Potatoes with Corn, Aji Amarillo Sauce , Eggs and Black Olives

Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina

  • Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina
  • Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina
  • Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina
  • Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina
  • Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina
  • Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina
  • Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina
  • Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina
  • Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina
  • Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina
  • Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina
  • Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina
  • Mariella Agois’ Papas A La Huancaina

NOTES

A classic South American dish that showcases the pride of Peruvian cuisine – potatoes, Andean corn and chili peppers. Andean corn can be bought frozen at latin markets, and occasionally found fresh. The kernels are jumbo and higher in starch than domestic sweet corn, and due to their size alone, it’s a wild experience worth seeking out.

Aji Amarillo is mildly spicy, most often blended and used as the basis of sauces, soups and salsas, lending nearly every dish in Lima this vivid yellow hue. You should be able to find aji amarillo fresh at the latin market or order the paste online, adding it to the blender with the ingredients for the sauce 1 tsp at a time until you reached your desired intensity. This is a rare instance when I say the more sauce the better (and maybe the only time I would let condensed milk make an appearance on SFP).

INSTRUCTIONS

Bring a medium sauce pan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until fork-tender, about 15-20 minutes. Remove potatoes with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Do not discard the boiling wáter. When the potatoes have cooled to room temperature, peel and halve the potatoes and set aside.

Slice the aji amarillo in half lengthwise, and discard the seeds. Using a pairing knife, trim the veins from inside the pepper (this will be the part that was attached to the seed and retains the most heat).

Bring a the sauce pan of lightly salted water back up to a boil, and cook the peppers for 15 minutes. Strain and peel.

Remove the peppers from the wáter and add to a blender with oil, evaporated milk, cheese, and salt. Blend until smooth and creamy. Add the lemon juice at the end and blend to combine.

Arrange a bed of romaine lettuce on a large serving platter. Top with the potatoes, and scatter half of the Andean corno ver top. Smother with the aji amarillo sauce, and scatter the remaining corn on top.

Garnish with black olives and quartered hard boiled eggs.

RECIPE

DIFFICULTY

MODERATE

  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
SERVES

8

  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
PREP TIME

45 MINS

Aji Amarillo Sauce

  • 8-10 
    medium 
    yukon gold potatoes
  • 2 
     
    romaine hearts
  • 8-10 
    large 
    black olives, Botja if available
  • 3 
    large 
    hard-boiled eggs
  •  
     
    salt
  •  
     
    pepper

Aji Amarillo Sauce

  • 5 
     
    aji amarillo peppers
  • 1/2 
    cup 
    vegetable oil
  • 8-10 
    oz 
    queso fresco
  • 1/2 
    cup 
    evaporated milk
  • 1/2 
     
    lemon, juiced

INSTRUCTIONS

Bring a medium sauce pan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until fork-tender, about 15-20 minutes. Remove potatoes with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Do not discard the boiling wáter. When the potatoes have cooled to room temperature, peel and halve the potatoes and set aside.

Slice the aji amarillo in half lengthwise, and discard the seeds. Using a pairing knife, trim the veins from inside the pepper (this will be the part that was attached to the seed and retains the most heat).

Bring a the sauce pan of lightly salted water back up to a boil, and cook the peppers for 15 minutes. Strain and peel.

Remove the peppers from the wáter and add to a blender with oil, evaporated milk, cheese, and salt. Blend until smooth and creamy. Add the lemon juice at the end and blend to combine.

Arrange a bed of romaine lettuce on a large serving platter. Top with the potatoes, and scatter half of the Andean corno ver top. Smother with the aji amarillo sauce, and scatter the remaining corn on top.

Garnish with black olives and quartered hard boiled eggs.

The foreign cities that I end up returning to, are always the ones where I connected with someone truly special, was welcomed and made to feel at home. Artist Mariella Agois was just that figure this past week, taking me under her wing from the moment I stepped foot in Lima. In fact, I was supposed to travel to Cusco as well, but after three days, Mariella all but forced me to cancel my flight; she was adamant that I needed to, “relax,” and I liked that.

With a laundry list of incredible restaurants to try in Lima, I was surprised to find myself eating at the mall with a local on my first night in town. With Limeños preferring the luxurious late-afternoon Sunday lunch to dinner, there wasn’t a single place open on the Sunday evening when Mariella and I had our blind date. So, we headed to the mall to grab some anticuchos (grilled cow heart) and spaghetti, drank a whole bunch of Peruvian wine, and window shopped until midnight. Sounds like an odd initiation to a new and exotic place, right? Well, in fact, it was a perfect immersion. Limeños really love this mall, open-air and set against the ocean, with everything from TGI Fridays to their local fast casual chain, Tanta (hence the anticuchos).

The next day I saw Mariella at a party, and it was as if I had known her my entire life. If she wasn’t so very Peruvian, you would swear she was a New York Jew – she is sardonic but sweet, highly critical and completely open-minded all at once. She likes to party but she is serious about her work, and adds her artful touch to every corner of her home, and her cookery. Eventually, we landed at her magical Barranco home, where cacti grown up through the ceiling, and her geometric paintings adorn the walls. This was the perfect place to take a load off, and continue the arduous journey of eating my way through Peru, one potato at a time.

Mariella Agois in Her Own Words

Julia Sherman: Tell me about growing up in Lima. How has the city changed from the perspective of an artist?

Mariella Agois: It has changed very much. There are many opportunities for artists these days in Lima. I started as a photographer at the end of the 70´s, when it was a new thing in Peru to pursue this médium as art. There were few good galleries back then, but they only exhibited painting, sculpture, drawing, and prints. The would not exhibit photographs. There where no international art competitions, only two art schools, and few institutional spaces. Now we have many. At that time I collaborated with some friends and opened Secuencia Fotogalería, a gallery dedicated exclusivelly to fine art photography. We organized photography workshops as well, and we introduced photography as an art form to Lima. Now we have universities and other Institutes such as the Centro de la Fotografía, The Museo de Arte de Lima has expanded and has a collection of contemporary art amongst wonderful works of Pre-Columbian and modern art.

JS: Your studio and your home are in the same place, does this make you work more or less?

MA: Having my studio at home is very practical when I am hard at work preparing an Exhibition. It gets a little crowded, but I like it. Although lately I have been considering taking the studio out from the house. I wonder how it would be to go somewhere else to work. I am thinking that I could move everything, my office etc, except for my painting studio, because it is very intimate.

JS: You seem to draw on a wide variety of influences in your work; Can you tell me about some of the subject matter that has inspired you over the years?

MA: I went to school at The Art Institute of Chicago in the 80´s and lived there for seven years after school.  It was a wonderful experience. I was exposed to life in the city, and to so many incredible works of art that continue to inspire me. I learned to paint in Chicago, and I developed a very direct approach to the canvas. I do not sketch, my ideas come from from something I heard, or something I have seen. I never paint by looking and drawing. My background was photographic, so that has an impact an the way I approach the canvas with immediacy. My is work changing constantly; when I feel it is done, I need to move on, though I have had a consistent interest in Pre-Columbian Peruvian textiles. They are just awesome to look at, simple, breath-taking pieces.

JS: What is the story behind this salad? Where did the recipe come from?

MA: It is called potatoes with huancaína sauce. It is a traditional criole recipe and is eaten all over Peru. The recipe  comes from Huancayo, a city on the Mantaro Valley in the Center of Perú. This Valley is famous for the production of cheese and potatoes. Arturo Chumbe, in his book, mentions it  was invented during the consruction of  Perú´s Central Railway . To feed the workers, women cooked boiled potatoes and a sauce with chili, cheese, and milk, and a bolied egg on top.

JS: Did you really not know your hair was red until you saw my photos?

MA: Jaja, no, it was a big surprise!!!