Popular Salads and Cold Appetizers at the Columns Hotel

One of the popular menu items at the Columns Hotel in the mid-1980 period were the salads and this is where I started out working the pantry the first six to eight months during my final year of apprenticeship. Featured in this entry include a salad off the regular menu, the Hearts Salad. Other popular salad and cold appetizer menu items from the Columns Hotel include the Smoked Seafood Salad, an appetizer from the same specials menu Spanish mackerel cold appetizer and the Amuse Bouche. Every table would get a “marble” or a small taste of buffalo terrine with delicate garnitures. This was the heart and soul of the pantry station at the Columns Hotel from around 1984 until 1987 or so, during the Chris Canan and Brian Coates era, the same time that the Michael’s Management group ran the operations. I will share these other cold food items in future posts.

One of the more challenging parts of documenting all of the restaurant preparations and recipes are meeting today’s demand for digital presentations on the Internet. Not many opportunities to photograph were available during cooking shifts; in fact, most of the photographs while working in kitchens complimented the apprenticeship logbook with additional information, or supporting material. Carrying around the Olympus OM10, 35mm camera with no flash was quite the challenge then, and with meeting deadlines and prepping for service, stopping to take a few snaps here or there were far and few between.

The challenge in the future will be to recreate the non-photographed preparations, menu items, and recipes from yester-year and take new digital images of them today! I share with you one such preparation that did get a lucky snap of the camera, the Hearts Salad.

Hearts Salad

The Hearts Salad consisted of what is known as an arranged salad, in that all the components are placed in a particular order of section of the plate. In the case of Hearts Salad, the plate is lined with red radicchio leaves, and then the remaining ingredients are hearts of romaine and Bibb lettuce, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, celery hearts, and a small truffle garnish in the shape of a heart.  This was our number one selling salad; at least during the two years of working at the Columns Hotel, I can remember preparing at least twenty or thirty of these salads on a typical evening dinner service. This salad was typically served with our vinaigrette dressing, and the recipe for that follows.

Columns Hotel Vinaigrette Dressing

As you can see, the original dressing yields a large quantity, or about 1 gallon of the product. Cutting this recipe to ¼ would yield about 1 quart of dressing, this is why I have listed the ¼ yield in the ingredient list.

This dressing prepared every other day or so often in the pantry station of the Columns Hotel on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, LA. In addition, this was one of the dressings offered on salads as well on buffet service. The Smoked seafood salad was made with this dressing and this will be featured on the next installment of Popular Salads and Cold Appetizers at the Columns Hotel.

Milanesa and Las Tartas recap from Argentine foods,  and Completos from Chile

In this installment of the Bon Vivant Travels Mike answers a question about some of the food that was prepared for him while couch surfing in Argentina including Milanesa and Las Tartas again. In addition, for the latest update, Mike is now in Santiago, Chile and tells us of the “Completo” the Chilean version of a hot dog.

Milanesa and Las Tartas

Ryan: Mike, in a recent email you said that one of your couch surfing hosts cooked a lot of traditional Argentine food, can you explain that in more detail?

Mike: Sure thing…here is one that was made for me, called Milanesa (a breaded steak, very popular in Argentina). Sorry I do not have a picture of us eating it, but will keep this in mind in the future. Milanesa A second one that is popular is Las Tartas, it reminds me of quiche…I will send you a photo, but in the meantime, here is some info about it, and pics, Buenos Aries Daily >> Las Tartas, Las Tartas Image.

Completo

From: Michael Addison
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 8:46 PM
To: Ryan Boudreaux
Subject: Santiago, Chile

Hey, I am in Santiago, Chile right now and this is the common lunch food here, the completos. It’s like a hotdog, but has crushed tomatoes and smothered with avocado and mayo (I had some Chilean hot sauce on mine too). Good stuff! Just had one today.

Here is a link to the recipe: Completo

On my daily commute to and from work, I typically listen to NPR radio for the majority of my news fix, which makes up for the lack of getting the daily print newspaper, and I rarely watch the news on the tele anymore either. One of the NPR treats that I enjoy is the food features that I happen to catch including updates from Nigella Lawson and the Kitchen Sisters, among others they will broadcast. On November 30, 2009, NPR featured Nigella promoting her Nigella Christmas cookbook and in particular, I was fascinated with her new take on a rocky road dessert treat. The original recipe can be found at the story titled: Nigella Offers Simple Recipes For Holiday Cheer. I like the way Nigella tweaked this recipe from her original where she uses the amaretti cookies instead of plain, and adds some candied cherries just as red as Rudolph’s nose, along with some Brazil nuts, and then the snowy marshmallows and snowfall of confectioner’s sugar make this a perfect Christmas dessert treat. Click on image for a larger view.

Nigella also listed the weight of most of the ingredients, and this makes sense because baking and pastry is more of an exact science when compared to the culinary side of cooking. Temperature, humidity, and air pressure can change the weight of certain ingredients such as flour, baking soda, cornstarch, etc…that is why nearly all pastry shops, bakeries, and professionals will have recipes with weight measures instead of volumes. Therefore, I have listed all of the exact weights here as well.

Our first Christmas party we are attending is slated tonight (Friday 12/04/09) and with it being a potluck event I told Monique about the Rocky Road dessert I heard about on NPR and she said it reminded her of the Heavenly Hash cake that my mom makes. Therefore, I’ve taken the original Nigella recipe that she tailored and tweaked it a bit too (*see note below), and here it is shared with my foodie friends and followers.

*NOTE: The original recipe calls for 2/3 cups of candied cherries, I rounded this up to 1 cup, and instead of dusting the whole block of Rocky Road Heavenly Hash with confectioner’s sugar before cutting as Nigella does it; I have switched the order here and dusted the squares with the powdered sugar after cutting. Just seems easier to handle them, and that way some of the confectioner’s sugar snowfall can decorate the serving plate or platter too.

Nigella also offers these tips:

Make ahead tip:

Make the Rocky Road and refrigerate to set. Don’t add the confectioner’s sugar yet, but cut into bars, then store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 1 week. Decorate with confectioner’s sugar and edible glitter about 1-2 hours before serving.

Freeze ahead tip:

Make the Rocky Road as above and freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in a cool place. Decorate as above.

Empanadas, Ushuaia, Buenos Aires (again), Iguazu Falls, and Mendoza, Argentina, and Wine Tours

Welcome to our third installment of the bon vivant travels with our good friend Mike Addison, including several email correspondence updates. This time around Mike tells us of some empanadas that are done the Argentine way, and then continues his travels to Buenos Aires (again), Iguazu Falls, and Mendoza, Argentina. So let’s pick up where we left off from our previous installment. A follow-up email highlighting Milanesa and Las Tartas ends this segment. Note: Click on images for a larger view.

From: Michael Addison
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 12:41 PM
To: Ryan Boudreaux
Subject: Empanadas

Hey Ryan,

Empanadas are like turnovers with any kind of filling you want to add. Most though, here in Argentina, are either meat, vegetable, or cheese. I always ask for the meat (carne)…it’s quite good. 

Here is a link with pics: Argentine Empanada’s

Here is a link to how to make them the Argentine way 

Hope you like it.

Mike

From: Michael Addison
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 10:27 AM
To: Ryan Boudreaux
Subject: Ushuaia, Buenos Aires (again), Iguazu Falls, and Mendoza, Argentina

Hey All,

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written. Things come up, schedules changes, and finally, I was able to remember to go to a camera store and back up the photos from my card onto a DVD. I didn’t want to risk losing the pics to a virus again, thus the back-ups were necessary. 

So, the last time I wrote I was in Calafate (deep into the southern Patagonia region of Argentina). I mentioned that the following day I would be going to Ushuaia, the southern most tip of the country, a.k.a. the end of the world. The city is situated immediately next to the water (which if you continue south, takes you to Antarctica), with a beautiful harbor on the front side and a magical slew of snowy (not just snow-peaked, but in many cases totally snow-covered, mountains) just behind the city. I actually flew from Calafate to Ushuaia and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen such beautiful scenery as the plane floated over the Andes and descended towards the city. I immediately took a cab to the one of Lonely Planet’s recommended hostels (a short drive, as Ushuaia is a small town) in the city center. Two pics show the city and water from my room at the hostel. I grabbed a room and signed up for a boat tour, which took off from the harbor at 3pm. There were 5 others in the group…really cool people, and we went to some large rock/small land formations in the water where we saw a multitude of sea lions. It was cold (but not bitter cold) and the wind gusts could literally knock you down. Nevertheless, it was such a beautiful day too. We all had such a great time that after the 2-hour tour we decided to take in some beers at a local bar (group shot pic attached) and then had an asado (BBQ) for dinner. A very full, but great day.
 
The following day (Friday, Oct. 30th), I took a plane back to B.A., arriving at 5pm. I was not planning to stay in BA again, as you know; I had already been there previously for a week. Nevertheless, in order to get to my next destination, Iguazu, I had to pass through BA again. I decided to stay for a few days as my friend Aaron (mentioned in my first email) was still there, about to complete his Spanish studies and continue his travels. He is a very cool dude, and had booked some tennis for us on Saturday (playing on red clay courts). He also got tickets to see an outdoor rock festival on Sunday featuring the newly reunited Faith No More. I really dig them, and thought it would be so cool to see them while in BA. After arriving back into BA Friday night, Aaron and I went out to dinner in the Recoleta district of BA (kind of a rich/snazzy area, but quite affordable restaurants). The night was electric, as everyone was in a festive mood…people walking, laughing, and having fun on this Friday night. We ate at an exquisite Italian restaurant—the pasta and wine were outstanding. We did not stay out late, as we had the tennis the following morning.

Saturday began with clouds and then the rain fell, just as we were about to get on the tennis court for our showdown (Aaron played college tennis…he might have had the upper hand). Fortunately, my game is still solid. 🙂 I really wanted to play. Rats. Saturday night we decided to take a night to stay up all night, hitting the clubs and dancing well into the morning. We first had the most delicious steaks for dinner in a cool district called Palermo. Then we saw a live band at a local club (played covers from American rock bands). Then we went to a massive club called Crobar and danced until 6am (no idea how I was able to stay awake).  
 
Sunday was a highlight as Aaron, another guy (Esteban, from BA), and I went to the music festival to see some of Argentina’s best rock bands…ending with Faith No More. Mike Patton, the lead vocalist was in stellar form as he belted out Epic, Falling to Pieces, and Ashes to Ashes. A few songs from the show are on YouTube…check it out. I’ve attached some pics of the show. This was the first show–and I’ve been to many in my life–where I was genuinely concerned for my welfare. It was freakin´nuts. I was able to get up near the stage, but when the band came out…we were crushed against the stage, and then I was sucked into a mosh pit. I was able to duck blows and get out of the pit. Although it truly was insane, I was also thinking how cool it was to be in BA, getting crushed/ducking fists and watching Faith No More put on a kick-ass show. 
 
Monday, Nov. 2 was a chill day; however, it was also the day that Aaron and I left BA. It turned out that Aaron and I both had plans to go to Iguazu (NE Argentina, next to Brazil and Panama) and see the world famous—and absolutely stunning–water falls. So we decided to go together, and caught a bus that departed in the evening. Aaron had befriended a French guy at the hostel…cool guy named Jeremie, and he also joined us. It was quite a bus ride (15 hours), but these long-haul buses are so amazingly comfortable. You can recline your chair to an almost horizontal angle…so you basically have a bed at night. You are also served food and beverages (just like a plane flight), and movies were shown on the overhead LCD screens. Iguazu Falls is simply amazing and blows away Niagara Falls. It’s an almost spiritual experience as you can get up close to these truly thunderous avalanches of water dropping from a long row of cliffs. It’s really something to behold. You will see pics of this as well.

 

On Thursday, we parted ways as Aaron, Jeremie went to Brazil, and I flew to Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina. It is also the coolest town I’ve come across in Argentina. It’s has a breathtaking backdrop of the Andes, amazingly beautiful weather everyday, and wide streets and sidewalks with huge birch (I think) trees that stretch out and over the wide streets. People here seem so happy and satisfied…there’s a certain Joie de Vivre that is quite palatable here. Oh yes, there are beautiful parks and plazas…and it seems every night (I’ve been here 4 nights) there has been some live music playing on those parks and plazas. One of the streets, Villanueva, has a plethora of high quality outdoor cafes and restaurants. With the pleasant weather, you cannot beat hanging out at one of the cafes. I went on a wine tour a couple days ago…rented a bike with a group of people and hit a few bodegas. I met 3 other people on the tour (Roman and his wife Lenore from Poland and a tough, yet cool San Diego beach volleyball player chick named Jennifer). We all had a great time sampling the great wines of this region. My favorite is the Malbec (the Trumpeter rules). You will see a pic of us sampling wine at a table. I rented my bike from a dude named Mr. Hugo, and when you return his bikes at the end of the day, he will pour you endless glasses of wine until you leave. There is a pic of Mr. Hugo and I…very cool dude this guy. 

 Yesterday two guys I met at the hostel (Tim and Rob from the UK), a German tomboy (Lena), and I went to one of Mendoza’s attractions, the Hot Springs (thermal pools). These naturally heated pools were so cool to visit. They are on the foothills of the Andes and are so relaxing. Upon our return, some guys and I went to a cafe and chilled out, playing cards and sipping beers (another pic attached).
 
Today I’m finally leaving Argentina and taking a bus to Chile (Santiago) for a few days. After Chile, I’ll go to Bolivia (may hire a tutor in La Paz and study Spanish for a week…won’t be too expensive as Bolivia is very affordable). Then I’ll continue north to Peru and Colombia. Brazil will be my final destination…ending my S. America tour on Jan. 15. 

Here’s the link to the pics (thanks Michele for your Snapfish idea!). Let me know if you have problems viewing it. SnapFish

Got to go now…Take care everyone! I will write sooner next time.

Mike

I asked Mike if he wouldn’t mind getting me some more information about some of the home made foods he was served earlier on in the trip and he responded with this email, here is the tread copied below:

From: Michael Addison
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 8:13 AM
To: Ryan Boudreaux
Subject: RE: Ushuaia, Buenos Aires (again), Iguazu Falls, and Mendoza, Argentina

Hey Ryan!

Sure thing…..here is one that was made for me, called Milanesa (a breaded steak, very popular in Argentina). Sorry I do not have a picture of us eating it, but will keep this in mind in the future. Milanesa

A second one which is popular is las tartas, it reminds me of quiche….I will send you a photo, but in the meantime….here is some info about it, and pics. Las tartas

 

---

From: Ryan Boudreaux
To: Michael Addison
Subject: RE: Ushuaia, Buenos Aires (again), Iguazu Falls, and Mendoza, Argentina
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:02:53 -0500

Mike,

Hey dude! Snapfish works great; I already have an account with them! Hope you take more photos of foods that you eat, or ones of you and your friends eating food too! Also, you said that one of your couch surfing folks cooked a lot of traditional Argentine food, can you explain that in more detail.

Have a great one,

Ryan

 

Join us next time when we get Mike’s next update from Chile (Santiago, Valparaiso, Quintay, San Pedro de Atacama).