The Best Peruvian Recipes. Lo Mejor del Sabor Peruano. A color illustrated and extremely practical cookbook for home cooks that want to experience iconic Peruvian dishes.
Ronald and Maricarmen Lemley are bilingual teachers
who have worked for decades teaching English in California, New Mexico, China,
Taiwan, and Lima before settling in their home in Cajamarca, Peru. Maricarmen
and Ronald have been married for 35 years and have written and illustrated five
bilingual children’s books with the help of Floricanto Press.
They are well-known by the fruit and vegetable vendors
in the colorful Mercado Municipal de Magdalena del Mar as well as the Mercado
Central in Cajamarca. They have traveled to the Cusco and Macchu Pichu and the
Amazonian jungle areas of Iquitos and Madre de Dios. After much practice, they
can find and prepare a wide variety of fresh herbs, fruit vegetables, meat
products, and spices that can be used for cooking Peruvian food.
A whole spectrum of Andean, coastal and Amazonian
ingredients are available in Cajamarca due to its unique geographical location.
One can buy the tiny bananas called plátanos-manzanos, yucca, red, yellow
purple and white potatoes, giant papayas, mangoes, passion fruit, five
different kinds of avocados, and numerous other ingredients.
While this is their first cookbook, Ronald`s work
history includes several years as a cook in French/Vietnamese restaurant where
he learned to make Creme Brule, Coc au Vin, Ratatouille, traditional and sourdough
French bread and Crevettes Cognac au Beurre.
The couple spent their free time in both Northern
California and New Mexico, growing extensive gardens with a variety of Peruvian
yellow chiles, black corn, tomatoes, and Peruvian purple potatoes.
Peruvians become experimental when living in the US,
and Maricarmen would often buy Peruvian ingredients at a Latin market to make
flan, aji de gallina, carpulcra, and other dishes.
In Lima, the couple earned certificates of achievement
after attending professional cooking classes and often experiment with their
newly learned recipes.
Please don’t be afraid to shop the Latin American
markets and try out the recipes in this book that offers many unique and easy
to prepare Peruvian recipes.