Traveling to South America....

As much as I would love to say, Ryan and I are traveling to South America, sadly, it would not be true.  We remain in Russia, but last night, our tastebuds traveled to South America, more specifically, Argentina.  It was June's Dinner Challenge.

This month's dinner challenge started with a suggestion, "Send Ryan to the grocery store, by himself, and let him buy whatever he wants.  What he brings home, you use to make dinner."  The suggestion was accepted, and Sunday, I sent Ryan to the nearby grocery store, alone.  My mind ran through the possibilities of what he could possibly find.  Judging by his few trips to the grocery store with me, I feared he would come home with bags upon bags of groceries, every item that was shiny, and caught his attention.

Earlier in the day, we did have a conversation about live lobsters.  I told him, if he brought home a live lobster he would either be served a live lobster, or find it living in our bathtub.  I was not a murderer.  He did not bring home a live lobster, he brought home this:

Pineapple
Sherry Vinegar
Peppercorn
Chocolate Ricotta
Sombrero Pasta Noodles
Mozzarella
AND a nasty, bloody, huge piece of meat.
He gave me all the other items first.  As I sat looking at them, he said, "wait, there's one more thing."
As I looked in the bag, which based on the size,  I thought was a whole fish, I asked,
"ugh, what is THAT!?!" To which Ryan replied (with laughs) "a whole tenderloin."  And, what am I supposed to do with THAT?!?!  More laughing, "it's your dinner challenge, you figure it out"
Needless to say, I was thinking the whole fish, or even the lobster would have been preferred. 

I feared I would ruin these cute little guys, so I wanted to capture the moment prior to their water bath, and oven experience.  

Using some of the pineapple, Sangria was our drink of choice.  With Tango music as our soundtrack, we sat down for an incredible dinner, and journey to Argentina.  

I treated the sombreros as empanadas.  Our appetizer was spinach and cheese stuffed sombreros, served with a peppercorn sauce.  Ingredients used: mozzarella, sombrero, and peppercorn. 

It may be my proudest moment in all cooking experiences.
A juicy, delicious, perfectly grilled steak (that marinated in a sherry vinegar bath all day) with Chimichurri and grilled onions.  YUMMY!
Butternut squash and pineapple stuffed sombreros for the side.
Ingredients used: tenderloin, sherry vinegar, sombreros, and pineapple. 

And, for dessert.  Dulce De Leche Dark Chocolate Brownie.
Since we live in Russia, and they do not have a "latin section" in their supermarket, I was left to make my own Dulce De Leche.  And make, I did.  It wasn't too hard, just required patience.
The chocolate ricotta was mixed with the Dulce de Leche to form that tasty ribbon in the middle.
Served on a fresh slice of pineapple, a side of vanilla ice cream, and a cinnamon/sugared sombrero bottom.
Ingredients used: Chocolate Ricotta, Pineapple, and Sombrero

If I am to be completely honest, it was not a pretty dinner cooking experience.  During the process of dissecting the tenderloin, and surprisingly coming out with steaks, Macy was the only witness to my numerous outbursts.  I few gags, a few ewwws, an occasional "I am becoming a vegetarian" sprinkled with "Ryan is only getting tofu for the rest of his life."  In the end, I showed that tenderloin who's boss, and we feasted on a fantastic dinner, and our freezer is filled with more steaks.  Ryan greatly enjoyed the steak, and I would agree.  It definitely was the star of the night, not only in taste, but the fact I was incredibly proud of myself.  But please, Ryan, do not bring anything like that home again.  Next time, it's your turn.  I have plenty of website articles, and YouTube videos to show you how to properly cut apart a tenderloin.

Or, a trip to Argentina would probably convince me to dissect another tenderloin.  Start planning!

I would say, stay tuned for July's Dinner Challenge, but I will not be in Russia for the entire month of July.  The two dinner challenges in May made up for the lack of July.  You never know, my Mother did ask if she and my family could provide me with a dinner challenge......