Aji de Gallina de Rocoto

We recently posted a recipe for Aji de Gallina, a wonderful Peruvian chicken recipe which makes use of the aji amarillo pepper. In that post, however, we also said that the dish is wonderfully suited to showcasing different pepper flavors by simply using a different pepper in place of the aji amarillo. So just a few days ago, we tried it with a pepper we had not used in this dish before - the rocoto pepper.

You may remember that we first made use the rocoto pepper, which is also South American, in a Secret Ingredient Improv post, in which I used it to make a mango salsa. It's quite a hot pepper, actually, significantly hotter than the aji amarillo (which already doesn't mess around), so this version of aji de gallina was a bit overzealous. We used less of the rocoto here than we did of aji amarillo in our usual recipe, but it was still very spicy, and in the future, I would use less still. To maintain the color, however, one could add a touch of tomato paste or paprika (not too much, or either may dominate the flavor). Annatto would also work.

Despite it's excessive heat, I think the rocoto is a tasty pepper. It's sweet, and has a slight, pleasant bitterness like a citrus zest, but you'll really only notice that for a few seconds before the heat kicks in. Then it's hot, very hot. I think my initial use of this pepper in a mango salsa was a more appropriate dish for the rocoto, for though it's tasty, it's too hot to be the star of a dish.

Bulghur-Spinach Casserole

Bulghur is a type of parboiled durum wheat popular in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and India, which can be reconstituted for consumption by soaking or cooking in water. There are a number of uses for bulghur, including tabbouleh, kibbeh, various pilafs, and even as a sweet cereal with sugar and milk. In future posts, we will talk more about some of those more conventional uses for bulghur, but right now, we would like to post a recipe for a vegetarian casserole that really highlights the nuttiness and earthiness of bulghur, and may serve as a good introduction to this grain for someone who hasn't had much experience with Middle Eastern cuisine.

Bulghur can be found in most Turkish, Lebanese, or Middle Eastern markets, and may show up in some gourmet supermarkets alongside other fashionable grains like quinoa and cracked rye. It's usually available in the US marked by a number between 1 and 4, indicating the fineness of the grind, with 1 being extra fine, and 4 being extra coarse. When buying bulghur, pay attention to the grind coarseness, as it will affect the cooking time, as well as the mouthfeel of the finished product.

Aji de Gallina

One of our favorite meals is this simple Peruvian chicken dish, Aji de Gallina, which we first learned about from a cookbook my mom lent to us (and which we still have - sorry) filled with recipes contributed by UN diplomats. We've since had it, done a few different ways, at restaurants, and have found several recipes for it elsewhere. However, the way we make it is still quite similar (but not identical) to that first recipe we found in The Cookbook of the United Nations (Barbara Kraus, 1970).

This is a simple recipe with only a few ingredients, which yields a peculiarly textured bread sauce flavored by a particular Peruvian pepper called the aji amarillo, or simply in English, the yellow pepper. This pepper might be hard to find, depending on where you live - in Houston, jars of the pepper or a paste made from it are readily available at any Fiesta supermarket. Otherwise, you should try searching for a Latin supermarket, preferably catering to Central or South Americans. Gourmet markets might carry it, though I've personally never seen it at either Whole Foods or World Market. On the other hand, you could just skip all that torquing around town to find this stuff, and just try Amazon.