Back in November, I posted the recipe for one of my favorite 'entradas', papas a la huancaina. But there's another dish that I love, very similar, called ocopa. Now, I have discovered that there are different kinds of ocopa - ocopa, ocopa a la Arequipena (Arequipa style), and ocopa a la Limena (Lima style). The kind I've learned to love is the Lima style. It's delicious creamy and with a peanut flavor that's a real switch from the typical food here.
Now, to be honest, when I'm cooking at home I usually take the short cut and buy a pack of Provenzal Ocopa mix - quick, easy, just mix it with milk and oil and it's ready to go. But, if you do want to make it from scratch, it's not that much more difficult.
1 kilo (2 pounds) of papa amarilla, boiled and sliced into half inch rounds (Yukon Golds work great for this) 500 grams of onion, diced 100 grams vanilla cookies (vanilla wafers will work) 50 grams of queso fresco (ricotta, feta or farmer's cheese can substitute) 50 grams of peanut, chopped into very small pieces. 5 ají verde, de-seeded 6 cloves of garlic, peeled evaporated milk
1) In a frying pan with a tbsp. of oil, saute the garlic, the onion and the aji until the onion is translucent and everything is soft.
2) Put the onion mixture in the blender or food processer, and blend together with the cookies, the cheese, and the peanuts. You don't want to over-blend, just until you have a creamy sauce that's slightly thick. If it's too thick, add evaporated milk until you get the right consistency.
3) Serve the potatoes on a bed of lettuce, and spoon the cream sauce on top. Decorate with black olive slices if you'd like.
In the central highlands of Peru you'll find a province called Huancayo. This province is known for many things - the Cerrito de la Libertad, the statue of the Virgin of Concepcion... but it's most known for it's food. In particular, it's known for a potato dish called papas a la huancaina (huancayo style potatoes... clever, eh?) This is a delicious dish, usually served as an appetizer but sometimes as a side dish that consists of boiled and sliced potatos covered in a spicy cheese sauce. It's the first authentic Peruvian dish I ever tasted, and is one of my favorites still. And here's how you make it!
vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 aji amarillo (yellow peruvian pepper) - seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cups queso fresco or queso blanco (farmers cheese - I've been told feta will do in a pinch)
saltine crackers
3/4 cup evaporated milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Saute the onion, aji and garlic in 2 0r 3 tbsps of vegetable oil, until the onion becomes soft and translucent.
Put the sauted mixture in a blender or food processer, and puree it with the cheese and evaporated milk.
Add crackers as needed to make it thick - this should be a fairly thick sauce that sticks to the spoon. If you get it too thick, add a little more evaporated milk to thin it out
Add salt and pepper to taste
Boil whole potatoes until cooked through, but don't let them get real soft! (If you're in Peru, you'll want to use papas rosadas for this - do NOT use papas amarillas!) After they've cooked, let them cool enough to touch then take the skin off and slice in 1/2 inch slices.
Arrange each serving like this - - 1 lettuce leaf or a small bed of shredded lettuce - 3 slices of potato - sauce to cover - decorate with a quarter of a hard boiled egg and a couple slices of black olive
I've been sick, and not feeling up to cooking the last few days. Stupid headcold! But I had some ground beef thawed out and it was getting to the point where I had to use it, or I was gonna lose it.
So, I decided to make a meat loaf. Now, usually, I make 'souper' meatloaf with Lipton Onion soup mix, but I have run out and won't have anymore until January when Mom comes back. I had switched to using Good Season's Italian seasoning mix, but that's all run out too. So, I looked around in the cupboard and fridge, and took stock of what I had on hand, and this is what I came up with.
Pizza Loaf!
1 kg (2lbs) ground beef 1 tbsp Nature's Seasonings 1 packet of saltines, pulverized to powder 1/2 small can of tomato sauce (I used roasted garlic flavor) - save other half for later 1 tsp garlic powder 1 egg As much mozzarella cheese as you like.
I put all those ingredients except for the cheese together in a bowl and mixed until it was all incorporated. Transfer half of the mixture to a casserole or baking dish and flatten it out. Spoon a little of the remaining tomato sauce on and spread it around, like on a pizza dough. Next, add a layer of mozzarella cheese. I used thin slices, because grating it just seemed like too much work today. Spread the remainder of the meat mixture on top, flatten it out and press the seams together. This part was a little tricky, the sauce wanted to squirt out the sides. But I was prepared for that, and had made a little 'lip' around the edge of the bottom layer of meat, and flattened out the top layer as much as possible before laying it on top.
Cook it in a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes covered, then take the top off for the last 5 minutes. (I covered it with tin foil at the start, because I used a 9x13 pan instead of my regular casserole) Serve topped with the rest of the tomato sauce.
*Note - picture is NOT my pizza loaf - just a generic meatloaf I found on Wiki. We ate ours up faster than I could find the camera!
My husband cooked up some bacon this morning, and woke me up with a yummy bacon sandwich on potato bread. With a glass of fresh made lime-ade. Yum, and that limaid sure felt good on my sore throat.
For lunch today, I made what I consider 'white trash' cooking. My definition of white trash cooking includes anything where the majority of the ingredients come from boxes or cans - quick and easy, tastes good, not always low-fat/low-sodium ;) My boys love mac n cheese, (like most kids their age) so I decided to make a meal based around that. Armed with two boxes of regular Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and a 1/2K (appr. 1lb) of very lean ground beef, I set to making some cheeseburger macaroni.
(enough for a family of 4)
2 boxes Mac/cheese dinner 1/2K ground beef 1 tsp chili powder 1 tsp seasoned salt 1/3 cup ketchup
1) Start your water boiling - you want want to use a large pot, since you'll need to boil 2 boxes of noodles. I used about 4 quarts of water - don't forget to dump a big pinch of salt in, and about a tbsp of oil. Put your noodles in when the water starts to boil. Remember, DON'T cover a pot of noodles while it's cooking, it'll make it boil over.
2) While the water's coming to a boil, put your hamburger in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add seasoned salt and chili powder and stir with a wooden or nylon spatula, breaking it up into small crumbles as it cooks. Drain the grease if there's a lot, then add the ketchup and stir well. (If you use a very lean ground beef, there's not going to be enough grease to worry about)
My skillet looks like this:
3) Noodles should be done or near done by now - you want them 'al dente', not mushy - about 8 minutes at a full boil. Drain the water out using a colander or strainer.
4) Dump the noodles on top of the cooked ground beef. Dump in both packets of cheese powder, 3 tbsp butter, 1/2 cup of milk.
5) Using the flat side of the spatula GENTLY mix everything together until the cheese powder is all incorporated and everything is well mixed. You don't want to stir it too vigorously, you'll smash up your noodles and make it all mushy.
That's it - and it tastes pretty much like a cheeseburger.
I served it with corn on the cob via the microwave. If you have fresh corn, break the ears in half, put them in a glass casserole with about an inch of water. Put the top on, and stick it in the micro for 5 minutes. Turn the corn over half way through the cooking. After the 5 minutes is up, check - depending on the size of your corn, you may need another minute or so. Usually, leaving it in the casserole with the top on is enough steam to finish it up.
This was a great little blog while it lasted, but we needed more! So we've moved the whole kit'n caboodle over to My Life in Peru. We hope you'll come and join us over there for more madcap adventures and delicious Peruvian foods.
I got tired of life happening while I made other plans, so I quit my job and came to Peru. I live here with my Peruvian husband, two sons, three dogs and various other family members, depending on the weather.
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