Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec
Salsa criolla
From the gardenTomatoSweet pepperEarly onion
- 2 firm tomatoes
- 1 red pepper
- 1 early onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- white or wine vinegar
- oil, salt, oregano and chilli flakes
The relish that goes with the asado, the choripán and the milanesas. Everything is cut into small, even dice, the tomato seeded so it does not go watery. It is mixed in a bowl with the chopped garlic, a splash of vinegar, twice as much oil, salt, oregano and chilli flakes, then left covered for half an hour so the onion loses its bite. It keeps two or three days in the fridge and is better on the second.
Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec
Fresh tomato tuco
From the gardenTomatoSweet pepperEarly onion
- 1 kg ripe tomatoes
- 1 early onion
- half a red pepper
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- oil, salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar
- basil or parsley at the end
The Sunday sauce, made when Salto tomatoes are at their best and no tin is needed. The tomatoes are blanched for a minute, peeled and chopped. Onion, pepper and garlic are softened in oil in a pot, the tomato goes in with the bay leaf, salt, pepper and the pinch of sugar, and it simmers for forty minutes, stirred now and then, until thick. It goes over tallarines, gnocchi or baked milanesas with cheese.
Oct · Nov · Dec
Tomatoes stuffed with tuna
From the gardenTomato
- 4 large firm tomatoes
- 1 tin of tuna
- 2 boiled potatoes
- 1 hard-boiled egg
- half an early onion, finely chopped
- mayonnaise, salt and pepper
- parsley
A cold starter for Sunday lunch and the end-of-year tables. A lid is cut off each tomato, the inside scooped out with a spoon, and they sit upside down for a while to drain. The chopped pulp is mixed with the flaked tuna, diced potato, chopped egg, onion and enough mayonnaise to bind. They are filled, capped and go in the fridge for at least an hour. Rice instead of potato works too.
Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov
Peppers on the parrilla
From the gardenSweet pepper
- 4 red peppers
- 2 cloves of garlic
- olive oil
- coarse salt and oregano
- a little vinegar
They go on the grill whole, beside the meat, until the skin blisters and blackens all over. They rest covered for ten minutes in a pot or a paper bag, then the skin comes off with the fingers, the seeds are removed and the flesh is cut into strips. They are dressed with oil, sliced garlic, coarse salt, oregano and a few drops of vinegar. Cold, the next day, on toasted bread, they are better still.
Oct · Nov · Dec · Jan
Stuffed zapallitos
From the gardenCourgetteEarly onionTomato
- 8 round zapallitos (round courgettes)
- 300 g minced beef
- 1 early onion
- 1 tomato
- 2 eggs
- breadcrumbs
- grated cheese
- oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg
A cantina and grandmother's-kitchen dish. The tops are cut off the zapallitos and the insides scooped out with a teaspoon; the pulp is kept. They are boiled for five minutes, upside down, so they are tender but whole. Chopped onion and tomato are softened, the meat goes in until browned, then the chopped pulp, salt, pepper and nutmeg, and off the heat the eggs and a handful of breadcrumbs. They are filled, topped with grated cheese and baked in a hot oven for twenty minutes, until golden. With rice instead of meat it is the Friday version.
Oct · Nov · Dec · Jan
Zapallito tortilla
From the gardenCourgetteEarly onion
- 4 zapallitos (round courgettes)
- 1 early onion
- 5 eggs
- a handful of grated cheese
- oil, salt and pepper
The quick spring supper of every Uruguayan kitchen. The zapallitos are cut into small dice and fried with the onion in an oiled pan until golden and dry. The eggs are beaten with salt, pepper and the cheese, poured over the zapallitos and cooked on a medium heat until set underneath. It is flipped with a plate and finished on the other side. Warm, or cold in a sandwich the next day.
Oct · Nov · Dec
Pickled aubergines (escabeche)
From the gardenAubergine
- 3 aubergines
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 4 cloves of garlic
- oregano, chilli flakes and bay leaf
- oil to cover
- salt
The aubergines are cut into one-centimetre slices, salted and left an hour in a colander to lose their bitterness. They are boiled for five minutes in the vinegar with the water and bay leaf, drained well and layered in a jar with sliced garlic, oregano and chilli flakes, then covered with oil to the brim. After a week they are ready and they keep a month in the fridge. On the picada board, with bread and cheese, they are never missing.
Oct · Nov · Dec
Aubergine milanesas
From the gardenAubergine
- 2 large aubergines
- 2 eggs
- breadcrumbs
- 1 clove of garlic and parsley, chopped
- salt and pepper
- oil for frying, or the oven
The milanesa for people who do not eat meat, and for everyone else too. The aubergines are cut lengthways into thin slices and salted for a while. They go through the egg beaten with garlic, parsley, salt and pepper, then through the breadcrumbs, pressed on well. They are fried in hot oil until golden, or baked on an oiled tray for twenty minutes, turned halfway. Napolitana style, with tuco, ham and cheese, is the full version.
Feb · Mar · Apr · May
Sweet potato paste (dulce de boniato)
From the gardenSweet potato
- 1 kg sweet potatoes
- 700 g sugar
- 1 vanilla pod or a strip of lemon peel
- water
The teatime sweet, eaten with cheese like quince paste. The sweet potatoes are boiled in their skins until tender, peeled and mashed to a fine purée. It goes in a pot with the sugar and the vanilla over a low heat, stirred constantly with a wooden spoon for forty minutes, or until the bottom of the pot shows when the spoon passes. It is poured into a dampened mould and left to set for a day, then cut into slices.
Mar · Apr · May · Jun
Pumpkin fritters (buñuelos de zapallo)
From the gardenKabocha squash
- 500 g kabocha pumpkin
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- salt, pepper and nutmeg
- grated cheese, for the savoury version
- oil for frying
The pumpkin is boiled or roasted until tender and mashed. It is mixed with the eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, nutmeg and the cheese into a thick batter that drops from the spoon. Spoonfuls are fried in very hot oil until golden and drained on paper. The sweet version, without cheese or pepper and dusted with sugar, is the tea of rainy afternoons.
Mar · Apr · May · Jun
Baked stuffed kabocha
From the gardenKabocha squash
- 1 small kabocha pumpkin
- 1 cup cooked rice or browned minced beef
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 150 g mozzarella
- oil, salt, pepper and oregano
A lid is cut off the pumpkin, the seeds removed and the inside rubbed with oil and salt. It bakes for an hour, covered, until the flesh is tender. Meanwhile the onion and garlic are softened and mixed with the rice or the meat, salt, pepper and oregano. The pumpkin is filled, topped with the cheese and goes back in the oven uncovered until golden. It comes to the table whole and everyone takes a wedge, skin and all.
Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug
Mandarin marmalade
From the gardenMandarin
- 1 kg mandarins
- 600 g sugar
- juice of half a lemon
For the mandarins left over when the grove gives more than anyone can eat. They are peeled, the pith removed and the segments chopped, with the peel of two of them cut into thin strips. Everything goes in the pot with the sugar and lemon juice over a medium heat, stirred, for about forty minutes, until a drop on a cold plate holds. It is potted hot in clean jars. Slightly bitter, as it should be.
Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct
Whole-orange cake
From the gardenOrange
- 2 Salto oranges
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- half a cup of oil
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
The cake made with the whole orange, unsqueezed. The oranges are blended with their peel, seeds removed, together with the eggs, sugar and oil. Flour and baking powder are folded in briefly. It bakes in a buttered tin at a medium heat for forty minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Moist and fragrant. With a syrup of another orange's juice poured over, better still.
Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct
Candied orange peel
From the gardenOrange
- peel of 4 oranges
- 300 g sugar
- 300 ml water
- sugar for coating
- chocolate, optional
What a Salto kitchen never throws away. The peel is cut into one-centimetre strips, boiled three times in fresh water to take out the bitterness, and drained. It then cooks slowly in the syrup of sugar and water, unstirred, until translucent and almost dry, about an hour. The strips dry on a rack and are rolled in sugar. Dipped in chocolate, they are the winter present.
May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
Lemon pie
From the gardenLemon
- Pastry: 200 g flour, 100 g butter, 1 yolk, 2 tablespoons sugar
- Filling: juice and zest of 3 lemons, 1 tin condensed milk, 3 yolks
- Meringue: 3 whites, 150 g sugar
The most Uruguayan pastry-shop dessert there is, English name and all. The pastry is brought together by hand, rests half an hour in the fridge and bakes blind for ten minutes. The filling is the simplest: condensed milk mixed with the yolks, juice and zest, poured over the base and baked ten minutes more, until set. The whites are whisked with the sugar to stiff peaks, spread over the tart in peaks and browned briefly in a hot oven. Served cold, from the fridge.
Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct
Strawberries and cream
From the gardenStrawberry
- 500 g Salto strawberries
- 250 ml double cream
- sugar
- a few drops of vanilla
There is no recipe, only habit. The strawberries are washed whole, stalks on, and only then hulled. They are halved, dusted with sugar and left for fifteen minutes to release their juice. The cream is whipped with a spoonful of sugar and the vanilla, stopping well before butter. In winter, when the rest of the country has no strawberries and Salto does, this is a small local luxury.
Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct
Strawberry chajá
From the gardenStrawberry
- 1 sponge cake
- 500 g strawberries
- 400 ml cream
- 6 dry meringues
- light syrup with a dash of liqueur
- sugar
The chajá was born in Paysandú in 1927, a hundred kilometres from here, and it is the dessert of the river country. The classic version takes peaches; with Salto's winter strawberries it becomes something else. The sponge is cut into layers and soaked with the syrup. The cream is whipped with sugar. It is built in layers: sponge, cream, chopped strawberries, meringue broken by hand, and again. The whole thing is covered in cream and finished with crumbled meringue and whole strawberries. Two hours in the fridge before serving.
Sep · Oct
Blueberry and lemon loaf
From the gardenBlueberryLemon
- 200 g blueberries
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 150 g butter
- 150 g sugar
- 3 eggs
- 200 g flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Blueberries are Salto's newest crop and this is the loaf most people first meet them in. Butter is beaten with the sugar and zest until creamy, the eggs go in one at a time, then the flour with the baking powder. The blueberries are tossed in flour so they do not sink and folded in gently. It bakes in a loaf tin at a medium heat for fifty minutes. Straight out of the oven it is pricked and soaked with the lemon juice mixed with two spoonfuls of sugar.
Dec · Jan · Feb
Watermelon and melon, by the river
From the gardenWatermelonMelon
- 1 watermelon or 1 melon, well chilled
- lemon juice
- mint leaves
- for the licuado: melon, ice and milk or water
In the river summer fruit is not cooked, it is chilled. The watermelon is cubed, sprinkled with lemon juice and chopped mint and served ice-cold. With melon, the licuado of January siestas: ripe melon in chunks, ice, a little milk or water, no sugar if the fruit is good, into the blender. Salto's watermelon arrives in December, before anyone else's.
