Food Fridays - Cusco

This was our first time in South America, and up to this point, we haven’t had much exposure to Peruvian cuisine.  But now,  we can definitely say that food in Cusco is seriously good and seriously fresh.  Guidebooks can list all of the tasty foods to try, but that only hints at the flavors taste buds will encounter.  We fell in love with papaya juice, battled altitude sickness with coca tea, and discovered that even the tiny little quinoa, when done right, can blow your mind.

Ceviche. In land-locked Cusco, the fish used is river trout marinated in lime juice, onions, and cilantro garnished with giant white corn and the sweetest (we're talking fruit-sweet) sweet potatoes ever.

Quinoa, the super food of the Andes, and we've been doing it all wrong! Crunchy, nutty, and flavorful, encrusted around shrimp, this stuff has a ton of flavor.

Pork - Maca, to quote the very accurate menu description: “slow cooked and extremely tender pork, maca root, and sweet potato puree with honey.”

Look for restaurants that have a Menu del Dia (Menu of the day). They are super worth it. The one we tried included a drink, appetizer, soup, choice of entree (in this case, freshly grilled river trout), and dessert all for 12 soles (about $4.50)!

Maybe it’s due to the high altitudes or the free range grazing, but the chickens here are huge and the meat is tender and tasty.

This Peruvian cocktail is called a Pisco Sour and contains pisco, lime juice, and sugar topped with whipped egg white and a few brown drops of Angostura bitters.

Sometimes all the advertising a restaurant needs is a bubbling pot wafting the mouth-watering smell of deep fried pork into the streets.

Chicharron (fried pork) with onions, mint leaves, giant corn, and some very filling potatoes.

Sopa de gallina. A big bowl of chicken soup full of delicious surprises.

Coca tea. Tastes great, but can’t bring it home. :(

And one final ceviche with a phenomenal view for the road.