When my Irish friend, Selena, was still in Cuzco, we started up the family dinner tradition. She is a way more talented chef than I, but I still managed to carry on the tradition in her absence. The only upside to Selena leaving- family dinners didn't have to be vegetarian anymore. Here are some highlights, as well as some traditional Peruvian recipes I tried out. Thanks to Amy, Chandler, Corey and the other random family dinner atendees that sometimes showed up and tried out my cuisine.
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| Some of my favorite things in Cusco.... Amy, Chandler, and Clos! |
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| Selena hard at work! |
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| I believe this was an eggplant and zucchini bake! Yum! |
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| At some point we started incorporating bouquets into the tradition. |
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| This was quinoa burger night! Perfectly complemented by a Cusquena beer, right Chandler? |
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| Mmmmm quinoa burgers... Selena you have to send me this recipe! |
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| Potato salad |
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| Dessert- mangos cooked up with some cinnamon and served with vanilla icecream! Amy likes! |
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| Sadidt and Cecilia came over to make Amy a farewell from the house dinner or Rocoto Relleno! I took notes! |
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| Amy and Cecilia looking forward to digging in! |
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| Adding the final touches of cheese and egg with milk to the Rocoto Relleno Arequipeno |
RECIPE: ROCOTO RELLENO AREQUIPENO
ingredients:
rocoto peppers (5 or 6)
1/2 cup of peas
1/2 cup of habas
1/2 cup of diced carrots
1/4 cup of diced tomatoes with seeds removed (the seeds can make a great appetizer
sprinkled with sugar or salt! Don't waste a thing!)
3-4 onions, diced
1/2 cup milk
5 egg whites: 2 boiled, 3 beat and mixed with milk before peppers go in oven
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
1/4 pound ground beef
1/4 raisins chopped
4-5 slices of queso andino or a mild, soft cheese
1. Boil water and add carrots and peas- boil until moderately soft
2. Chop peanuts or mix in blender
3. Sautee onion, carrots, peas, habas, peanuts and raisins in a pan with vegetable oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add ground beef and continue cooking for 5 more minutes or until beef is browned.
4.To prepare the rocoto, you will need to put the peppers, with seeds and stem removed, in water and bring to a boil 3 times, changing the water each time. I recommend, after a painful experience with burning hands, to wear gloves at all times when handling the rocoto peppers.
5. After the onion and carrot mixture has cooked for 15 minutes, add diced egg whites.
6. Beat egg whites with milk.
7. Put the rocoto peppers in a pan and fill with onion/beef mixture. Top peppers with cheese, and pour egg/milk mixture over the top.
8. Bake peppers for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve hot, and warn guests about how spicy the peppers are!
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| Rocoto Relleno served with Tallarino de Pollo Saltado! Success! |
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| An awesome Saturday morning breakfast made just for me- my usual banana oatmeal gluten free pancakes topped with apples sauteed with cinnamon and powedered to top it off! I spoil myself :) |
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| My Peruvian cooking instructors! Cecilia and Sadidt making Lomo Saltado |
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| Buen provecho! Lomo Saltado, a typical Peruvian favorite! See recipe below. |
LOMO SALTADO
Ingredients:
3-4 onions
4 tomatoes (no seeds!)
3-4 cloves of garlic
2 aji peppers
2-3 bell peppers
about a kilo of potatoes
1/2 kilo of beef, thinly sliced in strips
salt
pepper
soy sauce
rice
*I was also told my Morissa that her boyfriend, Umberto, makes a killer Lomo using a quarter cup of Pisco used to flambe the beef, and some fresh ginger. I did not try this, but it could be interesting.
1. Peel the potatoes, cut into strips and fry in vegetable oil.
2. Cut onions, peppers and aji into long, thin slices. Chop garlic. Saute over medium heat.
3. When onions and peppers are close to finished, add tomatoes, also cut into thin strips with seeds removed.
4. Add beef in strips and the fried potatoes. Cook long enough for meat to brown and flavors to blend. Add salt, pepper and soy sauce to taste, and serve over rice.
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| I brought Costa Rica to Peru! I made Arroz con Pollo (Rice with Chicken) for Sadidt, Amy and Cecilia, |
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| Costa Rican Arroz con Pollo |
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| Selena's last family dinner- stuffed zucchini! |
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| My first attempt at Rocoto Relleno, and Amy's brother Roger's first meal in Cusco. Successful, but noone told me I should wear gloves when handling the peppers. My hands were burning for about 24 hours afterwards... so much that I had to keep pressing my hands up against the cold gladd tables at school when I was teaching that night! |
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| Dessert was my gluten free carrot cake, made with quinoa and kiwicha flour. It was Elias' birthday cake, though a bit late. Elias wanted to eat the whole thing, but we made him share a little! Sorry, this is a secret recipe I can't share :) |
CAUSA: So I don't have my own photos for this recipe, so I found this one online. Unfortunately the first time I made it and ate it my parasite didn't enjoy it so much, so it came back up all over Corey's apartment. But everyone else enjoyed it, so here is the recipe!
Ingredients:
3 cans of solid white tuna
3 red onions
4 tomatoes, seeds removed
2 avocadoes
5-6 limes
1 aji pepper
1 kilo of potatoes
mayonaise
4 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup milk
salt
aji molido (spicy pepper sauce)
1. Peel potatoes and cut into quarter. Boil until soft. Drain water, remove from heat. Using a beater or your muscle power, mix until soft. Add milk, butter, salt to taste and aji sauce. Put in fridge to cool while you prepare the filling.
2. Dice onions, tomatoes and aji. Put in bowl together and squeeze the juice from the limes into the bowl. Add a bit of salt to taste.
3. Dice avocadoes.
4. Mix tuna with mayonaise.
5. When potatoes are pretty cool, spread in the bottom of a baking pan or casserole dish. Cover the bottom of the pan in a layer of potatoes about a half inch thick. Next, spread onion/tomato mixture over the potatoes evenly. Next, spread tuna , followed by the avocado. Top with the rest of the potatoes and smooth the top layer til flat. Chill in the frige and serve cold.
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| Corey's super cool new shoes |
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| This was a non Peruvian meal- chicken curry and veggies. The new guy is Corey's friend Chris from home. |
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| The effects of a box of Clos on finger puppets |
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| Chicken and Veggie Curry |
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| Dinner music for my last family dinner in Cusco. Not really, but this picture is epic. Amy tried to give us all violin lessons. |
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| More dinner music. Sing it Corey. The best was that he was actually using that spoon to help me make dinner! |
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| "Don't leave, Erica" |
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| So happy to cook you you guys! |
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| Lomo Saltado again |
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| CHOW DOWN! |
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| Dessert was a banana pie with chocolate and icecream... you know its good when they lick the plate! |
