Cook like an Argentine Chef with Martin Moroni
2 tasty recipes you can try at home
Argentina is well known for its red wine and steak however there’s much more to its culinary offerings than just those two staple ingredients.
Are you thinking of coming to see Argentina for yourself and wish to find out what the food is like before you come? Or perhaps you’ve already been and wish to remind yourselves of all the good times you had when you were here? Well The Outdoor Vibe have teamed up with our friend and top Argentine chef, Martin Moroni, to give you 2 typically Argentine recipes for you to try at home for yourself!
Martin is a gifted chef known for his outdoor cooking skills, especially with lamb and seafood. Hailing from the Valdes Peninsula, you’ll be lucky enough to try some of Martin’s cooking for yourself if you ever join us on a Natural Adventure trip to the Peninsula to whale watch, snorkel with seals or enjoy some paddle boarding.
Without further adieu, here’s Martin’s top 2 easy Argentine dishes for you to try for yourself:
Empanadas
Tasty savoury or sweet pastries, the typical Argentine flavours include meat, chicken or ham and cheese but there’s no reason why you can’t get creative! The Outdoor Vibe team’s personal favourite is a sweet Apple & Custard empanada for dessert. Argentine Empanadas vary from region to region so Martin’s recipe takes the best of these varieties and amalgamates them into his own tasty dish.
What you’ll need (20 empanadas):
Pastry
3 cups all purpose flour
150g thin pork fat
1 egg, lightly beaten
100ml salted water
Filling
1.2kg beef loin cut, diced to roughly 8mm
1.2kg boiled potatoes, diced to roughly 8mm
1kg of onion julienne
200g of green onions cut into circles
1 red pepper
100g thin pork fat
½ teaspoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of sweet paprika
½ teaspoon of white pepper
1.5 teaspoons of sea salt
Instructions:
For the pastry
Form a dough with flour, fat and egg, gradually add water until the dough is rather soft.
Knead until smooth and elastic, allowing it to stand without contact with the air, for at least 30 mins.
Separate into rolls 40/50g, using a rolling pin, stretch out the rolls into 3 mm thick discs. Cover once again until you’re ready to use them.
For the filling
In a large pot, preferably cast iron, place the fat to melt and add cumin, paprika and pepper.
When spices lose their aromas, add the common onion, peppers and half the sea salt. Cook at low temperature stirring until onion is very sweet. (Approx 15 min.)
Then add meat, potato and scallion. When cooked remove from heat and add the remaining salt.
Mix everything together and place in the refrigerator.
For assembly
Hold up a disc of dough, moisten the edges with water, place one scoop of the filling in the centre and starting with a pinch form a tip at one end, then run along the outside pressing the two edges of the dough together trying not to leave air inside.
Repeat for 20 dough discs.
To cook
In a large pot, preferably cast iron, place 2 kilos of fine lard or two litres of good quality oil. Fat frying is much better. You can use a mixture of oil and fat if you wish.
When the fat reaches 200 C place the empanadas into the fat in batches of no more than 4. Remove when golden brown in 2-3 mins time.
Serve with spicy tomato-based sauce and striped peppers.
Locro
A tasty meat and veg winter stew that warms the cockles on a cold winter’s night! It’s not eaten every day but instead used as a great excuse to get the family all together. It’s best cooked over 2 days so don’t rush it!
What you’ll need (serves 10 people):
Locro
4 pig’s trotters
4 split ears of pork
2 kg chopped pork ribs
300 g of salted bacon cut into lardons
200 g of chopped onion
2 Creole squashes
600 g of dry white corn
1 bottle of canned tomatoes
1 thinly sliced white cabbage
½ clove garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
5 dried bay leaves
200 g of sea salt
100 cc of wine vinegar
Sauce
300 g green onion cut into circles
50 g dry hot chilli pepper (hot paprika)
100 g of fine pork fat
Instructions:
The first day
In a bowl put plenty of unsalted water and split white corn. Leave in the refrigerator overnight.
In another bowl put 3 litres of water with 150 g of salt, ears, trotters and ribs of pork. Leave in the refrigerator overnight.
The second day
Turn on the oven and cook the whole pumpkin until tender on all sides (Approx 45 min).
Boil the white corn in a pot with fresh water without salt until tender (Approx 1 hr).
Clean the pumpkin of their husks and seeds, dice the pumpkin into 1.5 cm sided cubes.
Drain white corn and put to one side.
In a large, thick pot, preferably of clay, brown the trotters, ears, pork ribs and the salted bacon.
Add the seeds of fennel, cumin, paprika, bay leaf and pepper. Brown until they give off their aromas. In the same pot add the onion, garlic and cabbage, cook until the vegetables soften (Approx 40 min).
Add some of the canned tomatoes to give moisture.
Add the cubes of pumpkin and white corn. Cook until all is amalgamated (Approx 1 hr).
For the sauce
Heat the fat in a pan and add the green onion and the paprika. Cook for 3 minutes and place to the side.
To serve
Preheat individual clay bowls in the oven then serve with a spoonful of sauce on top. Locro is normally accompanied with fresh bread.
