the ins and outs of Peruvian cooking
We call this cake turrón although it has nothing in common with the Spanish turrón, or the Italian torrone or nougat. This very sweet cake can have either a chewy or a crunchy texture, depending on how finely or coarsely grated the Brazil nuts are. As you can see in the photos below, I grated them so finely that they resembled grated Parmesan … [Read more...]
These beautiful sweets are one of my birthday-table favorites, along with alfajores, mana, bolitas de nuez,melcochas de chocolate, yemecillas, encanelados, and many other lovely sugar confections. In Lima, you can find them in many bakeries, grocery stores and coffee shops, but there is something rewarding -and relaxing- about making … [Read more...]
I don't think we have a name for paletas in Peru. Either we call the commercial ones by their brand name, like D'onofrio's "BeBe,"or we use something more general like helado de agua (water ice cream). However, when our friend Ericka Sanchez from Nibbles and Feasts asked us if we had a paleta recipe, we knew we had to do a chicha morada paleta. Why … [Read more...]
By Chef Ximena Llosa As I write this, my house smells amazing...I just finished taking the pictures for this recipe and even my neighbors knocked on my door asking me...“What are you baking now, Ximena?” So of course, I shared the spare brioche bread I had just made! This recipe was inspired by the Peruvian dessert “Encanelado” … [Read more...]
Arequipa is the birthplace of this lovely artisanal ice-cream. I read in one of my favorite cookbooks -La Memoria del Sabor- that many years ago, queso helado was made with almonds, but later on cooks changed to coconut -or coquitos chilenos, and because of how cheap and delicious this dessert was, it became extremely popular. Traditionally, … [Read more...]
Once upon a time, Lima was the bavarois kingdom. French influence was in vogue in every aspect of our culture, from the way we spoke to the way we cooked, and people were deeply in love with this ethereal delicacy in particular. Usually made with local fruits in season (cherimoya, lucuma, peach, mango, strawberries), dried fruits (prunes, … [Read more...]
Light and simple sweet corn cake. As far as we know, the savory version of pastel de choclo has been a favorite in Peru since the XIX century, and ours is not the same as the famous one made by Chilean cooks. Just like in the States,there are hundreds of recipes of corn cake in Latin America, maybe because corn is such a staple in our diet and we … [Read more...]
Nothing in the world is easier to make than a flan, or its mother, the gracious French lady called crème caramel. For Latin Americans, our love of flan is in our genes, in our blood, and in our surprisingly sweet palate. It is popular all across Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, and even though it may have lots of regional … [Read more...]
(Scroll down for Spanish) Crispy and light cookie sandwich filled with dulce de leche and pineapple marmalade. The first time I had the brilliant idea to make dulce de leche from scratch (what we call manjarblanco), I chose the easiest recipe I could find: cooking a can of condensed milk for a couple hours in boiling water. Almost magically, … [Read more...]
