Our Argentinean Meal
Our 7th international meal was from Argentina. The song “Don’t Cry for me Argentina” was going through my head all week! The meal was Roasted Acorn Squash Salad with Arugula and Chevre, Beef Empanadas, Chimichurri Dipping Sauce, Pastel de Papa con Elote (Potato and Corn Pie/Casserole), and Crepes with Dulce de Leche. We liked everything and plan to make them all again.
Making the empanadas was fun. We made the empanada dough, rolled it out, cut out little circles, spooned on the beef filling, folded them over and crimped the edge. There is a special way to the crimp the edges called repulgue. Rob is much better at this than I am. Another thing to add to his resume.
While preparing dinner we drank Yerbamate tea, an herbal tea from South America. We found it at our local Market District. It is made from the leaves and twigs of the Llex Paraguariensis plant (related to the holly plant). It is traditionally shared among friends who drink it from a shared gourd.
The potato corn casserole was mashed potatoes with very buttery creamed corn on top. Yum. The Dulce de Leche – so good it is EVIL. It was made by simmering a can of sweetened condensed milk for 3 hours. That’s it. After 3 hours it was this milky, sweet caramel sauce. I could have eaten the whole can. But I didn’t so there is still some in our fridge calling my name. The Dulce de Leche was delicious on the crepes. I’ve never made crepes before so this was fun to learn too. We also tried two different Argentinian wines with dinner.
About Argentina
Argentina is known as the Birthplace of Tango. It originated in the working-class neighborhoods of Buenos Aires in the late 19th century.
The Perito Moreno Glacier is on the southern tip of Argentina in Los Glaciares National Park. It looks beautiful! It is one of the few glaciers in the world that is still advancing.
Argentineans have a tradition where friends gather together in parks and plazas to share a drink called Mate. Mate is made from the leaves of the yerba mate plant and has high levels of caffeine. Mate is drank from Mate gourds that are traditionally made from calabash gourds. The friends sit in a circle, pass around the Mate gourd and socialize. Sharing Mate is a symbol of friendship and camaraderie.
In addition to the mainland, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (this last being contested by the United Kingdom).
Our Dream Argentinean Vacation
Argentina has some beautiful sites we hope to visit such as Iguazú Falls in the northeastern corner of Argentina. It consists of 275 individual falls, some of which create misty rainbows. We would also like to hike the rainforest in the surrounding national park.
We want to go stargazing at the Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito or European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in the Andes Mountains. The high altitude allows for excellent stargazing. While in the Andes Mountains we would visit the town of Bariloche that is famous for it’s chocolate and gnomes. Gnomes are scattered in parks and gardens and legend says these gnomes watch over Bariloche and guard the forest.
We’d visit the Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio in Trelew to see some of Argentina’s large collection of dinosaur fossils. There have been numerous discoveries in Patagonia including the massive Argentinosaurus that is one of the largest land animals to have ever lived.
We’d go to Buenos Aires to see the beautiful architecture, dine, checkout the nightlife, and go to a dinner show with includes a Tango performance. In the mornings we would drink coffee in some of Buenos Aires historic cafés, such as Café Tortoni and Café La Biela and learn about the poets, intellectuals, and artists that frequented these cafes.
What about you?
Please post your comments below. We love hearing other’s experiences and thoughts!
Do you have a favorite meal, recipe or drink from Argentina?
Do you have a favorite place that serves food from Argentina?
Are you from Argentina or have you ever visited?
Armenia is Up Next!
Do you have a favorite meal, recipe or drink from Armenia?
Photos
- Manticora87, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Shutterstock
- Tabetabe, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- McKay Savage, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Egarabet, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Hiroki Ogawa, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Gastón Cuello, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Bleff, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
References
Britannica, Country Reports, Geography Now, Global Table Adventures, The Travel Book, shutterstock and Wikipedia.
