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!
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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! |
