Chances are, if you\u2019re planning a trip to Mexico City, the most universal recommendation you\u2019ll get is to have lunch at Contramar. Heed the call. The celebrated restaurant in the Roma Norte neighborhood is most famous for its whole red snapper painted in vibrant swaths of red chile and green parsley sauces, but the menu is filled with must-try seafood (like the impeccable tuna tostadas). The mastermind behind it, and several other decorated restaurants across the city, is chef Gabriela C\u00e1mara.<\/p>\n
C\u00e1mara is one of the busiest chefs I know and she\u2019s still tackling new projects, like Cantina Contramar in Las Vegas, so she cherishes time at home. In a kitchen warmed by sunlight streaming in from glass doors, you\u2019ll find stacks of cookbooks, walls lined with her grandmother\u2019s copper baking pans, and bowls overflowing with produce from her garden. Here, C\u00e1mara shares how she stays inspired and well-fed between shifts.<\/p>\n
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<\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWolf 48″ Dual Fuel Range, 4 Burners and Infrared Dual Griddle<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Once a week C\u00e1mara meal preps breakfasts by making a large pot of beans and a batch of tortillas on the infrared dual griddle built into her stove. For dinner, it\u2019s a feast inspired by her Italian mother\u2019s home cooking. C\u00e1mara cranks one burner to 20,000 BTU to quickly boil fresh pasta and lowers the next to a gentler 300 BTU to simmer sauces whipped up with leftover garden vegetables. She takes advantage of the spacious and precise convection oven when she\u2019s entertaining a crowd. Her favorite dish to serve? A salt-covered baked fish (she recommends starting with a large fatty fillet or even a whole side). \u201cIt\u2019s the foolproof method for baking fish without overcooking it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n