Goat Meat

Goat. If you're American and reading this, chances are you might have had goat cheese, but never eaten goat itself. It has a strong, bold flavor quite unlike other red meat.

This recipe also requires anatto. Anatto is readily available anywhere you can find authentic Mexican ingredients. It looks a lot like red lead paint powder, and is used to achieve the saffron-like color in this dish (and is quite a bit cheaper than saffron).

This recipe also uses aji amarillo. If this is unavailable, you can substitute jalapeno.

Seco de Cabrito

Marinade Time: 4 hours

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 1/2 hour

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

3 lbs goat meat

1 bottle beer

1 tbsp ground anatto

2 tbsp aji amarillo paste

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 bunch fresh cilantro

1/3 bunch fresh parsley

2 aji amarillo

1 tsp cumin

2 chopped yellow onions

6 garlic cloves

1 chopped tomato

1 lb potato

Preparation:

Cut the goat into 1 inch cubes. Make a marinade out of garlic, anatto, aji amarillo paste, salt, black pepper, and beer. Marinate goat for at least four hours prior to cooking.

In a blender mix cilantro, parsley, onion, cumin, aji amarillo, and 1/4 cup stock and blend until smooth.

Cooking:

In a large pot heat 3 tbsp oil, and fry the goat meat until browned. Add the cilantro blend, and enough water to cover goat, and heat for four minutes. Add the marinade, and bring to a boil. Boil for two minutes, and then reduce to simmer and add the potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are soft.

Serve with rice.

This dish is exotic, and the flavor of goat may put off some of the less adventurous, but it's well worth the effort. The original, somewhat garbled recipe, called for yucca. Personally, I'm not sure I'm a fan of the yucca and potatoes seem perfectly Pervuian, but either way it's delicious.

Pesque de Quinoa

Quinoa is a little known tan or red Incan grain that has recently experienced a surge of popularity after several hundred years of the human race ignoring it. With a wonderful flavor, an ideal protein profile, and all the advantages of cereal grains and non of the disadvantages, you may want to stop by your local health food/natural/yuppie grocery store to try some, in any variety of ways. Ironically, I had a hard time finding English-language Peruvian recipes for it, but I did manage to get this one translated via Google Translate.

Pesque de Quinoa

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

2 cups milk

1 medium potato, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp goat cheese

Pepper and salt to taste

Prep:

In a strainer, wash the quinoa thoroughly

Cooking:

In a medium pot, sauté onion in butter until soft. Add the quinoa and milk, and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, and add the potato. Simmer, covered, 30-35 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

Remove from heat, and mix in goat cheese, salt, and pepper.

This dish is really easy and wonderful. I definitely recommend trying it.