While visiting Barcelona a few years ago I ate a sweet and savory cauliflower tapas that left me happily traumatized.  I now make this dish when I want a taste of Spain or to remember an afternoon with Gaudi and visiting the amazing  Picasso museum in Barcelona.  I dream of  going back to Spain with my son and have him sample both the art and food of this region.  It is so true when Latinos coming back from Spain say "que bien se c...

Olives in the raw are bitter, mostly inedible and not much to look at.  But cured olives are savory, rich tasting and full of color.  I remember growing up in Peru, my grandfather Pepe a man of the land and an amazing cook, would bring home sacks of dry black olives that he would cure and integrate into different dishes. A black olive and onion salsa was one of his recipes and a home staple that we served with bread, over rice and...

Al ajillo is basically a potent garlic sauce used in some tapas dishes.  Artichokes or alcachofas al ajillo is a common savory dish that you may find in a traditional tapas menu.  You will probably always find gambas al ajillo (shrimp in garlic sauce).  Whether veggies or shrimp, it is always covered in a delectable garlic sauce. As I made this dish I remembered how back in Peru you can buy freshly chucked artichoke hearts at any...

We were in Paris last week and I was reminded by how the French prepare vegetables that are simple and beautiful.  These vibrant and opinionated people (whom I love by the way) seem  to effortlessly throw raw or cooked veggies on a plate with a bit of a sauce and voila!  Lunch or dinner is served!   These radishes looked so rich and crispy on the produce shelf that I whisked them up right away to create a French style roasted sa...

Lucuma ice cream was my  favorite as a child living in Peru.  And mango everything was everyone's favorite.  I was shopping at a different Whole Foods in the suburbs of Boston last week and I came across lucuma powder.  I was skeptical at first but I bought it anyways.  It was pricey at about $14 a bag but I couldn't resist hoping for a taste of my childhood.  Thankfully I wasn't disappointed.  Lucuma is a tropical fruit nat...

Dulce de leche was one of my favorite desserts growing up in Peru, although there we called it manjar blanco or white delicacy.  There are actually different types of dulce de leche and they come in a range of  shades from white to deep brown depending mostly on how long you cook it. Dulce de leche is really nothing more than milk and sugar cooked for a long time with thickener added.  But the invention of condensed milk was revo...

Gabriel's school had an intercultural event and I thought arroz verde would be a perfect dish to make. Arroz verde is a typical Peruvian dish that is eaten as a side dish or as a second plate with something else. I can imagine few dishes as second plates in contemporary home life, although if you go to Lima today arroz verde is served as a second dish in the traditional sense of the word. My mother makes arroz verde with a third ...

My day just flew by and I missed the afternoon light that I wanted to photograph these peppers  (I am beginning to learn how to photograph and style my dishes finally). Then my toddler woke up from his nap and I had to shoot around him, trying to follow the light with my lens while running around with my tripod avoiding his little hands from catching the metal legs.  In the end I ended up with a Caravaggesque still life and then a...

While living in Buenos Aires I was always amazed by the beautiful tarts or "tartas" that you could buy in most restaurants and as quick to go meals on the cheap.  I realized that it was just as quick and as inexpensive to make my own tarte and with a variety of vegetables.  The most popular tartes are made with spinach or collard greens and they are traditionally made with eggs, dairy and breading.  I replaced the last three  ingred...