Born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico, chef Andrea Martínez began honing her expertise within the kitchen of Pangea, ranked 14 in San Pellegrino’s Latin America 50 Finest underneath chef Guillermo Gonzalez Beristain. She graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in 2006 and has labored in New York and Washington D.C. underneath chef Richard Sandoval.
By her 18 years in skilled kitchens, she has been a part of quite a few festivals and occasions in Mexico in addition to the U.S., representing north-eastern Mexican delicacies. She has been named one in every of Mexico’s greatest younger cooks by Entrepreneur Journal and Almanaque de la Cocina Mexicana.
A Prime Chef Mexico participant within the present’s first season, she competed alongside Mexico’s greatest cooks of her era. She has additionally taught at Culinaria Pangea and has helmed the kitchens of a number of the greatest eating places in Monterrey. In 2015, she opened her first restaurant, Comuna, in partnership with Rivero González, a north-eastern Mexican vineyard primarily based in Parras, Coahuila, with a department in Lengthy Island, New York.
Her most up-to-date undertaking, Casa Liebre, is a web site, on-line retailer, and social media platform the place she shares her recipes, artisanal gourmand merchandise, and cooking ideas with individuals all around the world. LLM – Luxurious Way of life Journal author Jyoti Balani caught up with Andrea to debate her delight at join with individuals all through the world by way of her cooking, and he or she treats us to a recipe of her personal.
Do you might have a favorite time of 12 months or set of components that you just sit up for working with?
I’ve all the time been a winter individual so root greens and hearty stews and slow-cooked braises have all the time been my favorite to prepare dinner. However altering seasons all the time encourage me. Going from winter to spring produce is my favorite too.
What would you do in case you weren’t a chef?
I wish to be an actress, a tennis participant, and a detective.
Do your private preferences affect the menu in any respect?
Now that I’m sharing my recipes on social media I really feel quite a bit freer to prepare dinner my whims. Not worrying about having the dishes to be stars on a menu is liberating. However I’ve all the time cooked for others and I’m positively nonetheless attempting to make common dishes to share. I consider in ‘the extra the merrier’, and that’s my objective now, to attach with individuals from all around the world by way of my recipes.
What do you suppose is probably the most over-hyped meals pattern at the moment?
I feel there are such a lot of developments at a time that I’ve bother protecting tabs on these developments. I’ve observed an increase in reputation of ‘prompt’ cooking devices. I feel these devices simplify meal prep for individuals with tight schedules and on the identical time enable them to prepare dinner actual, non-fast meals.
When are you happiest?
When I’m in good firm.
Whenever you’re not within the kitchen the place are you able to be discovered?
Eating with buddies. Going out to a restaurant is my favorite exercise. Climbing can also be what I do typically now that we have now been locked down for thus lengthy. I’m taking performing classes as a interest.
The place is your favorite place to dine?
Someplace I haven’t dined earlier than.
What’s your favorite takeaway or consolation meals?
Tacos al pastor! Eternally. As consolation meals, by no means takeout. Corn tortillas endure terribly.
What makes the native meals scene so thrilling?
All of the transformations native eating places have made throughout this pandemic have made town really feel very recent and new. Superb initiatives have emerged on the takeout entrance helmed by the very best eating places on the town. So nice high quality quick meals is now an enormous factor.
Which is the dish you’ve created that you’re most pleased with and why?
I’m all the time proudest of the final dish I cooked.
You’re having buddies over for dinner tonight. What’s on the desk?
I like opening my fridge and making one thing out of what’s there. It’s like a enjoyable problem and that method I cut back waste and take a look at new mixtures I hadn’t considered. Additionally it provides an additional home-made feeling that my buddies get pleasure from.
Title your favorite metropolis that has all of it: meals, tradition, and nightlife.
Mexico Metropolis and New York Metropolis.
Are you able to inform us extra about your meals and the delicacies you specialize in?
Now that Casa Liebre has reworked right into a digital platform the place I share recipes and the strategies I’ve discovered all through my profession, I don’t restrict myself to a sure delicacies however my dishes all the time have a Mexican affect. I’m in Monterrey, a north-eastern metropolis in Mexico, so even when I’m making pasta, my model of it is going to by some means incorporate an ingredient or a way from right here.
I can see that there are extra individuals from all around the world tuning into my social media or our web site now, so I attempt to make some recipes with components virtually everybody can have of their nation. One in every of our short-term targets is to have the ability to ship our merchandise all around the world in addition to making movies in English so we are able to attain extra individuals.
Andrea’s recipe of roasted beet and grapefruit salad
Serves 4
Elements
2 massive beets
2 grapefruits
1 bunch recent thyme
1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds
1 tsp. sea salt
For the French dressing
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Methodology
1. Preheat the oven at 200 levels Celsius. Wrap the beets in aluminium foil and bake them till they’re carried out, roughly 40 minutes. Take away from the oven and discard the aluminium to allow them to cool. Take away the pores and skin together with your arms when they’re at a manageable temperature. Slice and put aside.
2. Slice the grapefruit in the identical thickness because the beets, and reduce the rinds with a knife. Discard the seeds utilizing a toothpick.
3. For the French dressing, place the Dijon mustard, honey, soy, rice vinegar, and pepper in a bowl. Whisk the components collectively. Add the olive oil in a lightweight stream whereas whisking, to emulsify the French dressing. Season with salt to style.
4. Place the beet and grapefruit slices on a plate. Drizzle them with French dressing. End the dish with recent thyme leaves, sea salt, and the toasted sunflower seeds.