Wine In My Kitchen: Cooking and Reading Everyday

By Karen Tripson

BBQ Latino Style

Sources and recipes for Corn Pancakes and Dulce de Leche.

Latin American flavors are stylish these days as seen in cookbooks from restaurants like Nuevo Latino by Douglas Rodriquez, chef / owner of Patria and Bistro Latino by Rafael Palomino, chef / owner of Bistro Latino and Sonora in NYC. These are only two examples of exuberant Latin style that are getting well-deserved attention. Everyone enjoying the latest wave of popularity owes a debt to Felipe Rojas-Lombardi who set a high standard for Latin cuisine in the 1980s with his career, his restaurant, The Ballroom, and his fabulous book The Art of South American Cooking. Although he died some years ago, the book is alive and well, continuing his mission with this cuisine built of many cultures. That is the title to own if you can bear to only have one book on Latin America cooking.

Gourmet Magazine featured a Latin American BBQ menu that inspired me to put on my party shoes and invite my most fun friends to come over immediately. I wanted arepas (corn pancakes) and rum dulce de leche (caramel-like sauce) at every meal for days afterwards. Not only were these two items a sensation with everyone who ate them-they are easy on the host. The arepas substitute for potatoes or rice and can be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen to be reheated at mealtime. Dulce de leche is nothing but sweetened condensed milk, which cooks all by itself in the oven for an hour and a half before whipping in a little rum and vanilla. The flavor from the rum the first day is the punchiest, but the sauce is good for days afterwards on fresh fruit, ice cream or anything. Sorry to say, these recipes aren't on the epicurious web site yet.

Grill any fish, fowl or meat you prefer. Do serve a bright green, vinegary chimichurri sauce (similar to parsley vinaigrette) with whatever you grill to impart a Latin edge. Gourmet Magazine suggests grilled pineapple slices with super-premium vanilla ice cream and dulce de leche for dessert. I say that for the last hurrah of summer you need not look any further for a dessert recipe.

Try a Chilean or Argentinean wine you have never had before to complete this adventure. Have you tried Norton Malbec?

Here's a link to more recipes from Kate's Global Kitchen, featuring Latin American specialties.

Corn Pancakes
Gourmet Magazine August 1999
5 ears of corn
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 pound fresh mozzarella
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1-1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
about 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Cut enough kernels from cobs to measure 2 1/2 cups. In a food processor pulse corn until coarsely chopped and slightly wet. Melt butter and cool. In a bowl whisk together butter, eggs, and milk. Coarsely grate mozzarella and in a large bowl stir together with corn, flour, cornmeal, salt and pepper. Whisk in egg mixture until combined.

In a 12-inch nonstick skillet heat 1-tablespoon oil over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches, drop 1/8-cup measures of batter into skillet to form pancakes about 2 inches in diameter (do not spread or flatten pancakes) and cook until edges begin to set and undersides are golden brown, about 1-1/2 minutes. Flip pancakes and cook until undersides are golden brown and pancakes are cooked through. Add more oil to skillet as necessary between batches. Pancakes may be made one day ahead and chilled, covered. Reheat pancakes in middle of a 350 degree F oven until hot, about 15 minutes. Makes about 30 pancakes, serving 8.

Rum Dulce de Leche
Gourmet Magazine August 1999
Two 14-ounce cans sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup dark rum
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Pour condensed milk into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate and cover with foil. Put pie plate in a roasting pan and add enough hot water to pan to reach halfway up side of pie plate. Bake milk in middle of oven until thick and golden, about 1-1/2 hours. Carefully remove pie plate from pan and cool completely.

Add remaining ingredients to milk and whisk until smooth. Sauce may be made two days ahead and chilled, covered. Makes about 2 cups.