May 14, 2009

Asado in the oven


The guests at Lara and Paco's apartment in Providence included Colombians, Ecuadorians and Argentines. So not surprisingly, the menu was heavy on delicious, high quality meat and pork, prepared and presented with traditional simplicity and abundance.


For appetizers, Lara and Paco served choripán using pork chorizo from Armando & Son's Meat Market in Pawtucket, R.I., served on fresh bread with chimichurri sauce. They also prepared bacon-wrapped asparagus.




The main course was asado, a popular, relatively inexpensive, uniquely Southern Cone rib cut. Because it was raining, they roasted all the meat in the oven, including the chorizo. My wife, Keryn, prepared the salad, chopping lettuce, red bell peppers, grape tomatoes and avocado.




Among the gallons of red wine consumed was a great bottle of Malbec from Altos Las Hormigas in Mendoza, Argentina.