Peruvian Causa Recipes

Steps:

• Combine chicken, green peas, carrot, shallot, roasted red peppers, cilantro, and lime juice in a bowl. Season with salt and cayenne. Add mayonnaise and mix until combined. Cover chicken salad with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Place potatoes into a pot and cover with salted water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until very tender but not falling apart, about 20 minutes. Drain well and transfer potatoes to a mixing bowl. Mash until smooth.
• Add jai amarillo, olive oil, and lime juice to the potatoes. Season with cayenne and salt. Mash together with the potato masher. Switch to a spatula and mix until completely smooth.
• Line four 6-ounce ramekins with plastic wrap. Scoop mashed potatoes evenly into ramekins; press and smooth out the tops. Cover each with a layer of avocado slices. Fill ramekin to the top with chicken salad, pressing it down and pulling up the plastic wrap to eliminate any air pockets. Cover with a final layer of mashed potatoes, going up to 1/2 inch or more over the rim.
• Seal top with a new layer of plastic wrap and fold the sides over to seal. Refrigerate salads until completely chilled, at least 1 hour.
• Mix mayonnaise, sour cream, garlic, and aji amarillo together for the sauce, adding a splash of water to adjust the thickness.
• Remove the top layer of plastic wrap from each salad. Invert each ramekin onto a serving plate; remove ramekins, then plastic wrap. Spoon some sauce around each salad.

Steps:

• Press potatoes through potato ricer, or mash until smooth. In large bowl, mix potatoes, lime juice, salt, pepper and chiles. In medium bowl, mix chicken, peas, carrots, onion and mayonnaise.
• Place half of potato mixture on large serving platter; form into rectangle shape about 11x7 inches. Spoon chicken mixture over potato mixture on platter; sprinkle with additional salt and pepper as desired. Top with remaining potato mixture, shaping into rectangle shape.
• Refrigerate 1 hour before serving. Garnish top of potato mixture with parsley, olives and chopped eggs. Arrange lettuce leaves around potato mixture. Cut into squares.

Steps:

• Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, about 20 to 30 minutes; peel and mash while still hot.
• Let potatoes cool and mix with aji amarillo paste, vegetable oil, and lime juice; season with salt.
• Drain and combine tuna with onions and mayonnaise; set aside.
• To assemble, layer 1/3 of potato mixture on a serving dish; spread with a thin layer of mayonnaise.
• Spread avocado slices on top; spread second 1/3 of potato mash over avocados.
• Cover with the tuna salad, then top with the third 1/3 of potato mash.
• Garnish with sliced hard cooked eggs around outside and chopped black olives on top.

Steps:

• Make the potatoes: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and prick the potatoes with a fork. Bake directly on the oven rack for 1 hour.
• Peel potatoes while still warm (hold with a fork, if necessary) and put the potatoes through a ricer 3 times.
• Put the mashed potatoes on a board and treat them like dough. Add the salt and knead it in. Add the amarillo paste and knead it in. Do the same with the lime juice and then the oil, incorporating them in slowly. Add the red chili and cilantro to give flecks of red and green. Knead some more and roll into a smooth cylinder, about 5 inches long and about 3 inches or less in diameter, depending on your mold. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate. This can be done several hours or even a day ahead of time.
• Make the shrimp salad: Pat the shrimp dry. Cut each shrimp in half, crosswise, and put in a bowl. Add the garlic, salt, cumin and cayenne. Mix well.
• Put oil in a medium frying pan and set on medium-high heat. When hot, add the shrimp. Stir and fry until they just turn opaque, about 3 minutes. Remove them to a clean bowl. Add the celery, lime juice, mayonnaise and cilantro. Mix well, taste for balance of flavors, and set aside.
• Make the avocado salad: Peel the avocado, remove the pit and cut it into 1/2-inch dice. Put in a bowl. Add the lime juice and mix well. Add the salt, pepper and mayonnaise. Mix well and set aside.
• Assemble the dish: Grease 4 ring molds or clean soup cans with butter. Cut the cylinder of refrigerated mashed potatoes, crosswise, into 4 parts (about 1 1/4-inch thick each) and make them about the same diameter as your mold. Make sure the edges are clean with no cracks. Drop a patty down each mold and tamp it down gently with the bottom of a glass.
• Divide the avocado salad into 4 parts and drop a part down on the top of the mashed potato in each mold, spreading it out evenly. Press down lightly with the glass again. Divide the shrimp salad into 4 parts and drop one part each neatly over the avocados, again, spreading it out evenly. Press down lightly. Lift off the mold or can, garnish with the cilantro sprigs and serve.