Rosie Makes Peruvian Pasta For Her Guests.

I was having guests from Lima for lunch and  I do not mean Lima, Ohio.  I mean the other Lima.  As luck would have it, I had just found this recipe for Peruvian Pesto in my fall issue of Cook's Illustrated. So, we're having tallarines verdes (green noodles) for lunch today, a lush spinach- sauce based pasta.  Peruvian Pesto is a creamier, richer, smoother version of  what I usually make - the pesto we all know and love - Pesto Genovese, with basil, pecans instead of pine nuts, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil.

Not too long ago, I wrote about the quesadilla and its culinary history involving the fusion of different cultures and cuisines.  Tallarines verdes is another dish that involves the merger of the foodscapes from two different cultures.  In the mid-late 19th century, many Italians immigrated to Lima, Peru, bringing with them their culinary traditions, resulting in Italian-Peruvian fusion recipes such as the tallarines verdes.  This green noodle sauce showcases ingredients more readily available in their new Andean home.  Instead of basil, the sauce gets its brilliant green color from spinach (along with a little basil).  The rich and creamy sauce comes from the addition of evaporated milk, which was introduced to the Peruvian pantry in the late 1800s to early 1900s.  The featured cheese is queso fresco and the nut used is the pecan. Extra additions include sautéed garlic and red onion.  Everything is puréed until velvety smooth, then it's all tossed with fettucini, which is cooked in the water used to blanch the spinach.  Blanching the spinach helps ensure a smooth sauce by breaking down compounds in the cell walls of the spinach, thus yielding a finer texture.  The satiny smooth texture of the sauce is characteristic of this dish.

Before I start the food, here are some of my Peruvian Treasures - Gifts from my Guests.

  

This is Tumi.

My guests gave it tumi.  

 

In Peruvian culture, Tumi (from Quechua word for knife)  is a ceremonial artifact used by pre-Columbian cultures to cut the throats of sacrificial victims.  In Modern Peru,  a Tumi hanging on a wall means good luck.

 

This particular Tumi hangs on my wall next to the dining table.

Good luck!

Heh...

This is Wally.  

Yes, Wally Llama.

The Peruvian llama was central to Peru's economy and culture. It was a pack animal, essential for transporting goods and crucial for their fertilizer for use in agriculture.  Also used for their meat and wool and for the occasional sacrifice (by a Tumi) to appease the gods, it was a true multipurpose animal. 

 Now, here's how to make Tallarines Verdes:

Tallarines Verdes

(Peruvian Green Noodles) 

1 TB vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped red onion

2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved

3/4 tsp salt, plus salt for cooking greens and pasta

6 oz (6 cups) baby spinach

1 oz (1 cup) fresh basil leaves

2 oz (1/2 cup) queso fresco, crumbled

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1/3 cup pecans

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

12 oz fettuccine

 

Bring water to boil in large pot. 

Add 1 tablespoon salt, spinach, and basil. 

Blanch 20 - 30 seconds, until just wilted.

With spider skimmer or slotted spoon,

drain greens and transfer to small bowl.

When cooled, squeeze out excess liquid. 

 

Do not discard water. 

Keep water in pot for the fettuccini. 

 

While you're waiting for the water to boil,

heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat until shimmering.

Add onion and cook until it just softens.

Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds.

Remove from heat and transfer to blender. 

 

Transfer blanched greens to blender with onion and garlic.

Add queso fresco, evaporated milk, pecans, pepper, and salt.

Process until smooth, about 2 minutes,

scraping down sides of blender.

 

Return water to boil.

Add pasta.

Cook, stirring often, until al dente. 

Reserve 1 cup cooking water,

then drain pasta.

 

Add sauce to the empty pot and cook over medium heat,

stirring, until warmed through, 2-3 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in fettuccini

and about 1/3 cup reserved cooking water

and stir until sauce just clings to pasta, about a minute. 

Add more reserved water as needed to adjust consistency.

Season with salt to taste. 

 

Serve immediately. 

 

 

Sauté onions.

 

Add in garlic.

Lightly sauté.  

 

 

 

Measure out 6 ounces of spinach. 

Add spinach and basil to boiling, salted water.

Blanch greens and remove from water.

Sautéed red onion and garlic in blender already.

Squeeze excess water out of spinach and basil.

Measure out pecans, evaporated milk, and queso fresco. 

 

All into processor.

And process away

until it's luscious and lush

and creamy and satiny and velvety.

Yes!  

All those things! 

 

This is intense. 

Cook sauce in pot for a few minutes until nice and warm.

Add cooked fettuccini and stir to coat. 

 

And this is the only picture of the fettuccini and sauce that I have because I was cooking about 1/2 dozen different things to present to my guests and I didn't want to be intrusive with my camera and have them wonder why in the world I was taking pictures of their lunch.

 

Soooo,  I had some of the sauce leftover and I made more green noodles.

Here we have cavatappi pasta.  They're like spiraled elbows, relatively thick with ridges, which make them perfect for carrying a lush sauce like this pesto. 

 Then I cooked a batch of farfalle pasta.  The name comes from the Italian for butterflies.  I added that to the cavatappi.

 

 

And I've been calling them "bow ties" all this time.

"Butterflies" is so much more fun! 

 

   

 

This was a hit.