INDULGE’s Daily Dish: Chef Pablo Lamon has a recipe that always takes him back to his grandmother’s table

The message Pablo Lamon’s family instilled in him growing up in Buenos Aires was unquestionably an uncommon one. It was, whenever possible, to be as wild as you want to be. At the parties that broke out anytime family got together, the absolute hardest-partiers were his grandparents. Often, everybody had to hide the wine from them.

“They kind of showed me the way to be crazy,” Lamon remembers of his family. “They let me be the way I wanted to be.”

Maybe — admittedly now — a bit too much. When Lamon was 22 he had an absolutely awful motorcycle accident. By the numbers: 2 surgeries, 2½ months in bed, 1 year relearning how to walk. Afterward, he decided change was in order and set off on the path that led him to the helm of Nativo Kitchen + Bar, with a lot of people (foodies and beyond) watching to see what’s next.

He’s a long way from home now, and when we asked Lamon for a favorite recipe, he gave us one that reminded him of his family. It seemed appropriate for this issue, a dish that, even while away, always manages to bring him back to his roots.

CIRCLING BACK

After Lamon’s accident and the long recovery, he took a job on a Celebrity cruise ship. “Just like everybody said,” he says, “it was super, super hard.” Working the line double shifts without a break no doubt honed his skill. He eventually landed in Miami and found a mentor under chef

Jeremy Ford. It was Ford, who won “Top Chef” season 13, who convinced Lamon to apply for the show. Lamon appeared on season 16 before coming back to Miami and into his old job as chef de cuisine at 27 Restaurant & Bar. But with his new acclaim, that wouldn’t last long.

When the ownership team approached him about Nativo (now permanently closed due to the coronavirus outbreak) in the Conrad Miami, Lamon said yes quickly. “Their offer at the time was for me to do what I do. The limitations were close to none.”

INTUITIVE TASTES

Lamon didn’t want a concept that was pigeon-holed to one type of food, so he looked for inspiration in his adopted city. He considered the mix of cultures we have and how, at any point in the day, food from every corner of the planet are a few blocks away. He also takes inspiration from Argentina.

He hasn’t been back in five years, and so he uses food to bring him there. Like the dish on these pages, locro — it’s a recipe his grandmother wrote down for him a few years back, before she died, on an old scrap of paper.

“It’s one of the strongest memories I have from Argentina, my grandmother making me locro,” he says. “For me, there is nothing greater than when people cook for you. One of the most beautiful feelings in the world is sharing a meal someone has made for you.”

When Lamon sits down with a bowl of it now, it undoubtedly brings him back to those crazy nights with his family, the last bottle of wine hiding somewhere from his grandparents.

Abuela’s Argentinian Locro

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons, plus cup paprika

4 links Spanish chorizo colorado cup cumin

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

3 cups canola oil

2 yellow onions

3 red peppers

½ lb smoked bacon

1 lb stew beef, cut in 1-inch cubes

30 oz canned tomato sauce

17 oz beans, soaked overnight

26½ oz white hominy corn, soaked overnight

¼ head green cabbage, diced

2 medium Idaho potatoes

½ butternut squash

2 medium boniatos (or sweet potato)

2 medium carrots

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Bring to a simmer in a saucepan 1/8 cup paprika, one link chorizo colorado diced, cumin, cayenne pepper and canola oil. Let chorizo colorado oil cool 2 hours, strain and refrigerate.

In a deep pot, sauté yellow onions, red peppers, 3 links chorizo colorado, bacon and roast beef for five minutes. Add tomato sauce, beans and rest of vegetables and cook five minutes.

Season with salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons paprika. Add water until covered and simmer. Cook until beef is tender, about 45 minutes. Add water if necessary to achieve thick stew consistency.

Like Lamon’s grandmother, serve locro with tablespoon drizzle of chorizo colorado oil.