Last Friday I had two dear friends over for dinner. As Emily, Laura and I love Spanish, travel and good food, I thought it fitting to prepare empanadas for dinner. I'd recently purchased aji amarillo paste and was excited to try it out. Aji de gallina and papas a la huancaina are among my favorite Peruvian dishes, so I thought it would be a fun twist to try substituting duck for the traditional chicken. (For the purists out there, this is my version of the sauce).
For the Duck:
4 duck legs, thawed (or fresh!), rinsed well with water and patted dry with a paper towel.
S & P
Heat oven to 300.
Salt and pepper duck legs.
Place duck legs fat side down inside cooking dish.
Cook for 2 1/2-3 hours or until fat has melted into cooking dish.
Remove duck legs from cooking dish, place atop paper towels to drain some of the fat and let cool.
Remove duck meat and set aside.
For Aji/Huancaina Sauce:
1 diced onion
3 minced garlic cloves
4 tablespoons aji amarillo paste
2 cups chicken stock
3 slices stale white bread
1 cup whole milk
4 oz crumbled queso fresco
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
1/2 teaspoon Turmeric
1/4 teaspoon Cumin
S&P to taste
Soak bread in milk. Mash up with a fork.
In large saute pan, heat up olive oil or butter over medium to medium-low heat.
Add onions and garlic and saute for 5 minutes, keeping an eye on it to make sure that the garlic
does not brown.
Add cumin, turmeric and paprika to mixture.
Add mashed bread/milk and aji amarillo to pan. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add chicken stock and queso fresco to pan. Simmer 20 minutes.
Blend mixture until smooth. Return to heat and simmer additional 15-20 minutes.
Store sauce in refrigerator until serving.
For Empanadas:
10 empanada shells
4 oz chopped spinach
4 oz crumbled queso fresco
1 caramelized onion
Duck meat
To Make Empanadas:
Preheat oven to 400.
Roll out defrosted empanada shells and fill with duck meat, spinach, crumbled queso freso and caramelized onion mixture.
Fold over shells to make a half moon. Pinch shut with fingers and then press along seam with a fork to create indentations.
Cook about 20 minutes in oven until empanadas are golden.
Serve with heated huancaina sauce and a delicious Pisco Sour!
For one of my nurse practitioner clinical sites, I am in East Boston. Originally made up of five islands, East Boston was created when Bostonians filled in the spaces between the islands to form one large neighborhood. Eventually the island was connected to the mainland. The area has always been a mecca for immigrants, starting with Russian Jews and Italians, next came SE Asians and more recently, Central and South Americans. As a result, the neighborhood has exploded with Latin American flavor (and I couldn't be happier!) Rincon Limeño is one such restaurant. The owners have created a tiny refuge on Chelsea Street for those seeking tasty Peruvian cuisine.
When I think of Peruvian, gorgeous, juicy chicken comes to mind (no one makes better roasted chicken than they do). Pollo a la brasa is chicken cooked slowly over a charcoal grill or rotisserie, the meat is perfectly moist while the skin is kept nice and crisp.
I had the chance to sample Rincon Limeño's take on Peruvian cuisine recently. As a starter I enjoyed papas a la huancaina, roasted potatoes served atop lettuce in a thick, cheesy sauce. Black olives and a hard-boiled egg complete this dish. I know it sounds a bit odd served in this manner-but somehow, it really works! I like to think of it as Peru's very own, more delicious potato salad (is that sacrilegious to say?). Mine only thought is that I would love to try the potatoes served hot in the sauce. I think that some of the more subtle flavors of the huancaina sauce might become more pronounced if heated.
The chicken was happiness. I cannot think of a better way to put it! Juicy, tender, flavorful chicken is one of life's more simple pleasures. Rincon Limeño serves their's with french fries. I think I would perhaps enjoy it more with a side of yuca or potatoes and huanacaina and aji sauce. And of course, with a Pisco Sour!
We ordered alfajores, dulce de leche sandwiched between two butter cookies and dipped in powdered sugar for dessert. Mmm....guys, if you want to know how to impress your lady, surprise her a box of these, and you will have a very happy woman on your hands!
The best part of the meal was that the papas a la huancaina, 1/2 a roast chicken and side salad, and a box of about 12 alfajores were just 23 dollars, making this tiny Peruvian haven a very affordable dinner option!
After the meal, I popped into a nearby grocery store to check out the food options and picked up a bottle of aji amaraillo paste (yay!), choclo for toasting and a bottle of pisco! So expect a post detailing my adventures in cooking Peruvian cuisine in the nearish future :).
