Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 whole white onion, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
10 saltine crackers, coarsely crumbled
1 cup chicken broth
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
½ cup pecan halves, toasted
3 tablespoons aji Amarillo paste*
1 rotisserie chicken, shredded (remove skin and save to quickly pan fry for garnish)
1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
Hard-boiled eggs and black olives, for serving

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add onions, garlic, celery, and carrots, and cook until soft and slightly golden. Cool slightly. Place in a blender along with crackers, broth, toasted pecans, and aji paste. Blend until smooth.

Place back in skillet and heat until it thickens. Add the chicken and salt.

Serve with eggs and olives. We also served with additional crushed pecans for texture on top, along with the crisped chicken skin.

*The aji paste has a bit of heat when you taste it straight from the jar. It’s pleasant, fruity, and piquant. At first, we couldn’t imagine using the entire 3 tablespoons the recipe called for, so we added it bit by bit. Ultimately, we found it does need the full amount, and maybe more. Be sure to taste as you go. We thought it was fun to taste the flavor come through more and more with every additional bit we added.

Country:
Peru


Notes and Instructions

Our recipe was inspired from Latinisimo by Sandra A. Gutierrez.

Recipe and photo credit: Kristina Skepton and Terri Tucker