Cocoa will be an important part of this event. A four-hand dinner with an eight-course menu that will have —in each bite— the essence of traditional flavors. “The best of our roots” is the fourth gastronomic experience organized by Oro Verde Hotels and will be hosted by Ecuadorian chefs Alexandra Espinoza Y Javier Urrutia.
Espinoza, creator and chef of the restaurant Are (in Quito), manages a concept around contemporary Ecuadorian cuisine, where it mixes local ingredients, traditional recipes and culinary techniques from around the world to tell the national story through its gastronomy; while Urrutia, executive chef of Julian Houseat the Hotel del Parque (in the Historic Park), blends local flavors and products to reinvent recipes and typical dishes.
Your skills and knowledge in these areas will be complemented at this dinner planned for the 7:00 p.m. this Thursday, July 14. The menu will include different products, such as cocoa honey butter, wahoomacambo, smoked avocado, jicama, máchica, pangora, black pudding, duck, pork, coffee, pumpkin, to mention just a few of the ingredients, which will be accompanied by a premium pairing.
Javier Urrutia, the mastermind at Casa Julián
He is 27 years old, but in each of his preparations he demonstrates the expertise of someone who has traveled the world the longest. And so it is: the dishes of this young chef have the power to transport you.
Urrutia entered the kitchen in search of a new dream; the first —he confesses— was to become a pilot. Although he keeps it in his heart and does not discard it, his goals have been redirected. “More than cooking, I really like to eat, mix things, mix flavors, meals. I always had that theme in me of mixing things; and when I did not achieve that goal of being a pilot, I ventured into gastronomy. I did it because I like to discover what happens in the kitchen, the mixture of flavors and what derives from it. There I began to study, learn, read, and I said to myself: ‘This is my thing’. Everything I have discovered in these years has led me to continue”, he recounts.
The chef from Quito, who lived in Piñas (El Oro) since he was 15 years old, began his work in the hotel culinary field at the Sheraton hotel. “I went to do my internships and when I entered the kitchen, I was very excited to see how a professional kitchen works, with professional equipment. For me it was like being in an amusement park. When they interviewed me, they told me that I would only be here for two weeks, and I ended up staying for three years,” he says.
La Pizarra, with Juan José Morales, also had a strong influence on his formation. “At the Sheraton I learned the gastronomic bases and procedures, and at La Pizarra I learned more about the products; I started from scratch. It was interesting to merge the gastronomic bases with a new vision in this area. It was merging two worlds,” he comments.
Urrutia has been part of the Oro Verde Hotels chain and Casa Julián for five years, of which he has been its executive chef for three years.
gastronomic experiences
This is how each dinner that has been held with national and international chefs as responsible for the appointments is defined and presented. According to Urrutia, gastronomic experiences “are born from the need to make the Ecuadorian market know more about their country.” And he adds: “Those dinners are just that, they are a cultural exchange; the diner goes with a very open mind to experiment, just as we do. The diner learns by trying new things, products that perhaps he has never heard of because they are not at hand, and we have the opportunity to capture and treat some product based on the root of what we have experienced as chefs”.
“Many recipes we make are based on living with ourselves, on what we have eaten since we were little. We are evolving it as we become more professional and learn more. So, it is born from that. All the dinners we’ve done before are based on the cook and the product of the country they come from, and I obviously do the same. But now it is more interesting because they are two Ecuadorians who come together and it becomes much stronger”, Javier Urrutia, executive chef of Casa Julián.
For the “The best of our roots” dinner, Urrutia details that it relies heavily on cocoa as an ingredient. “This goes beyond chocolate. You have the cocoa leaf, you have the tree, you have the flowers, you have the juice, the pulp, the mucilage; there are many cocoa by-products. It’s going to be very interesting. Alejandra will make four dishes and so will I, all based on cocoa. It is a challenge, because you have to investigate the product, try it, enhance it without also stealing the prominence of what surrounds it in each dish, ”she says.
One of the desserts that will be served is prepared with goat’s milk and pumpkin and coffee ice cream, with a kefir sauce. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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