of cooked potatoes, peeled; ¼ cup of flour, 2 tablespoons of shortening, 100 grs of pork rinds and if you want, two eggs if you want to give it more substance.

Get started by cleaning the shellfish, some people also slice the sausage but it’s not a must. Season the chicken and fish with salt, garlic and pepper. Cut the onions into thin slices, peel the potatoes and leave them sitting in salt water apart from the rest. Remove the cabbage leafs from the head and prepare the potato bread.

You should have a nice, constant and hot fire going already or cook it on a large stove. The idea is to then layer the ingredients. Start with the onion then top that with cabbage. If you have abalones separate them from their shells and add them now. Next goes the ribs and sausage, Keep on building, if you have a crab it should go in near the center. Mix the shellfish along with chicken. When that’s all placed add the fish, cover it with cabbage.

The last part is to add the potato bread. This is important, since they will tell you when the dish is done. When there cooked through, they’ll end up translucent, but that tells you the meal is ready. Takes about an hour and a half.

When ready start to dissemble, placing each ingredient in its own bowl to bring to the table. This takes up some serious space but it’s an impressive lay out of food upon more food. Keep the drinks flowing and have some condiments, table sauces and spices on hand. Enjoy.

2.    On Cereal.  This is an especially good option when they are a bit too ripe since they’re sweet enough to carry the whole dish of cereal. Works great especially with

3.    Make a drink. The other day while out for dinner our waiter offered a refreshing mix of peaches with champagne. Basically you mix a glass of champagne in the blender with half of a canned peach, blend and then filter out the pulp for a smoother drink. You could also use a fresh one, but would have to either find a very sweet one or add a pinch of sugar. Great for the sweet touch happy hour drinker.

4.    Savory works too. Peaches are by no means restricted to sweet treats. Use it for savory dishes as well. The Chilean Fresh Fruit Association has a couple of suggestions on it’s website, such as this Pollo with Chilean Peaches:

5.    Peach Salsa. Another way to incorporate them into a savory preparation basically replacing tomatoes for a sweet n spicy treat that goes great with tortilla chips.

Won’t even get into all the baked goods that go great with peaches, plenty more we could add but hopefully that will get a bit of the inspiration going for whatever you’re going to cook today.

In fact Chile is a global seaweed supplier for industrial ends as well as for culinary and cosmetic uses.  However you’d be hard pressed to find much use of seaweed on Chilean restaurant menus except for your sushi roll these days.  You do find Cochayuyo in markets, destined for home use or the occasional restaurant. But other than that there’s little use for gastronomy.

There are a few brands in the growing web of Asian food stores scattered throughout the capital, but few Chileans producing any sort of seaweed to eat here in Chile. One of these few is Ianna Bioalgas, a company that started exporting the products years ago and now is introducing it to Chileans.

The company has been working to bring seaweed to the spotlight as a health conscious option. The company sells dried flakes, rice and baking mixes using different seaweed that they harvest near the city of Copiapo in the north of Chile.

As an ingredient it’s been stable to diets in Asia, particularly in Japan, for centuries. Seaweed is high in proteins loaded with antioxidants and rich in vitamins. Plus it adds a sea inspired kick to your dish.

So with all the reasons to work seaweed into your diet the question then becomes how? The simplest I believe is working it into a salad. I have a small bottle of Ianna’ s dried and smoked Nori, which is the seaweed used to make sushi rolls, but in small flakes. For the rest of the salad I went with what I had on hand (on a Monday, when the cupboard always seems to be a bit bare).

This is what I worked out:

• 1 green onion – chopped
• ½ Green Bell Pepper – chopped
• 2 Cloves of Garlic – pressed
• 1 very ripe tomato
• 1 Tablespoon and a bit more of sesame seeds
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 100g of dried and smoked Nori

And of course for a dressing:

• 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• Fresh lemon juice
• Fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

To start heat a pan with a bit of olive oil throw in the onions and bell pepper, then garlic. Keep them moving cook only about a minute or two, so they are semi raw. Mix the liquids together plus the ginger then add the sautéed mix. Add a bit of salt.

Slice the tomatoes and use them as a base. Pour the tossed veggies mix on top, then add the Nori last so it stays crispy. Let it sit for a bit, the heat from the onion and pepper starts to drop after hitting the cool tomato. Makes for a tangy salad with the Nori giving it just a little hint of sea as it hits your mouth and a slight crunch.

One could compare it to beef jerky, although the consistency is much different. Beef jerky, like you will find at truck stops or gas stations across the US, is one piece of meat that is then dried at a high temperature, creating a crunchy, thicker meat stick. Chilean charqui on the other hand is dried in small pieces and then pressed into one large piece. The result is a flaky, moister, fibrous product. The scale of production is also very different. In the US jerky is an industry while most of the charqui in Chile is made on a smaller, artisan scale. It also smells quiet strong. No doubt it’s from an animal. All this together, the smell, the different consistency and the basic looking bag can make it a hard sell for someone who wasn’t raised with it.

But you don’t just have to rip off a chunk and gnaw on it. It can also be used as an ingredient in dishes. The most typical use is in charquican a dish that utilizes it in a stew with potatoes and other vegetables. But you can also fry it, which is what we did. This recipe yields a full dish, but it is also sold as an appetizer in a few, very country, restaurants in Chile.

We also based this recipe from Augusto Merino’s book “Cocina Chilena: Tradicional, Fina y Facil.”

Fried Charqui

• 200 grams of charqui
• 1 medium onion
• 4 good sized pear tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons of cooked corn
• 6 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon of hot sauce
• a bit of water
• some 6 boiled potatoes

-makes enough for 2-3 people

We made a trip to the supermarket to buy ingredients for this session, heading to Jumbo in the Santiago neighborhood of La Reina. There wasn’t much of a selection for Charqui, only one higher tier brand. Since it seemed about enough for two people, we only used 100gr of Charqui. With 200 you’d be fine for more but might want to up some of the amounts in the recipe.

Jumbo is a bit more expensive than the other supermarket chains, but they normally stock just about everything you might find in Chile. But strangely on this trip there were no pear tomatoes, nor cherry tomatoes, not even the smaller hydroponic tomatoes. Just the regular larga vida tomatoes, which in the supermarkets seem to lack flavor. So we bought some semi dry, dehydrated tomatoes that had been left to soak in olive oil, garlic and other good stuff. They are about the size of a large cherry tomato, and we sliced about 5 of them up.

Start by putting the charqui on an oven pan on high heat. Let it toast five minutes a side, to get it nice and crispy. Next you have to grind it down into small pieces, without making it a complete powder. Strum through the mix with your fingers and remove any particularly hard pieces that resist.

First start by frying the onions. We used olive oil here, instead of regular vegetable oil like Canola, and of course, added some garlic. Once the onions start to get translucent add the charqui. If you use olive oil they will start to brown much faster than canola. Then add a bit of water, keeping the mixture moist. Next the tomatoes, mixing it all for a minute or two. Then the corn. Make sure the mixture stays creamy, not too soupy or dry. The charqui, since it is dry, will quickly absorb the liquids. Also since it is salted, adding more salt won’t be necessary.

Put the mixture on a low heat and let it simmer for another 10 minutes to get the flavors well mixed. By this point you’ll want to have boiled the potatoes. Remove them, putting the charqui on the side. We also added a bit of butter, mixed with rosemary and garlic, to the potatoes. Rather than a hot sauce we chopped some fresh green chili and used it as a garnish. We then paired it with a carménère. The dish still had some of the texture of charqui, as well as the taste, but nicely packaged with the rest of the fixings, so it’s not too much. It’s a flavorful mix that goes well with the plain potatoes. Enjoy!

We’ll get into the fine details of what family of cucurbita it belongs to at some other point. For this post, it’s going to be called pumpkin even though it’s not that perfectly round jack-o-lantern friendly pumpkin sold in the US, which is a bit more watery and probably wouldn’t be the best option for this dish. The zapallo in Chile is a bit denser.

The following recipe we got from Augusto Merino, one of the foremost authorities on Chilean cooking and cuisine. Apart from a variety of books that detail in great length Chilean cooking traditions, history and food, he also writes for El Mercurio under the pen name of Ruperto De Nola. This particular dish came from “Cocina Chilena: Tradicional, Fina y Facil.”

Here is what it calls for:

For the Chicken:

• 2 Chicken breasts
• 1 medium sized onion
• 2 carrots
• 1 celery bud and some stalk
• 1 parsley sprig
• Salt, recently ground pepper

For the sauce:

• 1 spoonful (didn’t specify what size) of butter
• 1 spoonful of flour without baking powder
• 300 grams of pumpkin
• 2 to 3 tablespoons of chicken broth
• ½ a wine glass of milk or cream
• 50 grams, or a bit less of ground and peeled almond
• Salt, recently group pepper

For the ingredients we hit the local produce market, but were not able to find a “celery bud” so we just went with the stalk. Also it seems that due to dieziocho, Chile’s Independence Day, there is some sort of chicken breast shortage. Despite trips to two large supermarkets all we could get ahold of were chicken strips.

The chicken is boiled along with the vegetables. It leaves quite a bit of broth, so keep that in mind since you can use for other dishes later on. The recipe just calls for the breasts to be boiled, although it could be nice to brown them first a minute or two. There is also an ominous lack of garlic, which we added anyways later when cooking the sauce.

Boil the chicken with the vegetables, except for the pumpkin, until that bird is cooked all the way through. The pumpkin should be cut into pieces and boiled separately without salt. Try to have the pumpkin ready first since it is added to the sauce. Doesn’t take long, maybe 10-12 minutes. When the pumpkin is soft all the way through, it should be mashed or pureed in a food processor. Once you’ve finished with the puree, strain out the vegetables from the broth and put them aside. Maybe there is a local street dog that would like them?

In a frying pan melt the butter. We threw in some garlic at this point just because we love it. Next mix in the flour, stirring constantly. Keep the flame moderate and the mixing going to avoid burning the flour. Once that’s nice and bubbly start adding a spoonful or two of broth. Mix it well to avoid lumps. Next add the pumpkin. It should remain a bit thick, but due to the pumpkin not the flour. Then add the cream or milk on a low flame. If necessary cut it down a bit with more broth. Add salt and pepper, but be careful not to overwhelm the delicate pumpkin flavor with the salt, since the broth is already a bit salty alone.

Then remove the chicken from the broth, letting all the excess liquid drain. Cut it into smaller strips (which we didn’t do since it was already in strips). Put it on the serving plate and cover it with the sauce. Sprinkle the ground almond on top. Try to avoid using almond with the internal peel since it has a very strong flavor that will overwhelm the sauce.

We also cooked up a batch of rice to go along with it and recommend you do the same. We paired it with a bottle of Gewurztraminer. However, just as the food was going on the plate..the power went out across the country. Some 11 million people without electricity. Luckily the food was cooked and wine was chilled. Time for a candle lit dinner, which is great for the setting, but bad for photos. It also meant a bit of scrambling before sitting down to eat. So the food was good, but just a tad bit cold. But at least it was cooked and ready. Enjoy.

But it does offer a great opportunity to cook something warm and soothing. The sound of the raindrops this Saturday left me with an urge to eat something soupy and good. So I thought about some warm and tasty comfort food. Didn’t want a typical Chilean dish so instead I chose something that brings that warm fuzzy feeling from the past: Potato Chowder.

For the recipe I used this one off the Whole Foods website as a start:

Serves 4

Ingredients with an asterisk (*) are available in the Whole Foods Market Family of Brands.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter*
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon flour*
32 ounces vegetable broth*
2 1/2 cup diced Yukon Gold potatoes (about 4 large)
2 cups frozen yellow corn*
2/3 cup milk*
1 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese*
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper (garnish)
Chopped parsley (garnish)

Method

In a large saucepan over medium high heat, melt butter and sauté onion about 5 minutes, until tender. Mix in flour, coating the onion. Add broth and bring to a boil, whisking constantly until smooth. Reduce heat, add potatoes and simmer 20 minutes until tender. Slightly mash potatoes in soup, then stir in corn and milk. Cook another 5 minutes, remove from heat and stir in cheddar cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish, if desired.

Nutrition

Per serving (about 19oz/535g-wt.): 450 calories (210 from fat), 23g total fat, 13g saturated fat, 70mg cholesterol, 1200mg sodium, 47g total carbohydrate (4g dietary fiber, 6g sugar), 17g protein

There are always little details and changes that one must make when applying a US written recipe to Chilean ingredients and stores. Sometimes it’s due to the lack of one ingredient or the presence of something better.

In this case, slash those Yukon Gold potatoes and let’s go for something more Chilean. Now potatoes are native to South America, and while it is Peru that has a reputation for having maintained these indigenous potato roots, no pun intended, Chile also has some options.

The island of Chiloe is the potato capital of Chile. Chiloe is archipelago just off the coast of Puerto Montt. You have to take a ferry to get there (for now) so it has maintained its own unique character and style. It’s a must see when heading to the south of Chile. Not only is it worth a trip to Ancud or Castro, the more populated “urban” centers of the island. Definitely recommendable to take some of the smaller ferries through the nearly 30 bits of land that line the bay between the mainland and the largest island.

Back to the potatoes. There are several varieties that grow native to Chiloe, but a few of them have been the focus of research and “rescue” programs that look to maintain the age old tradition of cultivating potatoes in Chiloe. There is now an organization “Papas Nativas de Chiloe” (have a look at their website here) that not only foments the growing, but is also selling potatoes to larger retail outlets.

But finding native Chiloe papas in Santiago?  It’s a bit of a stretch to extend the “local” ingredient label to something grown over 1,000 Kms away. Luckily for us though there has been a bit of a push to see more of these native ingredients has come not just from the growers, but also from consumers that want more options when cooking at home. So we were able to find a few different varieties of Chiloe potatoes in Jumbo. Just a bit of background, Jumbo is the upscale, more expensive supermarket chain in Chile. Nevermind the elephant mascot, I agree that it is a bit weird, but it has a sweeping variety of products from all over. It even has a couple options of Cheddar Cheese. Just comes, of course, at a price.

So I went with the Clavela Lisa variety of Chiloe papa. It was described at the purchase point as a “creamy, smooth” variety. Perfect for chowder. Regardless I think that most of these potatoes will still have more flavor than your average mass market Yukon Gold in the US. The potatoes selected for sale in Chile are usually small, and this was no exception. However upon returning home I did realize that the basket appeared to have some of the Cabra variety mixed in as well. Just more flavor for the chowder.

One of these things is not like the other...

A couple of other changes to the original recipe:

GARLIC!! How could you make this without? I added one large garlic clove, also from Chiloe, where the garlic grows really big. It’s about the equivalent to 3 or 4 regular cloves.

For the onion I used a red onion. It was handy and I like the flavor better anyways.

As for the cheddar cheese, which can be a really chore to find in Chile, I used a brand of white cheddar called Biga. It’s got a better bite than the creamy, not-so-flavorful brand of imported cheddar that is distributed in Chile by Santa Rosa.

The recipe also missed one of the best garnishes for a chowder: BACON! I used a smoked variety and also threw in a bit of parsley to garnish as well.

Also worth a note, since the potatoes were quite small the peel stayed on. This also gives the chowder a big stronger of a potato flavor. Lastly I also substituted cream for milk. It was Saturday after all, time to indulge.

Enjoy and stay warm!

-Colin

Inevitable you’ll have one of those sandwich days. Maybe you’ve already hit as many restaurants as you can afford. Maybe you´re somewhere isolated or maybe it’s just the plain simplicity that makes a quick sandwich attractive.

The latter was the case on our last journey, this time near Lago Vichuquen, some 5 hours south of Santiago. We had the basics –which were the only things available in this rather remote corner of Chile: Tomatoes, bread, mayo, cucumbers, and one good sized Zucchini left over from the previous night’s BBQ.

We fried the zucchini, along with a health portion of garlic, about 5 minutes each side in extra virgin olive oil. Canola oil could also be used, but the lower burn point of olive oil helps give the zucchini a crispy outer layer. Make sure the garlic gets well-cooked for an added crunch as well.

Why zucchini? Zapallo Italiano is readily available in just about any minimarket or verluderia, and even in winter months when it is more expensive rarely pushes above 400 pesos for a good size. In general Chileans prefer large zucchini. IF you are looking for a smaller size, ask for zapallo arabe, although it is a bit harder to find outside of main produce markets.

Enjoy!