Sunday  July 20th – A riotous celebration of Colombian Independence Day

In deference to my very good friend and cooking partner Daniel (Colombian), we unknowingly celebrated Colombian Independence day on July 20th. I say unknowingly because the day was completely chosen at random. We had been speaking emphatically about cooking an entire meal of Central and South American inspired food. It was to come after pasta, seeing that we are both extremely influenced by Italian cooking (my nationality, Daniel’s passion and professional expertise) yet before a group of cold dishes that we hoped would give us relief from the oppressive heat of that wonderful July afternoon and the amplification that the kitchen so amiably added to it.

We selected a date at random, we sat down with friends; made a menu, and invited guests; only to realize when a very polite and amazingly gracious lady friend of ours came in gave us a big hug and exclaimed “Happy Independence Daniel!” Only for him to stare at her mouth agape and not being able to properly process what was said. Then to immediately try to play it off like it was planned and then to fail so miserably that he had started laughing so hard that he had to stop standing. History one of his best subjects, obviously.

Menu

Ceviche de Ostion
Muestra de Tortillas
Arepa Flor Pepiada de Pato
Ropa Vieja en Bloque
Empanada de Chocolate con Queso

Menu written with Daniel Castaño and Mark Low
Cooked with the gracious help of Daniel, Ashley LeBlanc and Nora Sherman (sorry if I was grump, it was the heat, I swear)

All photos by: Nora Sherman © 2008 www.noraleah.com

Ceviche de Ostion
Scallop Ceviche with heart of palm salad cilantro pesto (that ended up tasting amazing like avocado) and a poblano crema. The slight orange color of the scallops comes from some delightful and very inexpensive achiote chili, the unbelievable firmness of the avocado comes from their reluctance to get ripe even after many days in a brown paper bag, with me insulting them in three languages.

Muestra de Tortillas
This was a lovely trio of tortillas, with a butter poached lobster guacamole, a tomato caviar ceviche and a yucca and bacon sofritto with green mango glaze (that was made by Daniel’s grandmother for him to have on Colombian Independence day to think of home. Wow we felt terrible.)

Arepa Flor Pepiada de Pato
This in its normal form is a very traditional arepa served with stewed pulled chicken, sometimes potatoes and a couple of slices of avocado. We traded the chicken for duck and the avocados for avocados; Daniel made the areapas, I candied chilis and made them transparent. Salt roasted potatoes with just a little side dish in case you like potato on your pepiada, like that amazing little place on Havemeyer and the Williamsburg Bridge.

Ropa Vieja en Bloque
The structure and content of this can clearly be seen here. The meat was slowly braised with sweet and spicy chilis Cuban style, the plantains were fried, the cheese was not the melting kind and the crust, well the crust is really where the love went to in this dish. The crust on this is a caramelized shell of rice, which in Colombia is called pega (I am sure it has a different name in your Central or South American country that sounds similar) and it is the best type of rice preparation in the world. Sweet and crunchy, it made perfect foil for the softness of the stuffing. Eventually we doused this in a black bean sauce more cheese and a touch of crema but you will be left to imagine what that was like.

Empanada de Chocolate con Queso
These empanadas were the affectionate accomplishment of many nights spent listening to Ween. We stuffed them with fontina cheese and Mexican chocolate, which fought dangerous well in the savory dough. That battle spilled into your mouth with equal ferocity and was only tamed when dipped into the banana and sage custard.

A little guava sashimi for a soft texture on the palate and a touch of unadulterated sweetness and everyone was happy and full.