We’ve been to Chile in the summer of 2008, so I’m a little familiar with its cuisine. We lived in Viña del Mar for a week and ate at local restaurants. Most of the time we had seafood and/or fish. Once, my husband ordered a dish (whose name I don’t remember, of course) that had an eel stuffed with crab meat. They brought a huge plate with about a 10 inch long piece of fish stuffed with so much crab meat the fish could not cover it. Alex was determined to eat it all because, he said, it was simply sacrilege to leave any. And it only cost $18! We had to return to that place the following day and eat another variation of that dish, a Chilean seabass stuffed with crab meat. It cost the same $18.

Other than their enormous size, the dishes were simple without any fancy seasoning or sauces. Nevertheless they were fresh and delicious, and we enjoyed them a lot.

Restaurant in Viña Del Mar

Chilean Dinner Menu

Ensalada Chilena – Chilean Salad

It is a very basic salad. Only six ingredients. My son Matthew especially liked onions that turned out very sweet and mild. To prepare it, you will need 3-5 tomatoes, 1/2 sweet onion, 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tsp of vinegar, some cilantro, salt and black pepper to taste. Cut onion thinly and put in cold water with vinegar for about an hour. Peel and cut tomatoes (I didn’t peel them but the recipe calls for peeled tomatoes). Drain the onion to remove extra liquid. Combine onions with tomatoes, add salt and pepper to taste, and dress with olive oil.

Paila Marina – Chilean Seafood Stew

Again, this is a very simple dish, but it featuresnot-so-simple or, should I say, not-so-cheap ingredients. The original recipe called for many different types of seafood it would cost me at least $100 to include all those ingredients. I decided to go with a different approach, i.e. go for a flavor and whatever ingredients I can find in a local Trader Joe’s. Matthew and Alex liked it a lot (and Eugene ignored it, but that was expected). So, here is my recipe. Ingredients: 1 lb of large shrimps 1 lb of langoustines 1 lb of scallops 1/3 cup of chopped cilantro 1/2 onion, finely chopped 3-4 cloves of chopped garlic 1 cup of white wine 1 tbsp of olive oil Heat olive oil in a pan and add onion and garlic. Saute for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Add the seafood and carefully mix. Pour wine over, cover and saute for about 10 minutes or until seafood is done (but not overdone).

Dulce de Leche – Caramel Spread

Oh, this is so delicious! I prepared it almost accidentally. I planned to buy a can of Dulce de Leche, but it turned out that I had to work from home that day, and I decided to try it since I figured it would not need my undivided attention. And indeed, it was extremely easy to make and did not require a lot of attention. I poured a half pint of milk and the same amount of heavy cream into a pot. Then I added 1 cup of sugar and placed on a medium heat until the mixture started to boil. Then I turned the heat down to very low heat and let it simmer for about 2 hours. About every 20 minutes I stirred the liquid. The resulting caramel spread was so delicious that I could hardly restrain Alex from eating it all. Actually, he ate all leftovers after I left the kitchen. I love my husband!

Alfajores – Latin America Style Cookies

My older son, Matthew, is usually very indifferent to sweets, but he definitely wasn’t indifferent to these little cookies. It’s interesting that the recipe combines plain all-purpose flour and corn starch. The dough was easy enough to handle so I’m going to make them again. As a bonus they give me an excuse to make dulce de leche.