Culinary Experiments No 01

I received a cold email from a cat named Ertu?rul Ery?lmaz. Saying: "In case you haven’t heard of us, I’m reaching out to introduce you to?Feed?– we’re a social shopping platform focused on connecting you to small batch brands and artisanal groceries. Any chance you’d be interested in a partnership?"

I responded and got partnered up with Nicole Spear . They asked me if I wanted to test out some of the product(s). I placed an order on the app and a few weeks later, I got this:

I was very impressed with the quality of the food and so I began to conceptualize what exactly I would make given the ingredients. The first thing that I thought was: I need to make the artichoke heart the star. Artichokes, like mangos and avocados, do not need a single thing from the preparation. All you need to do is steam it and let it taste like an artichoke so I steamed it and peeled it and placed it on the plate.

Next, I had so many tomatoes, so many beautiful delicious ripe heirloom tomatoes that I couldn't even possibly store them so I chose to liquify them with a few ingredients: Mexican Salt, Onion, Garlic, Long Pepper and a few drops of really, really, really expensive red wine vinegar. Then, I dehydrated the sauce.

Then, because the artichoke was soft and the tomato was in sauce form, I wanted to add a tiny bit of crunch so I pickled some onions and laid them on top.

Then, I used a baby spoon to place the sturgeon caviar on top of the "botana."

Now, facilitated by the small size of the artichoke heart, the idea behind this botana was that it could be eaten in one bite. I was successful in accomplishing that goal but it was a pretty intense preparation for one quick bite. I am now imagining the time and the place where this botana would be feasible. Sunset. Friday. The outdoor dining area at La Casa que Canta in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico. Rodrigo y Gabriela on the patio playing their songs.

For anybody looking to experiment with Feed, use my code 1RZM2 at checkout to get $20 off on your first order.

AMA: smunoz (@) intelatin (dot) com