Clase de Cocinar

    One of the included excursions in my program with IFSA is a cooking class in Maipu. Half the program went yesterday, and we made a huge feast of empenadas, steak, salads, and so much more. I ate way beyond a normal amount and could barely walk after, but it was so worth it. The cooking class was at a winery in Maipu, and we broke up into three groups to make the different food.
    I was in the group that made the empenadas, a rice dish, and a scrambled egg dish with chopped vegetables called tomaticán cuyano. This had peppers, onions, tomato, and good spices. Our empenadas were made of ground beef, lots and lots of onions, and a lot of spices, too. They were really easy to make because you can just use premade empenada wrappers. After making the mixture, you just put some in the middle of a wrapper, then wet the wrapper a little to make sure it sticks when you fold it over, crease it and make a pretty design on the edges. I'm sure you can make homemade dough for them too, but it was really easy this way, then just bake them, and they tasted buttery and delicious. The rice was completely unnecessary to make with the amount of other foods that we had. The rice was plain white rice mixed with crispy thin noodles, but it didn't have much flavor, and there was so much else to eat, I didn't need the rice. 
    Other groups made bread rolls, which were so dense and buttery they were really good. They also made a potato and egg salad, a basic garden salad, and roasted potatoes. The third group made these really good tortas fritas con jamon crudo, which were basically fried dough like a savory doughnut, with proschutto on top. These were delicious, and it was hard not to keep eating them one after another. They also made our dessert, which was crepes with dulce de leche. The dulce was inside the crepes, warmed up, and drenched in dulce on top. I had to lick my plate it was so good. The chefs that were helping us made the steak, and even after eating all the empenadas and tortas and potatoes and side dishes, I still somehow made room for the steak, because it was covered in a vegetable and worshershire sauce and was so delicious, just like all the other food we made. Everybody pretty much passed out in the grass after eating because we were so full. And the dogs that live at the winery joined us to eat outside because we let them lick all of our plates clean after. 
    The chefs presented us with certifications at the end of the class, since we are such experienced chefs now. I really wanted to take some leftovers with me, but I'm pretty sure we ate it all! 

panqueques con dulce de leche

    The Mendocinos love salt and mayonnaise. The chef had us add so much salt to everything. He would just keep saying more, more, more. It's like this in a lot of meals. Their salad dressing too is normally just oil and salt. And all of their sauces and spreads for sandwhiches and meats are normally mayo based. Some friends have told me they've seen their host parents eat mayo straight from a spoon. It's a good thing I don't mind mayo or salt.

tortas fritas con jamon crudo

Sara, me, Amanda with our certificates