Papa a la Huancaína (Peruvian Potatoes in Spicy Cheese Sauce)

By garciamoss

Ingredients

• For the Spicy Cheese Sauce (Salsa a la Huancaína):
• 8 yellow or white potatoes
• Huancaína sauce (recipe below)
• Lettuce leaves
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• 8 large black olives, halved
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3-4 yellow ají amarillo chile peppers (frozen is fine), or 1/2 cup jarred ají amarillo paste
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed
• 2 cups white farmer’s cheese (queso fresco)
• 4 soda crackers
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk

Details

Adapted from hispanickitchen.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Heat a large pot of salted water to boiling and add the potatoes.
2. Boil potatoes until tender when pierced with a fork.
3. Drain water from potatoes and let cool.
4. Slice potatoes and arrange on top of the lettuce leaves.
5. Pour huancaína sauce over potatoes, and garnish with slices of hard-boiled egg and black olive halves.


For the Spicy Cheese Sauce:
1. Remove seeds from yellow chile peppers and chop into 1-inch pieces.
2. Sauté onion, garlic, and chile peppers (or paste) in the oil until onion is softened, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
3. Place onion/chile mixture in a food processor or blender. Add evaporated milk and blend.
4. Add cheese and crackers and blend until smooth. Sauce should be fairly thick. Thicken sauce with more soda crackers or thin sauce with milk if necessary.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve at room temperature or chilled.