Around the World Dinners went to Peru!

Last night was our first dinner from South America. Peru's cuisine is influenced by the finest cuisines around the world: French, Chinese, Indian, etc. We learned about Peru's cuisine on Wikipedia (of course!) and found lots of recipes on recipezaar.com.

Peru Menu (recipes for the bold-faced items will follow):
Tacu Tacu (lentils and rice)
Papas Rellenas (stuffed potatoes, stuffed with tuna, tomatoes, eggs, and olives)
and for dessert, alfajores (cookies with caramel).
The grownups also had Pisco Sours to drink (M had a Naked Juice, his current favorite drink).

M's interruption:
I liked the tacu tacu and alfajores (and of course, my Naked Juice). no wonder Peru's cuisine combines the finest!

Back to Anne. Here are the recipes.

Tacu Tacu

Tacu Tacu is often served with a fried egg and/or a piece of steak on top. We skipped both options. The original recipe suggested stirring in traditional aji paste. I couldn't find aji paste in the local groceries and it would have been too spicy for M with the aji paste stirred in, so we put Mexican Valentino salsa picante on the table. Valentino is probably spicier than aji paste would have been but we still liked it.

8 side dish servings

Ingredients

* 1 cup dried brown lentils (7 ounces)

* 7 1/4 cups water, divided

* 2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic, divided

* 6 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

* 1 cup long-grain white rice

* 1 small red onion, finely chopped

Directions

1. Bring lentils, 5 cups water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan, then simmer, uncovered, until lentils are just tender, 12 to 25 minutes (depending on age of lentils). Drain, then transfer to a large bowl.

2. Meanwhile, cook 1 teaspoon garlic and the onion in 1tablespoon oil in another heavy medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring, 1 minute. Add rice and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add remaining 2 1/4 cups water and 1 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil, then cook, covered, over low heat 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 10 minutes. Stir rice from top to bottom with a rubber spatula, then stir into lentils.

3. Heat remaining 1/4 cup oil in skillet over medium heat until hot. Add rice mixture and fry, gently flattening with a spatula, until a golden-brown crust forms on underside, about 3 minutes. Stir rice and fry, flattening it, until a crust forms on underside again, about 3 minutes more. Repeat frying and stirring until bits of crust are dispersed throughout, about 9 minutes more (about 15 minutes total frying time).

Alfajores
I'll give you the original recipe for the cookies. But I always have trouble with any dough that needs to be chilled: mine comes out crumbly. So we baked the dough in a loaf pan for 18 minutes and used the caramel as frosting. Really yummy, even if it wasn't as pretty as the little cookies would have been. And I never knew how easy it is to make caramel!

Ingredients

Cookies (24 -26 cookies):

* 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter

* 1 cup confectioners' sugar

* 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

* 1/4 teaspoon salt

* 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1/3 cup ground almonds

* 3 cups flour

Caramel:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Directions

1. Cream butter with confectioners' and granulated sugar until fluffy.

2. Stir in remaining ingredients.

3. Wrap and chill 30 minutes.

4. If chilled longer let it warm up until it can be rolled.

5. Or, whack it with a rolling pin until it cooperates.

6. Roll dough out to 1/4" thickness, cut in 2 1/2" circles and place on parchment lined cookie sheet.

7. Bake at 350° for 12-14 minutes.

8. Cool cookie sheets between batches.

9. Cool cookies on wire rack.

10. Carefully (they're fragile cookies) spread some caramel on one cookie and top with another cookie.

11. Dust tops with confectioners' sugar and enjoy immediately having a crisp cookie-the way they were meant to be eaten.

12. They will turn soft after setting.

13. Alternatively the cookies can be filled with the rewarmed caramel as needed.

Caramel: Take the label off the can of condensed milk and open the top of the can. Cover the can with aluminum foil. Place the can in a larger casserole dish and fill the casserole dish with hot water. Bake at 425 degrees for about 1 ¾ hours. Stir the thickened brown gooey caramel. Very easy and no cleanup. Too easy!

Pisco Sours
Traditional drink in Peru and Chile. Pisco is a grape brandy made (I think) from the remains after making wine. Pisco Sours are like margaritas or whiskey sours, but maybe a little sourer.
1. Add equal parts simple syrup, Pisco, and lime juice in a shaker.
2. Add ice. Shake and strain. I drink mine in a martini glass.