Mexican-born chef shapes Nicaraguan cuisine, community - main dishes for mexican restaurants

NEW YORK (Reuters)-
Chef Cupertino Ortiz likes to challenge.
Earlier this year, when he served as executive chef at Mukul, Nicaragua's first luxury beach resort, he found neither identifiable dishes nor cohesive menus, it's only two hours from the city where food was recently purchased.
"You have to be very organized," Ortiz said . " He first established relationships with nearby farms and fisheries and recruited local kitchen help.
He also began to apply Mediterranean technology to the traditional flavor of Nicaragua.
Ortiz, born in akapura, Mexico, has honed his skills at restaurants and resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean, most recently as an executive chef at Sugar Beach resort on the Holy IslandLucia.
On a recent visit to New York City, 35-year-old Ortiz told Reuters that he was trained in the kitchen instead of the cooking school and reinvented Nicaragua's comfort food for a luxury resort.
Q: How did you decide to be a chef?
A: I wanted to be A chef since I was A child.
I have always been interested in the taste and sauce, I like the food made by my mother.
Q: What is your training?
A: I don't want to go to cooking school.
I started with the French kitchen.
Mexican restaurant in akapura.
I am a chef of manager garde (
Cook preparing cold food)
Then cook.
My boss sent me to train in San Francisco, Australia and Chicago.
Q: Describe your cooking skills.
My focus is on Mediterranean cuisine.
I love cooking with seafood and I am lucky to work at the resort near the ocean.
My cooking is simple, clean and not too heavy.
If it is a fish, you will like the fish.
Q: What challenges did you encounter in Mukul?
When I arrived at Mukul, there was not much food that was fresh and was close.
So I started working with local farms and fisheries and training the locals.
Now the fish comes from the neighboring village of Gigante. . .
I opened a garden a few months ago.
We have zucchini, corn, tomatoes, rosemary, basil. . .
We created a farm that grows avocado, papaya, mango.
One idea is to plant all the vegetables, herbs and fruits.
Q: What is "Cocina Nikul?
When we arrived at Mukul, the food was not clear. Mr. Pellas (
Owner Carlos Perras)
I want to bring in his mother's Nicaragua.
So I made a few Nicaraguans with a Mediterranean flavor.
This is what we call "cocina nikul ".
Q: What are some typical ingredients?
A: shayette is a small pumpkin that Nicaragua and Mexicans use in almost every dish.
But they are familiar with it.
I used raw and thin slices.
And yucca: people do it in the streets in Nicaragua.
It's called vigaron. it's like coleslaw.
I use Yuka differently.
I'm going to cut it into raw, use it to be crispy in the sour orange pickled fish, or use Silan as a tuanzi.
Is there a surprise?
A: I used American beef all the time, and I would love to cook it before going to Nicaragua.
Quality of grass-
It's great to eat Nicaragua beef.
Americans may find it a bit difficult but more delicious.
Their pork and mutton are also organic. raised.
The cheese in Nicaragua is very, very good.
Q: Do you think you are a pioneer? A: I love it.
I am very happy to work there.
I like to help work for people in the area and train them.
I like to be part of the whole idea.
Cold pineapple from Cupertino Ortiz (Serves 2-4)
2 cups peeled and chopped fresh pineapple 2 tablespoons chopped yellow onion 2 tablespoons chopped sweet pepper 2 slices fresh basil 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar 1 tablespoon
1 slice of white bread with virgin olive oil, soaked in milk for 5 minutes, 1 tablespoon of original yogurt salt and pepper seasoned 1.
Mix pineapple, onion, bell pepper, basil and vinegar and soak them in a bowl for five minutes. 2.
Heat the oil with a frying pan and heat the heat to medium. 3.
Put the pickled ingredients in a heated pan and fry them for two minutes. Let it cool. 4.
After cooling, put the fried ingredients into the blender.
Add yogurt and bread.
Mix everything together for about 1 minute until the mixture is smooth but few. 5.
Season with salt and pepper. 6.
Put the mixture in the bowl and put it in the refrigerator 2-3 to chill. 7. Serve cold.
Can be made and refrigerated one day in advance.