Throw Back Thursday

Since today is Thursday, and since we will be having left over amazing soup from last night, I thought I would throw back to a much more exciting week. My favorite week of cooking I’ve ever done was just a few weeks ago. Peru week.

Peru week started by a conversation my husband and I had over the one and only Peruvian meal I make often, Pollo saltado, which by the way is REALLY good. I told Nolan I was sorry that I only make one Peruvian meal, but at least the one I make is really good. He just shrugged and said it was ok, but that really I could make any meal I wanted. I was halfway offended and halfway surprised to hear him say I could make anything I wanted.

Pollo saltado

I thought about Nolan’s comment for the rest of the evening and when the kids went to bed I started searching for good Peruvian recipes that I could actually make with the ingredients we have here. I was super excited to see that there really were several things I could make. But would they be any good? Stoves in Peru are gas, and let me tell you, a meal cooked over an open fire is just better. I wish I had a gas stove here, but I don’t. Nolan has been bugging me for months to let him make ceviche, you know, raw fish. We live in Tennessee ok, there is no such thing as fresh fish. The thought of eating fish in TN just grosses me out. Then I remembered my mom talking about how she gets really good fish at Whole Foods, and its about the freshest fish we can get here. So numero uno on my list of things to make was ceviche. I just prayed it wouldn’t be disgusting and that we wouldn’t get sick. I wasn’t even considering it being phenomenal, but oh it was!!

Here is what our “Peru week” looked like.

Primer dia:

Arroz chaufa y ceviche

Arroz chaufa is often confused as Chinese fried rice, it is not the same thing. Although chaufa is similar, it is NOT fried rice. The main ingredients include,

White rice

Soy sauce

Garlic

Green onion

Ginger

Chicken

Bacon

Red bell pepper

Egg

Cilantro (duh!)

Salt & pepper to taste

YUM! Basically you just mix everything together for a delicious rice dish. This is a very cheap and common meal in Peru, one of my very favorites!

Arroz Chaufa

Ceviche

Here is the recipe I used. I used cod because that is what that mainly use in Peru. I also added a lot more cilantro because cilantro is heavenly! Yall, IT WAS TO DIE FOR! I could not have been more pleased with how it turned out!

Ceviche

Segundo dia:

Tallarines verdes

This is basically pesto that I found here, it was really good, but didn’t touch the amazingness of the ceviche. I just paired the pasta with a green salad and some French bread.

Tallarines Verdes

Tercer dia:

Pollo a la brasa con salsa verde

Rotisserie chicken is a very popular meal in Peru and with good reason, its fantastic. While I obviously can’t slow cook the chicken in a huge rotisserie oven like they do, I have a wonderful Peruvian marinade that I use and it tastes JUST the same. You can buy the marinade at any good Latino market. I marinate the whole chicken for several hours then heat the oven to 500. The moment I put the chicken in the oven I lower the heat to 350, this way the outside is a little crispy and all the juices stay inside. I served the chicken with white rice (almost everything is served with rice in Peru) and their spicy green sauce (found on the table at most restaurants alongside ketchup) that I found here (notice I only used that recipe for the green sauce not the chicken) The chicken was super good, but the green sauce was the best part and is basically drinkable it’s sooooo good!

Pollo a la brasa con salsa verde

The marinade

Cuarto dia:

Arroz con pollo

The literal translation of arroz con pollo is “rice with chicken”, but man is it so much more than that. Here is where I got the recipe. I couldn’t believe how authentic tasting it was! By this day I was like, wow, I can really do this! I can really cook authentic tasting Peruvian food here in Franklin TN, this is amazing! The green sauce came out again because it was so dang good!

Arroz con pollo

Quinto dia:

Caldo de pollo

This was super fun to make! I used the chicken broth I had made from the bones of the rotisserie chicken, so it gave the soup extra amazing flavor. This was actually one of my favorite meals of the week, and BEAUTIFUL! I got the recipe here. Mine is a little more green, because of course I added more cilantro, sorry, but not really.

Caldo de pollo

Sexto dia:

Rocoto Relleno

Stuffed peppers. Enough said. Good grief, have I ever mentioned how much I love food?! I really love Peruvian food. I was reminded how many veggies they use, and spices, and cilantro! This was a really good meal that I found here.

Rocoto relleno

El ultimo dia:

Carapulcra

This is a super thick and tasty pork stew. I like mine a little more soup like. I have to say, I was really sad that Peru week was coming to an end, but I really enjoyed making this meal too. Here is where I found the recipe.

Carapulcra

I WILL do another Peru week sometime soon. I think I will skip out on the pesto, like I said, it was really good, but probably too similar to regular pesto. I will for sure be adding anticuchos, grilled cow heart, YUM! Don’t knock it till you try it! Anticuchos and Alpaca were two of my favorite foods when I lived in Peru. Both sound a little iffy, but I promise you with my whole heart, they are AMAZING and soooo worth it!

On a side note, aren't my handmade bowls from Peru beautiful?! I made sure to use them each day, because why not?!