This salad reminds me of the time we spent in Arequipa. Many, many, years ago, I lived in Lima, Peru. Every vacation we had was spent driving, flying, boating or somehow traveling Peru. In one such journey, we took the train from Puno to Arequipa. It was quite an amazing ride through the Andes. Arequipa was an interesting city with fantastic architecture. Many of the buildings are white (from a white volcanic rock), making it look unlike most of the towns we stayed in.
Arequipa is called The White City, but not only because of the white buildings. Many of its early colonial inhabitants were Creole, from Iberia. It’s also not far from the Nazca lines which we flew over in a tiny plane… and although the lines were way cool, the flight was far from it!
Solterito Arequipeño (Arequipa Avocado Salad) is tasty and fresh. I had some Peruvian choclo (a large-kerneled corn) on hand (from a recent trip to Jungle Jim’s in Cincinnati), making this even more special. I ate a lot of choclo when we traveled Peru. It was one of my roadside-stand favorites.My mom gave us a few paintings that she bought in Arequipa that show some of the white buildings there. We have them hanging in our dining room.
Arequipa avocado salad brings back many memories to me. So does my papa al Huancaína.
Solterito Arequipeño (Arequipa Avocado Salad)
Ingredients
- 1 avocado ripe
- 1 large carrot peeled and cubed
- 8 ounces queso blanco can substitute feta cheese
- 1 can Lima beans
- 1 red onion chopped
- 2 ears frozen choclo corn or sweet corn-on-the-cob
- 1 red chilli pepper finely chopped
- 6 ounce black olives sliced, drained
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 limes juiced
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Boil the corn for 10 minutes.
- Add in the carrots and boil for 5 more minutes.
- Add the beans and boil for another 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and drain.
- After corn has cooled slightly, cut kernels from the cobs.
- Place corn, carrots, beans, onion, cheese, and olives into a medium bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, lime, parsley and salt and pepper, to taste. Pour into vegetable bowl and stir.
- Let cool 10 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Serve topped with the avocado.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.
