Papas a la Huancaína

“Peruvian Niçoise” Salad

Papas a la huancaína is basically the Peruvian version of potato salad with a little crunchy iceberg lettuce tucked underneath for good measure. The word huancaína means “woman from Huancayo,” a city in Peru’s central highlands. The recipe supposedly dates to when railroad tracks were being laid down, and home cooks in Huancayo would make meals to sell to hungry migrant rail workers. According to local legend, one woman’s boiled potatoes in a creamy ají-cheese sauce were so popular, they eventually became the regional specialty. Today, you’ll see huancaína sauce at restaurants and in home kitchens all over Peru.

The potatoes are usually drenched in huancaína sauce, not a bad thing as the sauce is so good, but I like more of a lighter, niçoise salad–like variation with leafy greens and green beans to up the vegetable and crunch factors. Keep an eye out for Peruvian Botija olives in brine. They have a unique flavor, but you could substitute cured Mediterranean olives. For a picnic, pack everything up separately, and serve any extra huancaína sauce on the side to use as a sauce for double-dipping the potatoes or a big loaf of crusty bread.

Potatoes and Green Beans

• 1¼ pounds mixed fingerling or other baby potatoes, scrubbed
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
• 3 meaty slices bacon, chopped into ½-inch pieces
• ½ pound (about 3 generous handfuls) green beans or haricots verts, trimmed

Salad

• About 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 to 6 cups loosely packed mixed baby greens
• Coarse sea salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, halved lengthwise
• ½ cup Botija (brine-cured Peruvian black olives) or cured Mediterranean olives, drained
• About 1¼ cups Salsa a la Huancaína (page 168), or more to taste
• Generous pinch of shichimi tōgarashi (a Japanese pepper-spice blend) or cayenne pepper

1 To make the potatoes and green beans, place the potatoes and kosher salt in a medium pot, cover them with water by a solid inch, and bring the water to a low boil over high heat. Boil the potatoes until very tender when pierced with a knife, usually 20 to 25 minutes from the time you turn on the heat, but it depends on the potatoes and the pot. Drain the potatoes and let cool in the strainer for at least 10 minutes to dry out. Halve the potatoes lengthwise and use right away, or cool completely, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

2 Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, fry the bacon until crisp and set aside to drain on paper towels. For the green beans, fill a large bowl with ice and water (use plenty of ice). Bring a medium pot of water to a boil, reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, and blanch the green beans until tender-crisp, about 1 minute. Drain and immediately transfer the beans to the ice bath. Wait a few seconds, then drain and transfer the beans to a paper towel–lined bowl to dry. Use the beans right away, or cover and refrigerate overnight.

3 To make the salad, heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until hot, a good 2 minutes. Pour in about 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, heat for another minute, then add the green beans and sauté, tossing occasionally, until charred in spots, about 30 seconds. Transfer the beans to a bowl. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the skillet. When hot, sear the potatoes, cut-side down, for 1 minute, or until golden brown. Set aside.

4 Mound the salad greens onto a large serving plate or individual plates. Sprinkle the greens lightly with sea salt and drizzle lightly with the extra-virgin olive oil. Arrange the potatoes, green beans, eggs, and olives alongside the greens, and pour a generous ½ cup of the huancaína sauce on the potatoes. Scatter the bacon over the salads and sprinkle with a pinch of shichimi to¯garashi. Serve the remaining huancaína sauce on the side.