THURSDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 2012
Peruvian Food - Causas, Cuy, Rocoto relleno, Ponderaciones
I cannot complete my Peruvian gastronomic adventure without showing you these very Peruvian dishes. The causa, seen below in two different guises but recognizably the same ingredients - the yellow layers of mashed potatoes with lemon sauce stuffed with fish or chicken salad. It's a delicious first course, especially combined with avocado in some instances. Lots of recipes on the web, check out this one for the causa rellena.
With apologies to my pet-loving friends and family, I have to at least briefly mention and show a small photo of the "cuy" (guinea pig), a Peruvian delicacy. During pre-Columbian Incan times, it was food only for the nobility. It is now raised commercially and is considered a staple of Andean cuisine. We tried this roasted version in a restaurant near the Plaza de Armas in Cusco. I would say the taste was "interesting", a little gamey, definitely would need lots of herbs in the cooking process. Texture was very much like pork, but a bit more chewy. There was not a lot of meat but enough for two as you get tired of the rather intense flavour after a few pieces. Worth a try.
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| Causa rellena - layered potato and tuna salad (from the Inka Grill in Cusco) |
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| Rocoto relleno or "fire in your mouth" - stuffed chilli peppers, a traditional Andean dish from Arequipa. I have lifted the cheese to show the stuffing, a combination of beef and vegetables |
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| Rocoto relleno |
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| Cuy - guinea pig roasted |
On to something tamer - the ponderaciones is a Peruvian pastry - sounded exotic and looked good, but not the best dessert we've tasted.
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| Ponderaciones |
This pear poached in red wine, however, was outstanding - the best dessert on the trip (also at the Inka Grill)
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Finally, we can't leave Peru without tasting its famous chocolate! We got this chocolate basket by fluke. I was unable to get room service at the Lima Sheraton to understand my Spanglish request for a kettle. After 4 or 5 phone calls, I finally got one but it didn't work. I went and talked to Guest Services. They were apologetic and the same guy who brought me the kettle brought me this spectacle on a tray. The chocolate was deep, dark and intense! What luck!
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| This wraps up my Peruvian food adventure. It has been quite a trip! To see the actual travel, please visit http://www.travelswithrarecat.blogspot.ca. Thanks for coming along. |
SATURDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2012
Peruvian Feast - Beef hearts, roast pig, patacones
On the way to Cusco, we stopped by the Wayra Ranch for a lunch and horse show. We ate outdoors, right beside the oven. The very Peruvian barbequed beef hearts were delicious - I love chicken hearts but have never had beef hearts before. The high point for us was the discovery of the crispy skin of the roast pork hidden among the other roasted meats. Most of us were quite full by that time and no one at our table even noticed it or touched it. We decided to risk indigestion and indulged ourselves with the melt-in-your mouth skin and moist pork pieces. What a treat!
The roasted meats were served with patacones, deep-fried plantain that is very common in Latin America. There was abundant chicha morada, the very popular Peruvian corn beverage - mildly sweet, a little like grape juice. It was a memorable feast in a very beautiful setting.
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| Roasted chicken and potatoes in the open oven |
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| Mini empanadas and salad with chicha morada |
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| Corn - the "food of kings" in Inca times |
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| Trout - moist and tasty |
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| Beef hearts and tamales |
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| The tamales were very similar to the Chinese ones |
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| Crispy skin of roast pork |
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| Patacones in syrup |
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| Have to end with fruit plate just for relief! Note the local passion fruit - sweetest ever. |
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| Stunning art glass in the entrance lobby |
MONDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2012
Peruvian Food 3 - avocado, beef, causitas
Causitas is a popular Peruvian finger food made with mashed potatoes and lime juice with a touch of yellow chili pepper sauce. It was delicious and was yet another variation of the many foods made with potatoes in the country. I had this as an appetizer with local avocado and guacomole - an outstanding combination of flavours. The alpaca confit appetizer, however, was a far cry from the alpaca loin I had as a main at the Aranwa - it tasted a little like beef jerky.
As expected, the beef tenderloin was excellent, as with all the beef we'd tried in Peru. It was served with chimichurri, a delicious parsley sauce that is very popular in all the South American countries. It's not uniquely Peruvian but I was glad I had an opportunity to try it. Apparently it's used like a pesto sauce down there.
We had a variety of desserts over our two nights at the Inkaterra hotel in Machu Picchu - the best was the ricotta cheese cake, better than the chocolate cake or the creme caramel. Creme caramel seemed to be a very popular dessert in Peru - it's everywhere, even at the supermarket dessert counter in Lima (you can buy it by weight) - but too starchy for my liking. Both cheese and chocolate are Peruvian - both excellent!
As expected, the beef tenderloin was excellent, as with all the beef we'd tried in Peru. It was served with chimichurri, a delicious parsley sauce that is very popular in all the South American countries. It's not uniquely Peruvian but I was glad I had an opportunity to try it. Apparently it's used like a pesto sauce down there.
We had a variety of desserts over our two nights at the Inkaterra hotel in Machu Picchu - the best was the ricotta cheese cake, better than the chocolate cake or the creme caramel. Creme caramel seemed to be a very popular dessert in Peru - it's everywhere, even at the supermarket dessert counter in Lima (you can buy it by weight) - but too starchy for my liking. Both cheese and chocolate are Peruvian - both excellent!
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| Avocado with causitas, guacamole and yellow chilli pepper sauce |
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| Alpaca confit |
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| Beef tenderloin on mashed potatoes with chimichurri and Marsala sauce |
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| Creme caramel - no surprises |
La "Bete noire" - exotic name for chocolate cake made with Peruvian chocolate
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| Ricotta cheesecake - the winner! |
THURSDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2012
Peruvian Food 2 - Quinoa, corn, alpaca
Urubamba in the Sacred Valley is where many tourists come to acclimatize to the high altitude. It's a few thousand feet below Cuzco and only an hour away. And since we were supposed to take it easy the first day of arrival at high altitude, we didn't do much other than eat that day - perfectly fine with me. We had a buffet lunch outdoors in a gazebo in a very nice restaurant with its own llamas, alpacas and some very colourful macaws. Dinner was at an even nicer restaurant in the Aranwa Sacred Valley hotel. Here are some of the very Peruvian food we ate.
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| Quinoa is an important Peruvian staple. Here it is served cold in a mold with peas, carrots and peppers mixed in. Delicious! |
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| This looks and tastes like spinach pastry |
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| We were supposed to eat light the first day - this is all I allowed myself for lunch. You can see the large roasted corn kernels and the sweet potato (almost at every meal). Avocado is in abundance and in many combinations. Here (on the right) it is served with fish between some kind of corn bread - very tasty. (I didn't take pictures of the desserts) |
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| Outdoor restaurant |
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| The one in front is the alpaca |
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| Dinner is at the Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel |
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| This is the "cream of the day" and unfailingly pumpkin (for the rest of the trip)! Quite a contrast from "Grandma's pumpkin soup" we had in Lima, with a much more delicate flavour. |
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| This is a Napoleon "crunchy ham tartar alpaca" with avocado and cilantro. Our guide assured us that it is not raw so I had alpaca for both first and main. You can't really taste the alpaca in this Napoleon but it was an interesting combination of textures. |
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| And here is my first (and best) alpaca, loin done medium - my favourite Peruvian food. |
THURSDAY, 11 OCTOBER 2012
Peruvian Food 1
For a total change in tastes, we head to the cooking of Peru. I just returned from a 10 day trip to the country and enjoyed a plethora of Peruvian food, with varying degrees of quality but always interesting.
It started with breakfast at the Swissotel in Lima the morning of our arrival. We were surprised at the selection of local food made available for breakfast - this included things like tamales, Chinese porridge, Peruvian braised pork, sweet potatoes, potatoes and more potatoes - that is the national staple. We were subsequently told that there were 3000 types of potatoes in Peru! Granted, the Swissotel was hardly the place for the real thing, but it gave us a first taste of at least Peruvian style cooking and as I've read in travel guides, the heavy influence of Chinese cooking.
We had our first dinner in Lima at a restaurant called Tanta, within walking distance of our hotel and recommended by our guide - the main reason for our choice. I found out just now that this is one of several restaurants run by celebrity chef Gaston Acurio. There were certainly no celebrity presence when we were there, it seemed like a very casual restaurant although as the evening wore on, some serious looking cars pulled up in front. It was at a chic location.
For firsts, we decided to try Grandma's pumpkin cream soup and an empanada as they seemed freshly made on the counter . The empanada was very good, but Grandma's soup was likely true to its name - it was very salty, probably right in vogue when Grandma was around!
I ordered the tuna from the main menu but was disappointed that it was cooked although maybe it was just as well since we were warned not to eat anything uncooked at least for the first few days. My dinner companion ordered an interesting stuffed fish with Chinese fried rice with asparagus and scallions. An excellent choice. The dessert, an ice cream with fruit including lucama, was good but I started to worry as I ate - again because of food warnings. I was lucky. We preserved ourselves for another week of Peruvian gastronomic experience.
It started with breakfast at the Swissotel in Lima the morning of our arrival. We were surprised at the selection of local food made available for breakfast - this included things like tamales, Chinese porridge, Peruvian braised pork, sweet potatoes, potatoes and more potatoes - that is the national staple. We were subsequently told that there were 3000 types of potatoes in Peru! Granted, the Swissotel was hardly the place for the real thing, but it gave us a first taste of at least Peruvian style cooking and as I've read in travel guides, the heavy influence of Chinese cooking.
We had our first dinner in Lima at a restaurant called Tanta, within walking distance of our hotel and recommended by our guide - the main reason for our choice. I found out just now that this is one of several restaurants run by celebrity chef Gaston Acurio. There were certainly no celebrity presence when we were there, it seemed like a very casual restaurant although as the evening wore on, some serious looking cars pulled up in front. It was at a chic location.
For firsts, we decided to try Grandma's pumpkin cream soup and an empanada as they seemed freshly made on the counter . The empanada was very good, but Grandma's soup was likely true to its name - it was very salty, probably right in vogue when Grandma was around!
I ordered the tuna from the main menu but was disappointed that it was cooked although maybe it was just as well since we were warned not to eat anything uncooked at least for the first few days. My dinner companion ordered an interesting stuffed fish with Chinese fried rice with asparagus and scallions. An excellent choice. The dessert, an ice cream with fruit including lucama, was good but I started to worry as I ate - again because of food warnings. I was lucky. We preserved ourselves for another week of Peruvian gastronomic experience.
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| Chicken empanada was excellent |
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| Grandma's pumpkin cream soup |
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| The rice tasted as good as it looked, as was the stuffed fish with a crunchy batter |
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| This is the tuna, believe it or not. I could barely finish one piece, had a taste of the ample mashed potatoes and left the salad in tact. |
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| This speaks for itself - I had half and didn't get sick. |
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| This was the best part - two artistic dudes gave the place a homey touch. |
