Petite blog for Peruvian wellbeing
Hello friends! I am very happy to be writing on the blog again and bringing you this recipe for a simple Peruvian Style Cilantro Beef Stew, known in Perú as “seco” stew. I am most fond of this dish because I made it a lot during my 2016 sabbatical, when I was away from home and feeling homesick for peruvian food. Making it for someone special encouraged me to repeat it every week. When you try it, you may notice the rich aroma of cilantro will make you hungry 😍. Español aquí.
Hello. I am really excited to share today’s recipe with you for one of my favorite Peruvian finger foods. I am referring to Peruvian style wonton (or wanton) cheese fingers or what we call “tequeños”. Personally I love them, in fact I have no self control when they are close to me. I also have a small surprise for you in the recipe video. I am very nervous about it and I really hope you like the recipe. Español aquí.
This week’s post has been waiting since October 🙊 and I really wanted to share it because it is very easy to make. I am referring to toasted or roasted pumpkin (or squash) seeds, which I made from the leftovers of my Halloween pumpkins. Español aquí.
I am very happy to greet you and share my first post for 2017. My sabbatical came to an end in December and I am back in Lima. I took a small break at the start of the year while I resolved some personal issues (looked for a job), but I am back because I missed sharing these posts.
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| Peruvian style fish escabeche |
Ingredients
½ cup of vinegar
2 large onions in wedges
2 Peruvian peppers in slices
1kg / ½ lb to ½ kilo / ¼ lb of fish in large cuts – we use Paiche
4 ground mirasol peppers
2 garlic cloves, minced or ground
Flour
Oil
Lettuce leaves, washed – we use arugula
Sweet potato, cooked
Eggs, boiled, in halves or pieces
Olives, without seeds
Salt, pepper and cumin, to taste
Preparation
Bring the vinegar, onion and Peruvian pepper together in a bowl. Agregar la hierbabuena, la sal, la pimienta y el comino. Dejar reposar por 1 hora o más.
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| Garnish with eggs and olives |
Serves 4 to 6 people, depending on the amount of fish.
“The first time I baked a turkey” was supposed to be on Thanksgiving, in November, but it was delayed. There was a lot of anticipation because the supermarket clerk sold us on the idea (and the turkey) that it would sell out. We did not count on being invited to a Thanksgiving dinner in another city. But the bird still got what was coming to it and I made it during the first week of December.
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| Pavo al horno |
Coming back to the recipe, it is based on the Baked Christmas Turkey entry from my Nicolini cookbook. With all the recipes online, this is a good one for beginners. The outcome was a turkey with a nice flavor and the gravy was like a vegetable cream.
I hope you like it! Happy holidays!
Before you begin
– You can thaw the turkey by soaking it overnight in salted water. After that, keep in in the refrigerator and don’t remove the wrapping until you are ready to cook.
– The baking time depends on the weight of the turkey and if it has stuffing. The turkey I used was 13 lb / 5.8 kg and stuffed, and took 4.5 hours to cook. I used the guide here.
– You can check if the turkey is ready with a baking thermometer or by making small cuts. If you are using a thermometer, the turkey will be ready when the leg temperature is 165 ° F. If you are not using one, the turkey will be ready when the juice that comes from cuts between the chest and leg don’t contain blood and are colorless.
– A lot of recipes recommend using a rack over your tray. You can make one by twisting aluminum into tubes and cross them over the tray.
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| Rejilla hecha con papel aluminio |
– I followed a video from Real Simple for how to carve the turkey. They recommend to remove the wings, legs, and chest (on both sides), and then slicing and / or removing the meat from these pieces. The video is very illustrative.
Ingredients
1 medium turkey, thawed – turkey used was 13 lb / 5.9 kg
3 onions, in slices
4 celery sticks, diced
1 leek, in slices
2 peppers, in slices
150 grs of butter
4 tablespoons of Italian parsley, chopped
4 tablespoons of fresh rosemary – if you don’t have fresh, it can also be dried
1 tablespoon of fresh thyme – if you don’t have fresh, it can also be dried
1 whole garlic, peeled and minced
4 cups of chicken broth – I prepared it by boiling 5 cups water, 1/2 chicken breast, turkey neck, 1 stick celery, and salt
Salt and ground pepper
Stuffing – Some people use bread and vegetables. I used Rice with Noodles and Fungi
2 tablespoons of cornstarch or other starch – to give the gravy consistency
Tools
1 tray
Aluminum foil
Cooking string
Turkey baster
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 °F.
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| Consider having one drink while you cook |
Place the onion, celery, leeks, and pepper on the tray.
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| Onion, celery, leeks and pepper in the tray |
Clean the turkey with water, just as you would with chicken or meat. Remove the neck and giblets, if needed. Cover generously with salt and ground pepper.
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| Cover with foil |
Place in the oven and cook for the required period. Remove the aluminum cover 45 minutes before you finish cooking so that it can brown.
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Carefully remove the source from the oven. With the help of the turkey syringe, remove the juice from the source and separate into a bowl. With the help of a carving (s) or other tool (s) remove the turkey to rescue the vegetables on which it was cooked. I used a cord to lift the turkey. Remove the vegetables from the source and separate into a bowl. With a spoon can remove the rice from the inside of the turkey and separate into another bowl.
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| Remove the stuffing, juice, and vegetables |
Gravy
Blend the vegetables. Achieve the desired consistency.
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| Cook for 5 to 10 minutes |
Sorry I didn’t have that many photos at the end. My hands were very dirty (from food).
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| Enjoy! |
Serves a family of 10 to 15 people. Enjoy!