Last week it was Italian food. This week, it's Latin American. This spans a huge range of cuisines, of course — from foods simply inspired by New World ingredients to authentic dishes from Mexico to Chile. What's your favorite region of Latin American food, and what's your favorite Latin dish?
During September we're focusing on Quick Weeknight Meals — easy suppers for your busy autumn nights. But as we do this we wanted to take a few weeks and focus on some of our favorite cuisines. Latin American is of course a vast source of inspiration for those of us here in the United States (and abroad). There are so many ingredients (beans, peppers, squash, sweet potatoes) that were found here in the New World, and Latin American cooking offer fresh inspiration for these native foods.
What are your favorite Latin American dishes and regions? Do you mostly cook the adapted version of Mexican (Tex-Mex) found in the United States? Do you like Argentinean food, or Guatemalan, or Honduran? Tell us, and also tell us if there are favorite dishes you return to week after week.
Pictured Above:
• Recipe: Goat Tacos (Or Delicious Roasted Goat for Any Occasion)
• Smoky Summer Recipe: Grilled Guacamole
Related: Italian Week: What Is Your Favorite Pasta Recipe?
(Images: Elizabeth Passarella; Faith Durand)
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Mole, avocados, pork or tongue tacos and tres leches cake!
mexican for savoury, alfajores for dessert!
I can always go for a carnitas torta, a good jalea, or ceviche. But, half my family is Chilean so I can never get enough empanadas Chilenas or pastel de choclo.
Ceviche! I just made empanadas for the first time ever. They were a huge hit.
I adore Latin food. What I enjoy is that there are so many different flavors/textures in any one dish: spicy, creamy, crunchy-never allowing your taste buds to get bored. Looking forward to the week ahead.
Oh, how could I forget papusas?!
Fried ripe plantains! & rice & beans
I could not be more excited for Latin Food week. I tend toward Tex Mex (being from Texas, that's what I know best), but I haven't met a latin meal that I didn't like yet! I can't even begin to pick a favorite.
I adore Latin Food, having latin roots I'm partial to the dishes that I was exposed to during my youth. But I adore Spanish Tapas and authentic Mexican cuisine. I just made my first posole of the season this weekend, and I can turn just about anything into an empanada.
chili rellenos con queso!
Mexican hands down!!!
For a great recipe for Chilaqiles, see the text in my AT kitchen tour:
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/kitchen-tours/kitchen-tour-franks-114250
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/kitchen-tours/kitchen-tour-franks-114250
My Momma's black beans & rice! Yum yum
Tortilla soup, with proper queso fresco, avocado, freshly fried tortilla strips, and lots of lime and cilantro. Yum.
Lately I've been craving arepas with black beans, queso guayanes, and sour cream. Mmmmmm!
I could go with any number of complicated dishes, but it always comes back to the rice, orange rice. Yes, I know it's called something different, but growing up that's what we always called it. My mom's side of the family is Mexican and I use the recipe she passed down to me. It's very simple and so very good!
Chicken enchiladas with homemade tomatillo sauce
Being a chilean myself, I just love the taste of a cazuela (potatoes, meat, corn and pumpkin, all in their soup). We are celebrating our 200th indepence anniversary, so more reasons to feast with :)
Chips and salsa!!! Guacamole! Fried plantains! Fish tacos!
Is it trite to say tamales? I really love GOOD ones.
Mole! Al Pastor anything! Ropa vieja! Anything with cherimoyas! Homemade horchata. There is more, seeing as I love Mexican foodage a LOT.
being 1/2 panamanian latin food will always have a special place in my heart, esp. the foods with a caribbean vibe. rice and peas/beans (we use coconut milk and black eyed peas or pigeon peas in our version), stewed meats, frituras (empanadas and carimañolas)...god i'm hungry. but i also love a good old-fashioned pernil (roast pork). there goes my diet...
omg ephratb - arepas with queso guayanes! i wish it was easier to find venezuelan cheeses, i would die for some queso de mano. venezuelans know how to rock it, i have yet to find someone who doesn't like arepas. you can find a lot of what you need here, but as far as the traditional dairy, the old-school traditional arepa (arepa pelá!), my grandpa's salt goat...gotta make the trip back home.
Chilean Sopaipillas! There's nothing better than sopaipillas when it's cool and raining outside. Makes me think of abuela and Santiago in the fall. Mmmm...:)
Peruvian cuisine!! causa rellea, arroz con pollo (cooked with cilantro), ceviche, aji de gallina, lomo saltado, anticuchos, papa a la huancaina, ocopa, aguadito de pollo, lamb stew (cooked with cilantro), etc, etc, etc.
I just can't go past some great Fajitas. All the way over here in Australia it's so difficult to come by great Mexican food, but as luck would have it a small Mexican grocer has opened down the road. They provide me with everything I need to make my own soft corn tortillas (most people here don't even know they exist) and has a host of authentic Mexican recipes for us to try, including a more authentic Fajita recipe than the Tex Mex version, which supposedly is different in that it contains soy sauce?
costa rican cooking -- although of course i am biased.
fried queso fresco
platanos maduros
properly made thick corn tortillas
soft black beans made with tomatoes, onion, cilantro
I'm obsessed with Patacones - Venezuelan sandwiches that, rather than bread, use patties made of fried green plantains. I go for the queso variety, since I don't eat meat - fried queso blanco with lettuce, tomato, sauce. There's an awesome place near me that sells patacones, arepas, yoyos (like patacones but made with yellow plantains) and other sandwiches. All mindblowingly good.
enchiladas!
Two favorite Latin dishes.
1 - Chile en Nogada (from a particular restaurant here in NYC). It's a roasted poblano pepper stuffed with pork, raisins, dried apricots, some other things and topped with a walnut sauce. It's crack.
2 - Huaraches. I've only "discovered" the joy that is an huarache in the last year or so, but I love them. Just simple comfort food. Hmm, I think I know what I'm making for dinner this week.
pico de gallo. i could eat it on anything and everything. seriously. maybe even ice cream...
tacos al pastor!!!
Hard to decide on just one....this is my absolute favorite cuisine.
I think my most favorite are chicken mole and tamales.
Bean and cheese pupusas with guac and salsa. Oh man, I'm hungry!
Empanadas made by my former neigbor Ivania. I'm so glad she still lives close so I can enjoy the amazing crunch and flavors from those beautiful fried pastry pillows.
Being originally from Miami, I would have to say Cuban food.
I've since moved to Charlotte and I miss the masas de puercos, the vaca frita, cuban bread...OH, AND THE PASTELITOS.
I miss my guava and cheese pastelitos. :(
I like Brazilian, Argentinian and Cuban food.
But hands down, my favorite Latin American dish is green chorizo-- I've only ever had it at Nopalito, but based on a Diana Kennedy recipe I cobbled together a pretty good version a few months ago + hope to try again this week. Bu I would LOVE to find more places to eat it out... tips, anyone?
In retrospect, this week should have been titled Mexican week, given the dedication to an overwhelming majority of Mexican inspired dishes.
Anyway, being from Miami, I find that the variety of Latin American restaurants is outstanding. I have tried a little bit of everything, not only from going out to eat, but through friends and family's cooking as well. I have to say my favorite cuisines are Nicaraguan, Salvadorean, Brazilian and Mexican.