#zapallitosrellenos

Welcome back to Chez Shea’s World Table! We’re very excited to get back to our international food travels and are happy to have Uruguay as our first stop of the year. Salud!

The menu:

El Chivito

Rice Uruguayan

Zapallitos Rellenos

Martín Fierro

Dulce de Leche

The national favorite dish of Uruguay is the heavenly El Chivito sandwich. I had decided to make these as an appetizer before dinner, not realizing just how HUGE they would turn out. Man, this was a meal in itself and soooo good. Comprised of several types of meat along with hard-boiled egg, mozzarella cheese, roasted red pepper, sauteed onions, lettuce, tomato and a special sauce stacked together on ciabatta bread, this sandwich was a huge hit with everyone. 

We chowed down on the sandwiches while watching Anthony Bourdain’s trip to Uruguay, his country of heritage. Here he is with his brother enjoying half soda bottles of red wine mixed with cola. Hmm.

With our bellies still full from the pre-meal, we convened to the dining room for our entree. While listening to Uruguayan radio, we ate dinner and learned facts about this interesting country. Did you know that cows outnumber people 3:1 in Uruguay? The country does love its meat. More beef in our main dish of Rice Uruguayan, as well as carrots, potatoes and, of course, rice. On the side, we had stuffed zucchini known as Zapallitos Rellenos.  I thought both were very good, but the kids weren’t fond of either.

Argentinian author José Hernández, who was living in exile in Uruguay during the late 19th century, became known for always ordering the same dessert, one that reminded him of his home. The Argentinian dessert known as Vigilante was recreated for him in Uruguay with different local ingredients. He and his writings were so revered that the dessert became known as the Martín Fierro, named after a popular guacho character from his stories.

I wasn’t sure if the kids would be too keen on eating the Martín Fierro as it’s more of a savory dessert than they’re used to, so I also served dulce de leche ice cream with Goya dulce de leche wafer cookies. Everybody was happy.

After dinner, we watched the Uruguayan movie Whisky, the story of a sock factory owner who asks his assistant to pose as his wife when his brother returns for a visit after the death of their mother. It was entertaining enough for the adults but much too slow-moving for the children. Worth watching, but certainly not your typical popcorn flick.