Comments on: Llajwa - Weekend Herb Blogging http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging Casting a little flavor (and a few aspersions) on the world of food, drink, and life Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:52:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Happy 5516! http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-138358 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Happy 5516! Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:38:13 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-138358 [...] hard boiled egg, I bound the whole thing together with lightly beaten eggs, added some chopped huacatay, crumbled some fresh farmer’s cheese over the top and then baked them in the oven. We served [...] [...] hard boiled egg, I bound the whole thing together with lightly beaten eggs, added some chopped huacatay, crumbled some fresh farmer’s cheese over the top and then baked them in the oven. We served [...]

]]> By: SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Argy with a Twist http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-98358 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Argy with a Twist Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:08:28 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-98358 [...] color and a nice glow when egg washed and baked. We served these up with some freshly made Salsa Llajwa - with some modifications - I used fresh tomatoes which had been peeled and seeded, so just the [...] [...] color and a nice glow when egg washed and baked. We served these up with some freshly made Salsa Llajwa - with some modifications - I used fresh tomatoes which had been peeled and seeded, so just the [...]

]]> By: SaltShaker » Blog Archive » A Mere Exaggeration http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-1146 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » A Mere Exaggeration Thu, 10 Aug 2006 18:35:25 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-1146 [...] A few weeks ago one of our local food writers reviewed a new Japanese restaurant located just off the main strip in Barrio Chino. One of the assertions made was “Para empezar debo decir que probé las gyosas mejores de mi vida, sin exagerar.”, or, “To start I have to say that I tried the best gyozas in my life, without exaggeration.” At a later juncture, she also asserts that some of the sushi tried is, in essence, invented on site and not available anywhere else (an example given is salmon with mango and avocado, available from almost any sushi bar here I can think of). On the other hand, this same columnist recently wrote up one of our favorite Peruvian restaurants, Zadvarie, claiming that it is the only place in town offering ocopa arequipeña because they have the only source of huacatay herb in town through a store in Barrio Chino. We eat the dish regularly at other restaurants (and it’s better at some and not as good at others), and as regular readers here know, I buy huacatay in the markets in Liniers by the bagful for mere pesos. [...] [...] A few weeks ago one of our local food writers reviewed a new Japanese restaurant located just off the main strip in Barrio Chino. One of the assertions made was “Para empezar debo decir que probé las gyosas mejores de mi vida, sin exagerar.”, or, “To start I have to say that I tried the best gyozas in my life, without exaggeration.” At a later juncture, she also asserts that some of the sushi tried is, in essence, invented on site and not available anywhere else (an example given is salmon with mango and avocado, available from almost any sushi bar here I can think of). On the other hand, this same columnist recently wrote up one of our favorite Peruvian restaurants, Zadvarie, claiming that it is the only place in town offering ocopa arequipeña because they have the only source of huacatay herb in town through a store in Barrio Chino. We eat the dish regularly at other restaurants (and it’s better at some and not as good at others), and as regular readers here know, I buy huacatay in the markets in Liniers by the bagful for mere pesos. [...]

]]> By: SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Henry Rocks the Casa http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-917 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Henry Rocks the Casa Mon, 31 Jul 2006 19:50:32 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-917 [...] Round two was a double serving of potatoes. Two classic dishes, which I’ve mentioned many times before, are Papas a la Huancaina and Ocopa. They both start from the same base mixture - a large handful of saltine crackers soaked in milk, some type of fresh, creamy cheese (Henry likes Port Salut, though I understand that something more like ricotta or farmer’s cheese is far more traditional). After the crackers are nice and mushy, they get turned into one of the two sauces, or, in our case last night, both. The Huancaina is the simpler of the two, a mere blending of the base mixture with ají panca amarilla. These peppers aren’t available fresh here, so we buy them dried and then reconstitute them in a little boiling water. We started by blending in just the flesh, along with a little powdered ají amarilla as well, mostly for color (the dried peppers turn a fairly dull yellow-orange, whereas the fresh, and the powder, are a vivid yellow), and then added salt and some of the seeds and veins from the boiled peppers to get a little bit of spiciness into it. The Ocopa requires several ingredients - a small amount of the same peppers, nuts (we used toasted pecans, though apparently peanuts are the most traditional, with walnuts being a close second - pecans are apparently “special”), cilantro, and a whole lot of huacatay, or Amazon Black Mint. Traditional toppings are hard-boiled eggs and black olives. [...] [...] Round two was a double serving of potatoes. Two classic dishes, which I’ve mentioned many times before, are Papas a la Huancaina and Ocopa. They both start from the same base mixture - a large handful of saltine crackers soaked in milk, some type of fresh, creamy cheese (Henry likes Port Salut, though I understand that something more like ricotta or farmer’s cheese is far more traditional). After the crackers are nice and mushy, they get turned into one of the two sauces, or, in our case last night, both. The Huancaina is the simpler of the two, a mere blending of the base mixture with ají panca amarilla. These peppers aren’t available fresh here, so we buy them dried and then reconstitute them in a little boiling water. We started by blending in just the flesh, along with a little powdered ají amarilla as well, mostly for color (the dried peppers turn a fairly dull yellow-orange, whereas the fresh, and the powder, are a vivid yellow), and then added salt and some of the seeds and veins from the boiled peppers to get a little bit of spiciness into it. The Ocopa requires several ingredients - a small amount of the same peppers, nuts (we used toasted pecans, though apparently peanuts are the most traditional, with walnuts being a close second - pecans are apparently “special”), cilantro, and a whole lot of huacatay, or Amazon Black Mint. Traditional toppings are hard-boiled eggs and black olives. [...]

]]> By: SaltShaker » Blog Archive » My First Official Ceviche http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-355 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » My First Official Ceviche Sun, 16 Apr 2006 12:24:47 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-355 [...] 1 rocoto pepper 1 hot chile pepper 1 cup of huacatay leaves olive oil salt [...] [...] 1 rocoto pepper 1 hot chile pepper 1 cup of huacatay leaves olive oil salt [...]

]]> By: SaltShaker » Blog Archive » A Little Chicken Dinner… http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-234 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » A Little Chicken Dinner… Thu, 09 Mar 2006 11:59:07 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-234 [...] All of which leads us to last night. Friends Tuomas and Alfredo are in town visiting from Finland. I had made a couple of more sauces from the herbs I talked about last weekend, the huacatay and quirquiña, plus still have plenty of salsa llajwa left over. So we invited them over for dinner, and I decided to start in with just a simple two course meal (plus a bought dessert, horror of horrors - no really, it’s hard to justify baking when there’s a patisserie on the corner that makes amazing tarts for 10-12 pesos apiece). So, I started thinking and hit the markets. I’d mentioned that the salsa works beautifully with shrimp, but frozen shrimp at 140 pesos per kilo (just over $21 a pound) were just not going to fit the bill. In fact, no one seemed to have any non-frozen crustacea yesterday, so I finally picked up some small scallops, which were only reasonably priced by comparison at 80 pesos per kilo ($12 a pound), so I picked up a quarter kilo, or just over half a pound. I tossed these with a bit of the salsa llajwa, and put them in a baking dish with some sun-dried tomatoes that had been soaked for a bit in water to plump up, and some sliced tomatillos. The whole thing then went in the oven, covered with foil, until the tomatillos were cooked through and the tomatoes and scallops had stewed together for a bit. [...] [...] All of which leads us to last night. Friends Tuomas and Alfredo are in town visiting from Finland. I had made a couple of more sauces from the herbs I talked about last weekend, the huacatay and quirquiña, plus still have plenty of salsa llajwa left over. So we invited them over for dinner, and I decided to start in with just a simple two course meal (plus a bought dessert, horror of horrors - no really, it’s hard to justify baking when there’s a patisserie on the corner that makes amazing tarts for 10-12 pesos apiece). So, I started thinking and hit the markets. I’d mentioned that the salsa works beautifully with shrimp, but frozen shrimp at 140 pesos per kilo (just over $21 a pound) were just not going to fit the bill. In fact, no one seemed to have any non-frozen crustacea yesterday, so I finally picked up some small scallops, which were only reasonably priced by comparison at 80 pesos per kilo ($12 a pound), so I picked up a quarter kilo, or just over half a pound. I tossed these with a bit of the salsa llajwa, and put them in a baking dish with some sun-dried tomatoes that had been soaked for a bit in water to plump up, and some sliced tomatillos. The whole thing then went in the oven, covered with foil, until the tomatillos were cooked through and the tomatoes and scallops had stewed together for a bit. [...]

]]> By: Paz http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-223 Paz Sat, 04 Mar 2006 04:28:25 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-223 Cool post. Never hear of any of these herbs before. Very enlightening. Paz Cool post. Never hear of any of these herbs before. Very enlightening.

Paz

]]> By: dan http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-222 dan Fri, 03 Mar 2006 21:35:43 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060302/llajwa-weekend-herb-blogging#comment-222 The seeds in rocotos should be black, so that's normal. If they've been refrigerated, that's probably why they didn't grow, who knows? These days, cilantro is readily available here. The seeds in rocotos should be black, so that’s normal. If they’ve been refrigerated, that’s probably why they didn’t grow, who knows?

These days, cilantro is readily available here.

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