Cooking in Peru

Cooking is many things to me. Creative expression, tangible manifestion of emotion, a professional endeavor and an activity that brings me comfort and joy. Food builds bonds and relationships but presents as a challenge with students and host families. Who is the kitchen boss? What can I touch? Where can I help? Can I cook a meal for everyone? Luckily, Alejandrina and Ana Maria are thrilled to have me in the kitchen.

Peruvian food centers around potatoes and locally raised meat like chicken, beef, guinea pig, trout and occasionally pork. There are lakes in the Sacred Valley where trout is raised, so fish makes regular appearance at meal times. Carrots, onions and celery from local farms start most dishes, just French food. I've eaten papas boiled, fried, mashed, in soup and fermented. The fermented ones remind me of stinky tofu. Rich, stagnant, meaty and almost putrid. Intense. Picante food is uncommon here, but I love the heat and was missing it dearly. So the first thing I made was hot sauce with local chiles, garlic, pepper and white vinegar. My host mom, Ana, loves it and even Alejandrina, biggest cooking critic ever, likes it in her soups. Success!

I'm a dedicated sauerkraut maker. At home a pot is always fermenting away and I saw no reason to stop the tradition because Peru would be my summer home. I bought a head of cabbage on my way back from the hospital during the first week and Alejandrina immediately asked how much it was. 2 soles, about 66 cents, I said and she laughed cause cabbage shouldn't cost more than 50 Peruvian centimos. Sigh, la cara del gringo. Kraut draws its flavor from the cabbage and spices(cumin, garlic and pepper are my favorites) used and the reactions between local bacteria and said ingredients. In SF I eyeball the amount of salt to prevent rampant bacteria growth while achieving desired flavor and texture. Peruvian bacteria is a whole new ball game, so I aggressively salted to avoid getting stupidly sick. Two weeks into the fermentation process I tasted it and discovered that while not rotten, it was inedible due to the salt. Alejandrina tried some too and promptly spit it out. We all laughed heartily at this gringo's cooking attempt. After a few rinses with warm water, I returned the kraut-to-be and crossed my fingers that in a few more weeks it'd be edible, at least. Yesterday I tasted it again and its delicious! Crunchy, salty and pleasantly fermented.

Margarita, host sister, is a phenomenal baker and we've made a few cakes together. For my birthday she made two orange cakes. Yum. Who doesn't love cake for breakfast and then cake for dinner on your birthday? I loved it. For another volunteer's birthday I made a mint lime cake with candied limes and a mint caramel on top. Margarita and I made a strawberry chocolate cake for six volunteers's goodbye party. I made the jam filling and we both made the cake. She decorates in this marvelous Martha Stewart style and finished the cake with a strawberry carved like a rose.

Dark, leafy greens are one of my favorites foods and severely lacking in the diet here, so Ana told me that a neighbor of ours has chard growing on her farm, I flipped out. She brought home a huge armload of chard and I cooked it up with red wine, raisins and peanuts. Ana couldn't stop talking about how yummy it was and that made my smile go wide. Veggies are cooked thoroughly here so when they ate this chard, still crunchy, they were shocked, pleasantly. This chard was the sweetest I've ever eaten. I happily munched on it raw while cooking.

For another potluck I made a tomato salad with tons of basil, oregano, queso andino and fennel. Finding the fennel was fun cause its not eaten here but used in teas instead. There was a grandma at Urubamba's midweek market who had fennel fronds and when I asked about the bulb she looked at me like I was off in the head. I explained what it was for, she remained unconvinced and I bought the biggest stalks that she had.

Marga and I made pizza the other evening. Using my dad's tomato sauce(my ultimate comfort food) as a base, Marga rocked the dough and Tia and I did the the toppings. One pie had corn, basil, ricotta, peas and caramelized onions(another new favorite for the host family) and the other was topped with cherry tomatoes, sausage, oregano and a local hard cheese. The first pie came out a bit soft, but we configured the oven right and the second pie was smashing. Volunteers who live with a host family that owns the best pizzeria in town, were freaking out about how good it was. Both Marga and I were blushing.

Funnily, I expected this post to be short. Oh well, I'll undoubtedly cook a few more times before the end of the month. Missing the summers bounty in the bay is painful and I am going to go produce crazy back home. Fig jam, stone fruit jam, pickles, corn preserves and possibly ketchup are on the list of things to make this fall. I bet I can make some awesome ketchup. Heinz, I'm gunning for you.