Summer food

Have I mentioned I love the farmer´s market in Piriapolis? Must be the only thing I love in the aforementioned town. One of the vendors at the feria goes all out every Saturday with the decoration, arranging the fruits and vegetables in funny patterns.

But back at the ranch, my own harvest has been increasing daily. We went from radishes, celery and submarine-sized cucumbers to a steady crop of mixed color tomatoes (cherry mostly), herbs, scallions, echalotes, and now we´re starting with the honeydew melons. The zapallito, a roundish variety of squash, looks like it will bury us in a couple of weeks.



Mixed cherry salad with fresh oregano and basil, all from the garden...


The harvest a few days ago.

While we are on food, and back in summer, when we are likely to go out more, I´d like to mention our two bad meals in a row at the same, wonderfully located La Corniche restaurant in Piriapolis. Why twice you may ask? Well, first time it was a group thing, second an invitation from a house guest who was as taken by the beautiful setting at the end of Playa Grande as I was. We gave it a second chance, only to find service worse than deplorable, and food as ineptly cooked as the first time. Stuffed chicken breast was so dry it made you choke, the milanesa was so chewey and dry it was fit for my dogs, etc. The service is hard to describe other than saying there was no service. However, the menu is almost as ambitious as last year´s at Trattoria da Piero, not a coincidence as it turns out the chef has migrated here.

On the positive front, we enjoyed a fantastic meal at El Abrazo, in Manantiales. El Abrazo is owned by two veteran chefs, Gabriela Sosa Díaz and Federico Gasparri who happen to be husband and wife. The location, a specially built house in the woods in Manantiales right off Ruta 104 is as usual very cool and low key. As usual because it was designed and built by Gabriela´s brother Fabian, our architect. There are a variety of possible settings, ranging from semi enclosed patios, a sofa outside in the garden, a table under a tent-like contraption, etc. I prefer inside, but all the outside areas and their lighting by candle give it a nice atmosphere...

The food was both gourmet-y, expertly rendered and delicious, as opposed to pretentious and bad. We had a great shreded, braised lamb served on a bed of mashed eggplant, a fantastic appetizer salad with cherry tomatoes, goat cheese and artichokes, and great seafod appetizer sampler, shrimp ravioli, etc. Desserts were also original and delicious, especially my guava concoction which included guavas in syrup, heavy cream and cookies. The service was great, professional and warm. I will go back soon before they close for the season.