Tallarines Rojos

Peruvians are famous for taking traditional cuisines from other cultures and putting a twist on it to make it their own. When Italians started to immigrate to Peru duing the early 1900’s the local Peruvians adopted their love for pasta and started to make traditional Italian recipes with small variations. One of the results is the delicious Tallarin Rogo.

Ingredients:

• 2lbs of spaghetti
• 1 onion (prepare onion by dicing)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 4 tomatoes diced, peeled and de-seeded
• 1 tablespoon of crushed bay leaf. Soften the bay leaf in a cup of red wine.
• 1 whole bay leaf
• 1 lb of ground beef (prepare the beef by browning it in a pan)
• 1 cup of mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon of red aji
• 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce
• 1 carrot (prepare the carrot by grating it. Carrots are used in pasta sauces as they are a natural sweetner)
• Beef Broth (this will be used as needed)
• Cilantro (prepare the cilantro by dicing it)
• Parmesan cheese
• Salt
• Oil

Preparation:

• Prepare the base for the pasta by sautéing the garlic, aji, and onion in oil. Sautee until the ingredients have softened and translucent.
• Add the diced tomato, shredded carrot, tomato sauce, single bay leaf and wine, and mushrooms and cook over a low heat for approximately 15 minutes.
• Add the beef that has already been browned. Also add the beef broth as needed.
• Cook the pasta to liking. We always recommend cooking it al dente style.
• Once the pasta is cooked and drained, put some on a plate, add some diced cilantro to the top of the pasta and then pour sauce on.

*Adding some fresh parmesan cheese is a favorite topping for many.