la dulcita, fitzroy: empanadas and beyond

An assortment of empanadas at La Dulcita, with chimichurri (Argentinian garlic-parsley sauce).

Edit: Sadly, La Dulcita is no longer in business - it appears the owners have decided to extend their other business, Brother Burger, to cover that shop area as well. If anyone knows where else I can get awesome empanadas, please leave a comment!

I first got a whiff of Argentinian bakery-cafe La Dulcita (413 Brunswick St, Fitzroy) when, one day, I noticed an ad seeking staff for a new South American eatery. While the job was not for me, this was an exciting find! Lo and behold, it emerged several weeks later, just as Simon and I were leaving for our Sydney-Canberra trip, so I promised myself that we'd visit it, first thing, upon our return to Melbourne.

And so we did.

Simon and I are both baked egg fiends, so naturally we went for the Huevos Portenos - baked eggs with potato, chorizo, cheese, salsa and chimichurri... a combination of flavours that radiate warmth, comfort, and satisfaction.

Huevos portenos - baked eggs.

I was familiar enough with the concept of South American food to know of empanadas, but till then, I had never actually tried one.

So it stands to reason that we had to try ALL the empanadas. In any case, there were only three different flavours (beef & olive; chicken & corn; zucchini, capsicum and egg), and they were quite small.

The texture of the empanada was unique to me - there's an almost bread-like softness to it, with just a gentle hint of flaky crunch. All three were delicious, but it was the beef and olive empanada that really won my heart, falling apart in the mouth like a slow, savoury, sensational stew.

Cross section of beef and olive empanada.

Cross-section of chicken and corn empanada.

Cross section of zucchini, capsicum and egg empanada.

When we paid at the counter I decided to get a few of the sweet pastries for takeaway. They were pleasant enough, though having been kept at room temperature all day in the bakery, I suspect they could be exponentially better if I had warmed them up a little in the oven before eating.

Sweet pastries from la dulcita.

Verdict? I'll be back to further explore the La Dulcita menu. They have some tasty looking quiches (featuring goat cheese, no less) that I'd like to try next time; and, of course, I look forward to immersing myself in more empanada goodness.



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spicy spanish-mexican black bean stew

spicy spanish-mexican black bean stew

After discovering black turtle beans some months ago at a restaurant, Simon took an instant liking to them and wanted to utilize them for our home-cooked meals. Not long after, we made a trip to the local grocery store and got ourselves a bag of dried black turtle beans. For some reason, though, I never got around to using them until recently, when he asked if I could make a Mexican-style black bean stew for him.

black turtle beans, known as frijol negro in Spanish, feijão preto in Portuguese.

When I drafted out my idea for the recipe, I saw this as an opportunity to use my beloved Spanish hot smoked paprika, but I also took inspiration from the Mexican mole sauce and added some cocoa powder. The following recipe makes 2 servings - or 4 if you bulk it up with a side of rice or bread.

spanish-mexican black bean stew, reminiscent of a vegetarian chili con carne.

spicy spanish-mexican black bean stew

1 cup dried black turtle beans
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 chilli, chopped
2 large tomatoes, chopped
2 teaspoons Spanish hot smoked paprika
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
2 bay leaves
a little oil, for frying
salt, to taste

- Soak the dried black beans overnight in a large bowl of water.

- The next day, drain well, rinse and transfer to a pot with 4 cups water, bring to boil and turn down to a simmer.

- Meanwhile, sauté garlic, onion and chilli in about one teaspoon oil until soft. Add in the chopped tomatoes and hot smoked paprika and lightly sauté for a few more minutes. Stir the mixture into the pot with black beans. Add in the bay leaves and cocoa powder.

- Simmer until the liquid is thick and reduced, and the beans are tender. Mine took just under 2 hours of uncovered simmering. If you like, you can lightly puree half the beans for a creamier soup/stew.

- Season with salt to taste. Garnish with fresh tomatoes and a sprinkling of herbs such as parsley, if desired. Retrieve bay leaves before eating.

- This can be eaten by itself or accompanied with salad, rice or bread. It also benefits from an addition of fresh-tasting and/or slightly acidic elements. We kept it super-simple and had it with sliced tomatoes, yoghurt and pita bread. Next time, I'd like to try it with guacamole and feta cheese as well! I imagine it would also go well with this lemongrass yoghurt dip.


So there you have it, a bold, earthy Spanish-Mexican inspired black bean stew. We had this for lunch and dinner and I believe it tasted even better the second time around, as the sauce thickened and the flavours developed further. Simon liked it a lot and wanted to know more about the ingredients in the dish. I gladly obliged - here's hoping next time he'll be cooking this for me!

thick, rich and earthy black bean stew.

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twice cooked corn with Spanish hot smoked paprika and extra virgin olive oil

Hola! Why, if it isn't hot smoked paprika mucking about with his pal, extra virgin olive oil.

Hot smoked paprika, meet oven roasted sweet corn. Oven roasted sweet corn, meet hot smoked paprika.

Extra virgin olive oil, you make sure they get along.

Vamos a ser amigos!

My tin of Spanish hot smoked paprika has been getting a good workout ever since I purchased it. It added quite a bit of flair to my spicy coffee toffees, and now it's getting down and dirty with this super-simple corn dish. So easy, so good!

twice cooked corn with Spanish hot smoked paprika and extra virgin olive oil

sweet corn, still in husks
hot smoked paprika (pimentón de La Vera picante)
extra virgin olive oil
salt and lime juice (optional)

- Preheat oven to 180C (360F).
- Rinse sweet corn with water until the husks are moist and roast them whole on the oven rack, husks intact. If the corn you have has already had their husks removed, steam them instead.
- After 25 minutes, retrieve from the oven. The corn should be perfectly cooked in their own husks.
- Discard the silk. Strip down the husks and tie them at the stem. Brush the corn kernels with a mixture of extra virgin olive oil and hot smoked paprika. The ratio of the ingredients is up to you. I like mine with lots of spice.
- Finish the sweet corn on the grill to char it up. Some of the kernels may pop loudly, this is normal.
- Eat as is with a sprinkle of salt and if you like, add a drizzle of lime juice as well. (I can't decide whether I prefer it with or without - depends on whether you want it tangy and smoky, or just seriously smoky! )

Either way, the pimentón and the sweet corn made a great match - the charred finish really completing the dish. Mmmmmm, hot and smoky nirvana!

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pão de queijo: brazilian cheese bread

pao de queijo

I have mentioned before that I have a fondness for South American stuff, and it's because I train capoeira, which is a Brazilian martial art. I have wanted to make something Brazilian for a few months now and finally stopped procrastinating recently with a venture into pão de queijo, a Brazilian cheese bread, simply because it seemed like it would be pretty easy. So I made some last week, using a recipe I found online and halving it, but it wasn't quite as easy as I thought - even though I followed the recipe, the mixture was too fluid and impossible to knead - I ended up pouring them into moulds to bake. The feedback was still great, but I wanted to see if I could do it better a second time.

I gave it another go this week with some adaptations based on my first try, and with the benefit of experience, it was a success! The first time I made it, I added tapioca starch to the liquid mixture. This time, I did it the other way round and gradually poured the liquid into the tapioca starch (this tip is thanks to the recipe from a book called Street Cafe Brazil by Michael Bateman), and stopped once I got the texture I wanted. As always, the recipe is just a guide. Feel free to individually adjust the amounts of each item during the process to achieve a dough you can work with. My end result was soft, but still workable.

my little golf-ball-sized creations: pao de queijo in the oven

Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup oil (I used rice bran oil)
1/2 teaspoon salt
225g / 1/2lb tapioca starch (also known as manioc starch, cassava starch etc)
1 egg
100g / 1/4lb finely grated parmesan (or similar) cheese

- In a saucepan, combine milk, water, oil, salt and bring to boil.
- Remove pan from heat and slowly pour the liquid on to the tapioca in a bowl while stirring it with a wooden spoon to a dough texture. (You may not need all the liquid mixture - stop pouring if the dough starts to become too soft and moist.)
- Stir in the egg, and lastly, the cheese.
- Grease hands, knead and make approximately a dozen little balls - mine were about the size of golf balls or a bit larger. (I had to shape rather than roll mine because my mix, while not liquid, was still quite mushy - and as you can see they're more like little lumps. They did end up puffing up nicely in the oven though!)
- Arrange on a greased baking tray, leaving enough space between each ball for expanding. Bake in an oven that has been preheated at 200°C (392ºF) for 20 minutes or till they transform into golden puffs.
- Best served hot or warm.

fresh pao de queijo after i bit into it. the interior is sticky when it's still warm, and more bread-like after it cools down.

And there you have it. A nice little batch of pao de queijo with crispy crusts that concede gratifyingly into a warm, chewy softness as you sink your teeth into them. Mm-mmm!

Note: Not having had the ones from Brazil, I'm not sure if these are true to the original, but I'm really satisfied with this batch and Simon loved them, eating about five in quick succession. So I'm putting this down as a triumph!

Update: My capoeira instructor, a Brazilian, has eaten my day-old pao de queijo and given me his high-five of approval. Yay!!


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cruzao arepa bar, fitzroy: venezuelan charm

cruzao arepa bar

The first time I went to Cruzao Arepa Bar for their Venezuelan-style arepa (corn bread) offerings was in early August, when it was a young business of only a few days old. I had the chorizo arepa while Simon had the slow cooked black beans and feta cheese. Both were cooked to perfection; the corn bread had a lovely texture and the fillings were tasty. (Note: It made a good snack or a light meal, but someone a little hungrier will probably want to supplement their arepa with other items from the menu.) I also tried papelón con limón, a sugar cane drink which is different to the Southeast Asian version I'm used to, but nice and refreshing in its own way.

The second time I popped by for a takeaway by myself, and opted for the roast pork leg in garlic and red wine. I was kindly treated to more papelón con limón and complimentary tequeños (crispy cheese sticks) while I waited. The tequeños, oozing with warm cheesy goodness, tasted, to me, like a savoury version of churros, and were very good. I also noticed they now had $12 weekday lunch specials which consisted of soup, arepa and dessert, and vowed to return for that.

So here I am again with Simon, and this time I have a camera and a blog. (Insert evil laughter of choice.) Unfortunately, they had now swapped the dessert in the lunch special for a coffee or tea, darn it! I was too late, but the new deal is still pretty good.

We start off with the cruzao, which is a meat and vegetable soup. It is served with coriander to add as you wish, and a piece of a corn on a stick. It's a comforting soup that reminds me of something that would have been simmering away at the stove for an hour at home.

cruzao

I had the shredded chicken and avocado arepa this time.

arepa - shredded chicken and avocado with mayonnaise

Simon liked the black bean and feta arepa last time and he's sticking to it. I can understand why. We both rate this and the chorizo one our favourite arepas so far.

arepa - slow cooked black beans with feta cheese

Service here moves at a relaxed pace; the food is simple and down-to-earth. I may have a bias as I have a fondness for South American culture, but I like Cruzao Arepa Bar. Next time, I'll be trying their desserts!

Update: Have been back a couple times since - still haven't gotten around to their desserts! But the Fresca salad and the llanera arepa are my new loves.


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