Buenos Aires – As suspected, given that Henry is from Peru, he knew immediately what the two different potatoes I picked up yesterday were. One turned out to not even be a potato! The first is known throughout most of the Andean area as the olluquito (in some areas, Bolivia for example, it is known as the papalisa). It is a smaller version of another potato called the olluco, which has the same red-spotted skin but is closer to the size of a baking potato. These potatoes are members of the Ullucus tuberosus grouping. Henry’s recommendation was to cook them simply – fried in a little butter and salt.
Of course, I set out at lunch today to do just that. I did a bit of recipe research, and a light touch of garlic and herbs seemed appropriate. Slicing open the tubers I found the interior to be a glowing yellow color. They have an interesting perfume that had a touch of sweetness, very reminiscent of yellow beets. This turned out to be amazingly accurate, as, after cooking them up and tasting them, it turns out that they taste pretty much like a slightly starchy version of a yellow beet! If you could cross a waxy potato and a beet, I think this is pretty much what you’d end up with. 
Sauteing them in butter, olive oil, garlic, parsley and a little salt yielded a truly yummy dish.
A plate of potatoes did sound good for lunch, but I wanted a little something else “on the side.” So I dropped in at the local pescadería for some fresh fish. A big sign outside proclaimed the availability of salmón rosado, which is what we know simply as salmon. Unfortunately, the sign wasn’t accurate, as the rosado had not arrived from the market this morning. 
In fact, they had very little in selection today, but they did have the more common salmón blanco, which seems to be available everywhere here. This fish isn’t a salmon at all, despite its local moniker, but the Argentine (or Brazilian) Sand Perch, fished out of the north Patagonian waters. A quick sauté with salt, pepper and a little tarragon and it made a lovely side dish to my ‘taters.
The second tuber is known as the oca and is the root of a member of the wood sorrel family (Oxalis tuberosa). It is apparently grown throughout central and south America. When young it can be eaten raw, and several recipes recommend this. Apparently a classic of Mexican raw food – it is sprinkled with salt, hot pepper and lemon juice, and happily munched on. When a little older, as mine are, the recommendations seem aimed towards a purée. The flesh is apparently closer to a yam in many ways, and many recipes, and Henry’s personal recommendation, are oriented around dessert – his version, simply mashed with milk and sugar. More on this one most likely tomorrow.
[…] First, of course, are the search engines. Far and away the most common connection to SaltShaker comes from Yahoo’s search engine. This is followed by Google and Google Images at a combined distant second, which is closely followed by MSN. Then far down the line are AltaVista, Dogpile, Webcrawler, and Lycos. The most common searches are simply searches for food or recipes in either Argentina or Buenos Aires. Then come specific searches like a particular ingredient that I might have mentioned in a post (olluco comes up more frequently than any other in this category). […]
[…] This is ají de lisa or ajilisa, a stew of papalisas, one of the staple potatoes of the Andes, with a bit of meat (Henry said tripe is more common, but perhaps that’s the Peruvian version), lots of garlic, all served atop rice. Certainly a pretty major carbohydrate fest, and if it had had a bit more seasoning probably would have been quite good. As it was it was bland, salt helped, but it needed… something. It was an intriguing idea, as I’m a big fan of ají de gallina, somewhat the same dish made with chicken and served atop regular boiling potatoes, so this will be something to play with. Papalisas are readily available here without having to head out to Liniers. […]
[…] after returning from La Paz, I put together a fun little starter of wild rice, roasted beets and papalisas all flavored with hibiscus and orange. We’ve served it a couple of times since, with minor […]
[…] – hmmm… “high altitude sweetbread”? More or less. Veal sweetbread, grilled, ollucos, or papalisas, in two textures – a sort of stew of them under and around the bits of sweetbread, and little […]
[…] bowl. For Henry’s basic menu, a decent if not great olloquito, a dish of sauteed pork with olloquitos, a.k.a. papalisas. The premium plate, unfortunately, was a complete disappointment – we […]
[…] some Peruvian herbs like huacatay and quirquiña, and some of the Andean root vegetables like papalisas and ocas, and others where I’ve just posted photos of market hauls. So – also on the […]
[…] – A classic dish of sauteed olluquos, a.k.a. papalisas – flavored with ají panka, garlic, and oregano, and here with strips of […]
[…] cumin, and pepper), served over roasted pink potatoes, and garnished with thin slices of pickled papalisas, the Andean tuber we’ve used in numerous dishes, and a mild aji amarillo sauce. Yum! And at […]
[…] ceviche cured in a mix of lime juice, cactus fruit, ginger, celery. Topped with pickled olluquito, red onion, limo chilies, peanuts, black sesame, and […]