Day 63 Peru

Peruvian cuisine is considered to be one of the world's most diverse; comparable to French, Indian or Chinese fare, where every region has it's own favorites. Although the origins are mostly Spanish, there is evidence of European, Japanese, Cantonese and even African influences in the different regions. My pick for today is Causa Rellena de Pollo or Potato Cake filled with chicken salad. Causa is a specialty that hails from the Andean highlands of Peru, however it was the Spaniards that introduced the interesting fillings and garnishes that make it so much more exciting.

Yukon Gold potatoes were cooked and riced. They were seasoned with salt, white pepper, and a chili paste from rehydrated Anaheim peppers ( in the absence of Peruvian yellow peppers) and set aside. To make the filling, cooked chicken and carrots were diced and combined with finely diced onion, parsley, cilantro, and dressed with a mixture of mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. The final assembly was done by placing a cake ring over the serving platter, and filling it with a part of the potato, followed by the chicken salad and topped with more potato. I used sliced hard boiled eggs and olives for the garnish but could have used greens and Avocado to dress it up some more. Unfortunately my Avocado did not cooperate and remained rock hard. It was good anyway and tops my list of great picnic food.

Moving on to Uruguay...