A few months ago my partner and I embarked on a Culinary performance called the Guerrilla Gourmet Van.

We created a lounge space in the back of his van; which is very spacious and then kidnapped a few people in the street and invited them inside, where I was sitting and served them a four course tasting menu for free. That was it.

We had so much pleasure  doing it that when I told him that in two weeks I would be in Madrid for Madrid Fusion (the culinary congress) he said he would be in Rome but would catch a flight to Spain and we would do it there. Sure enough, when I arrived at the airport with my girlfriend he was there with a rented van and proceeded to do the performance the same day I arrived. In this case, since I didn’t have a kitchen to cook I decided to do unusual presentations of classic Spanish dishes.

 Our first performance was in the Design District, we announced through a few of the social networks the location we were going to be in. The moment I posted it I received the first call asking exactly where I was, two minutes later the next one and so forth.

Oficial presentation of the first video: September 2nd. Stay tuned

 One of our first meals was near the airport in San Jose in what they call Sodas; simply a cheap buffet geared to locals and working people. It has the ever present Rice and beans, stewed meat ropa vieja style, fried chicken, fried fish (tilapia) some sort of chicken item, yuca, and other roots and cabbage and lettuce salad. Surprisingly this was one of our favorite spots; we were by all means going to avoid the “high end” cuisine of Costa Rica simply because I refuse to pay expensive meals for dishes that I can do better, or it’s simply not worth it. I want authentic local food, what the locals eat, the way they eat it. So this place was full of street workers, garbage removal personnel, nurses, you name it.

In the Pacific coast we hit various other Sodas and had the regular Casados which is one plate of rice, Beans, some protein wether it’s meat, fish or chicken and salad. Once or twice it’s ok but after a while I realized that there wern’t many other options. We started to get a little dissapointed, began cooking ourselves with great fresh fish caught on-the-spot and that was nice but not what I was looking for.

Even more frustrating was to find that there was an inmense lack of fresh produce. We were going a little crazy and really wondering how come people don’t plant, with such soil and great weather how come I can’t seem to find veggie gardens everywhere.

Eventually we found after a while, after many misses in the Atlantic The dish that should be rpinted in their $1,000 colones bills or maybe even be the center of the Costa Rican flag. The Dish: the piquant, seafood and coconut stew that blew me and my son’s mind; or tastebuds rather.

Rondon (from Round down)

A heavily Caribbean-influenced stew that reminisced of Cocina Bahiana, food from Bahia, Brazil. It was all that the book said and more. We had our first one at a place called Maxi’s close to Punta Uva, we were served a huge bowl of it with pieces of crab, fish, root vegetables and a thick coconut soup base, spicy and pungeant. Outstanding!

This was my best find in Costa Rica, other than the glorious fresh tropical fruits like a long pod called by them Guava (nothing to do with the Guava we know in the US) the fresh Cocoa pod (which has been my favorite fruit for years) the rest of the Tico food was quite disappointing. The Rondon did it and made up for everything else.

Tico breakfast

GUAVA, THE FUKIN WEIRD POD....

The produce we picked was ok, not amazing, but good enough; at this time of the year with the scorching  heat of the summer and rains it is not expected to have the best produce. (My veggie garden is resting until next planting season) So for that matter some of the items are brought in from other suppliers. The selection was good though, they also carry eggs, milk, goat milk and the best part; the share of the cow. I didn’t ask much about how it works but it is quite gratyfing for my friend’s family to have access to in-your-face organic beef.

I am not sure how many of these co-ops are in the Miami area but I have a feeling they are defenitely flourishing all around and that is a good thing.

Gaucho Ranch

I endorse these amazing cuts from Uruguay. If you live in Miami or NY you can have access to them. They are probably the most natural products in the market. Give them a try. I have created some recipes that can go well with them. Enjoy!

Here I have a few suggestions for alternative preparations that can be used with these lovely cuts of beef

GRILLED GRASS-FED RIBEYE STEAKS WITH CHARRED TOMATOES AND BLUE CHEESE

Ingredients for 4 people

4 Large beefsteak tomatoes

Olive Oil

Rosemary sprigs

1 medium Red Onion

8 oz of crumbled Blue Cheese 

Cut the tomatoes and in half horizontally, place in a sheet pan score them on the open flesh side, cut the red onion on wedges and drizzle both of  them with olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Sprinkle with rosemary leaves and let sit for one hour. Light the grill with real charcoal  and place the tomatoes flesh side down first on a medium to high heat grill. Sear them for about eight minutes. Place the onions and cook until tender on both sides. Turn the tomatoes and cook an additional ten minutes or until they are very tender and watery. Place the onions, tomatoes in a bowl and toss, adding a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and adjusting seasoning. Serve next to the grilled ribyes and sprinkle with Blue cheese.

PAIR WITH: Brunello di Montalcino, California Cab or a slightly chilled Oregon Pinot Noir

KOREAN STYLE BARBECUE SHORT RIBS

1 6-8lbs piece of Grass-Fed  Short Rib

1  1/3 cups of Sweet Soy Sauce Base (recipe follows)

1 grated apple (with skin)

2 T garlic minced

1 cup minced scallions

4 T dark sesame oil

Pinch ground Black pepper

Sweet Soy Sauce Base

1/2 cup water

4 garlic cloves minced

6 thin slices of fresh ginger

1 T ground black pepper

1 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup red wine

Divide the meat in the desired size  portions and place the ribs in a ziplock bag. Combine all ingredients for the marinade in a bowl and pour inside the ziplock bag. Close the bag releasing all air from the bag. Refrigerate for 5 hours or evernight. Turn on charcoal grill and remove the meat at least 20 minutes prior to grilling.

Place the marinade in a sauce pan, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Place the ribs on the grill and with a brush baste the meat with the marinade. Cook to your liking basting the ribs with the reduced marinade on both sides.

PAIR WITH: A california Zinfandel or maybe an Austrian Zweigelt?

PICO DE GALLO

This is a classic mexican salsa, a  relish that works well with grilled entraña or skirt steak.

* 6 medium Tomatoes diced
* 1 medium Onion diced
* 1/4 cup fresh Cilantro chopped.
* 2 to 4 Fresh serrano or jalapeño seeded and minced
* 2 garlic cloves minced * Salt to taste

Put all ingredients in a bowl add 1/2 cup of cold water, mix well. Let set a few minutes. You will find a lot of recipes in this site, where we can use the pico de gallo for cooking and a garnish.

PAIR WITH: Cerveza mejicana!! Dos Equis, Negra Modelo, Corona!!

My visit to the Kushi Institute was fascinating!

I actually remember the first time I have been exposed to macrobiotic cuisine when I was 7 years old; my parents had distant relatives come for dinner and they brought their own food. Coming from Meat-driven Argentina, charred juicy slabs of beef on the grill was my perfect and normal dinner fare. These relatives seemed as if they were floating in the air and they were speaking about the percentages of grains, beans etc. To me it was all plain WEIRD!

Fast forward a few decades and my exposure to vegetarian cuisine came in stints of either mystical periods of introspection and meditation or simply living in surroundings that leaned towards the consumption of more vegetables and grains, like the year I spend living in Tepoztlan, Mexico. The result of this lifestyle yielded a much better ME, much lighter, my body leaner, more energy and all the statements that these doctrines preach do happen to be true.

The Kushi Institute is located in the small town of Beckett, Massachussets; in an old building up in a hill, surrounded by 600 acres of lush forests, lovely at this time of the year, with flowers blooming, bees and butterflies all over the place. The  hundered year-old building use to be a hunting lodge and previously a monastery and it has all the vibe about it. What a sequence right? Monastery turned Hunting lodge turned Macrobiotic center; what should be next? Skin-head headquarters?

I took a seminar called “Mini Way to Health” and it is basically a three day intensive course that gives you an overview of what Macrobiotic is.  We had a few classes on nutrition, healing foods and basically lots of explanations of what foods are beneficial to our bodies and which ones are absolutely detrimental. It actually re-shifted my perspective of my personal eating habits and of course, all my culinary tendencies. It was actually disturbing the first days, I was sharing the class with 11 other students and because we would eat there three meals a day: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner by the second day everybody had a headache from cleaning the toxins in our body. Sort of when you do a fast but actually we were eating heaping amounts of food.

I was forced to quit coffee cold turkey; (I was only having six cups a day before) and replace it for this Roasted Barley Tea that initially was bland and boring OR I could have Kukicha; (Tea-Twig Tea); both options were quite un-inspiring for me but I have a strong will power and I simply just dove into the lifestyle and surrender to the experience.

I must say that after the first day; headache and all, I knew I was up to something good, so I continued and rode the wave of Macrobiotic lectures. The compoanions I had were varied and great, mostly new England people even though in other classes (other levels and other courses were studying on-campus) I saw quite a few Japanese people to my surprise. All the way here?

The food was really interesting, very plain and uncomplicated but nourishing. The food is very complicated for me to just explain in a few words but the approach to it revolves around whole grains, beans, vegetables, pickles, condiments, sea vegetables and seaweeds, all in adequate proportions and quantities. For breakfast one day we had Miso soup, Collard Greens, Brown Rice and Tea, talk about a radical change from my Double Espresso Cappucino with a Pain Au Chocolat!    Some lunches consisted of Nishime (long cooked vegetables) Grated Rutabaga (I ate more Rutabaga in three days than I did in my past five years) Pickles, Millet with Cauliflower, Steamed Kale and Collard Greens and a Pressed Salad; and tea of course, which by now I  loved my Roasted Barley Tea.    One breakfast we had Oatmeal with a sweet and dark pudding-like mixture of Apples and Pears, Tea and something else I forget.    The last day we had a Brunch which was at this point mind-blowing because we were served Whole Wheat Pancakes with Brown Rice Syrup, Coffee!! actually Grain Coffee which I believe it is ground Roasted Barley that actually tastes very similar to a light American coffee but with a great aroma and none of the after effects of real coffee. Great alternative of people that want to quit or cut down a bit.

On my last day I had a private consultation one-on-one with a Counselor that after reviewing my health questionnaire I supplied, looked at my hand and gave me a few guidelines on foods I should have and other ones I should avoind according to my condition.    This also was very interesting and ever since I started at Kushi and now back in Miami I have been keeping up with my Macrobiotic diet. I shed-off a few pounds and I introduced our new approach to eating to my 12 year old and my 15 year old which to my surprise was very well accepted (especially by my cow-eating son)

I really enjoyed the experience,  it rooted me to a way of eating that made me feel centered, balanced and nourished. It was amazing to think of all the detrimental effects of White Flour, White Sugar and Dairy. For me that came from a culture that feasts on Cheese and eggs, red meats, roasted pork, lamb, anything that crawls goes to the grill kind of thing. now I am re-thinking everything again. I personally don’t think I will quit eating or preparing meats (especially for my birthday tomorrow) but I will certainly be more aware and will cut down quite a bit. I suspect that this experience will definitely affect my cooking style towards a much lighter fare. I highly recommend macrobiotic cuisine, especially for curing any condition. Thank you Kushi Institute and thanks to my lovely Clients that sponsored my visit and my lavish stay at Canyon Ranch in Lennox Massachusetts.

Madrid Fusion 2010 emphasized on Sustainability and Eco-diversity pretty much the current global culinary trends. What seemed fascinating was how much creativity has emerged from chefs limiting themselves to really shopping locally or growing their own products.

Some, loyal to their dogma and by having had a bad winter that ruined their crops for example, pushed the limits of creativity cooking with just whatever ingredient were around.

Such is the example of Rene Redzepi; fascinating chef, showing a keen sensibility of products, flavors and textures who presented between many others, a dish with Sea Urchins, Frozen Fatty Milk Sorbet Pickled Cucumber and Burnt Cucumber Skin or Miguel Angel De La Cruz which gave a mind-blowing demo featuring Pine Cones, Pine Nuts, all its by-products and all the amazing resources and ways of utilizing them; he presented between other dishes one of a Black Pudding Cappuccino with Pine Nut Cream, Infusion of Toasted Bread and Crumbled Pine nuts with Bee Polen.

The Orient and glimpses of Asian Cuisine had it’s place on the first day featuring demos from Malaysian-born Cheong Liew, Frenchman William Ledeuil and Dutch Chef Schilo Van Coevorden; all of them with different approaches to Asian Ingredients. The first one with his Clean Fusion demonstrated a method he calls Red Roasting; which is basically marinating and searing fish on high heat and slowly finishing at very low heat. Ledeuil focused on cooking A La Plancha; he used lots of pickled vegetables, broths, some French ingredients and a delicate approach to using almost no salt. The Dutchman had an approach of how to “resolve Asian-style” in his Hotel situation.

On following days a few other demonstrations stood up such as Thierry Marx which gave a somewhat Street Food theme to a rather very technical demonstration in which he featured Steamed Cookies, Gelification and Centrifugation. New Zealand-born Ben Shewry featured a dish of Potatoes cooked in its own soil and some other ones he serves at his small restaurant close to Melbourne, Australia in which he as well featured a deep respect for the earth and all its ingredients and animals. The same attributes applied to Yoshihiro Narisawa; this Japanese Chef which gave a demonstration that was impressive but iffy at times. He focused also on local ingredients and nature. He showed how he uses ground wood from the forests as substitution for flower in cooking and I must say that the cookie that had more than 20 types of wood in it, that was given to us at the end was quite tasty and amazing. He also showed the use of charcoal and ash and strips of raw wood to cure kobe beef.

Other demonstrations that were very inspiring were the ones by the Father-Daughter Arzak team in which they illustrated tension in two sauces achieved by two different densities in liquids. Michel Troisgros gave a lovely demo on uses of Caviar; fresh and pressed; Jason Atherton spoke about his restaurant operation in London and showed a couple of brilliant dishes using again, mostly local ingredients and paying homage to his native England; Andoni Luiz Aduriz revived the very old Latin American process of Nixtamalizacion or simply using Lime to alter the pectins of vegetables and later cooking them to achieve a chewey skin and a soft center to them. Finally Jose Andres shone with a rather State of the Nation speech; mostly about his vision of the business, his restaurant and demonstrated some clever dishes such as one called Maiz Maiz Maiz.

There were some flops and odd moments and some featured themes that simply did not deliver anything. Sometimes the organization wasn’t the best; but the Spanish vibe, the good food, the plenty of Jamon Iberico, the wine, las cañas, and the lovely atmosphere made up for it and made it absolutely worthwile.

The  book which is used at The French Culinary Institute as a textbook features a handful of contributors such as Bobby Flay, Dan Barber and Wylie Dufresne to name a few has been awarded Best Cookbook of The Year from a Professional Point of View by The James Beard Foundation 2008.

Needless to say, it has been an honor to be a part of it!

Classes will be held Saturday from 5.00 pm until 7.30 pm 
followed by dinner and wine.
Cost $60 per class includes ingredients.

 Dates: Saturdays August 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th

Four classes will improve your basic skills and suprisingly widen your repertoire