It’s been a while since I posted a good recipe, hasn’t it! And tallarin rojo is one of those recipes that is a Peruvian standard that for some reason I’ve just never gotten around to writing about.
You know how I feel about having rice with every meal. And if you don’t know – blech, I’m tired of it! And Chato isn’t a big rice fan either, so I’m always happy make any kind of pasta dish.
However, the truth is that I very rarely make tallarin rojo, because I prefer regular Italian style spaghetti. I think it has a stronger flavor that I prefer. If I’m going to cook Peruvian style tallarin, I usually go with the basil/spinach-y tallarin verde.
But I figure that in order to be thorough here on the blog, I should post this one too. My recipe is a combination of Gaston Acurio’s cookbook recipe and my mother-in-law’s, plus a little bit of stuff I threw in for flava.
Tallarin Rojo Peruano for 6
Ingredients:
- 6 pieces of chicken – I use the legs, thighs and wings.
- Oil for cooking
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp aji panca paste
- 3 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup finely chopped mushrooms
- 3-4 tomatoes, peeled, deseeded, finely diced or pulsed in the food processor (should be about 1 cup)
- 1 cup grated carrot
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 3-4 tbsp tomato sauce
- Salt/pepper to taste
- 1/2 kg spaghetti or linguine noodles (1 lb)
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
Directions:
- Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, then sear them on both sides in a bit of cooking oil. Set aside.
- In a large pot, saute the onion in a little oil.
- When the onion is translucent, add the garlic, aji panca, bay leaf, mushrooms, tomato and carrot. Cook until the mushrooms are soft and the mix begins to caramelize a bit.
- Add 4 cups of chicken stock and the tomato sauce and stir together, then add the chicken pieces.
- Cover and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes, adding more liquid if necessary.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a pot of boiling water until al dente, then drain the water.
- In a large skillet, melt 4 tbsp of butter, add the pasta and stir together with the parmesan. Pour the sauce over the pasta and mix well.
- Cook together for a few minutes so that the pasta absorbs the liquid. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve on a plate with a piece of chicken on top and papas a la huancaina as a side dish.
* This makes a very saucy tallarin – a lot of Peruvians serve it “drier”. You may want to start with 2 cups of chicken stock instead of four.
This recipe is also very forgiving – I made it today without carrots or mushrooms, added a full packet of tomato sauce and a pack of tomato paste to thicken it a bit AND – after I had the sauce cooking, realized I didn’t have any tallarines! I ended up making it with macaroni noodles, and the boys loved it.
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