Cooking with Archer Roose: Chilean Style Cauliflower Steak | Archer Roose
Wait, Which Casablanca?
We invited our friend Chef Adam Moore to create recipes that bring the dining experience of our wine partners in Italy, Chile, France, and Argentina to your home! Adam uses bold, traditional flavors to celebrate the birthplaces of our wine. We hope you’ll find inspiration from bite to sip!
Adam says, “what you can see through food is culture, and we’ve made recipes that transport you.” While I’ve never traveled outside of the United States, 2020 was my year of big travel plans. I’m constantly cooking new recipes - well, my partner is, I get to sample the new cuisine - and tasting new wines to try and transport me to the places I haven’t yet been but still miss.
LET'S TALK CASABLANCA
As I prepared for this leg of our Wanderlust travels, I had to wonder how much of my existing knowledge of the Casablanca Valley would stand true. To begin, let’s establish that the Casablanca Valley in Chile is much different than the city of Casablanca, Morocco. Why even bother to bring this up? Because I had to google it and quickly found that they are not the same. Admittedly I feel like a bad ambassador for fellow Geography Majors, but that’s neither here nor there.
The Casablanca Valley is roughly 60 miles northwest of Chile’s capital Santiago. Our winegrowing partner Luca Hodgkinson has a vineyard in the middle of the valley, with the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. To prevent the grapes from overexposure to the sun (and premature ripening), the vineyard rows run East to West which allows only one side of the canopy sun exposure at a time. To give you an idea of just how dream-worthy these vineyards are, see below:
Outside of being the ninth largest producer of wine in the world, Chile has a number of Wanderlust-worthy attractions. Outdoorsy and prefer to explore the natural environment? Chile has over 1,300 volcanoes (many of them still active, YIKES!), is home to six UNESCO world heritage sites, and has one of the longest coastlines in the world - hello beaches! I recommend you give this link a visit to dig deeper into those heritage sites; just a few minutes of perusing makes clear the depth of culture and the importance of these heritage sites to both Chile and the larger global landscape.
Beyond my Wanderlust daydreams in hiking boots and cargo shorts on the steps of ancient ruins or standing knee-deep in the Pacific ocean on a pristine beach, my research has made it clear that Chile is an excellent foodie destination ready to be explored! The capital Santiago is just an hour from the Casablanca Valley and is home to many markets, one that continues to make a notable mention is Mercado Central. Founded in 1872, it's known to both tourists and locals as a destination for its wildly diverse selection of fish and other seafood. Plus, it's a simply gorgeous venue perfect for spending the day browsing shopping stalls, enjoying a bite to eat, or sampling some of the local wineries.
ABOUT THE PAIRING
Chef Adam says the best way to conceptualize a regionally-inspired dish is to look at the culinary foundations of the region. In the case of Chile, this was brown rice, olives, quinoa, and also the meat-centric culture. Rather than lean into meat, Chef Adam picked the cauliflower as a vehicle for this chilean-inspired dish and chose to get creative with making it the center of the recipe! The flavorful ingredients are harmonious and with the addition of our Sauvignon Blanc, we have the salty, sweet and acidic components working together in an excellent balance. A tip from Chef Adam - “What grows together, goes together”! Give this spirited, inspired dish a try!
Tag us @archerroosewines if you decide to give this lovely dish a try!
Learn more about Chef Adam and his team at https://www.flashpointinnovation.com/
