A Taste of Lima: Oraibi's Peruvian Creamy Spicy Pasta

I try to eat local, I try, but I can't resist buying berries in the middle of the winter, because in places like Chile, Peru, and Argentina, its the middle of summer, and berries are just so sweet on the other side of the world.

Don't tell Oraibi this. He is going to change the world one mouth and septic tank at a time. He is developing a sustainable community that will have an extremely low environmental impact. When visiting Maria in Florida, he was filling us all in on his Oraibiisms. These are his very convincing statistics he uses during his very passionate speeches. You can get him going on anything, he loves to argue, and right now his topic of choice is local sustainability. I think he might have convinced Maria and Lynda to actually start recycling and maybe even turning off the TV for a few hours while they are not home. And while shopping for the dinner, he gave the bag boy a 10 minute speech on why he shouldn't double bag. I think the kid got it.

Oraibi was on his way to Peru, so to make me even more jealous that he would be going from summer in Florida to summer in Lima, while I would be returning to winter in New York, he prepared a pasta dish he learned how to make while living there.

It was a fresh creamy pasta sauce made with feta cheese, jalapeno peppers, milk, onions, garlic and milk. These are not flavors that I am accustomed to, which is why I love having guest recipes on the blog. He made it seem so easy and I was wondering why before he even started he already had the pasta water boiling.

It was because you don't cook the sauce. Instead, you put all the ingredients into a blender then stir it into the hot pasta. It was really delicious and spicy, not so much from the peppers but from the raw onion. We topped it with buffalo sausage and parsley. Superb. It went really nice with a chardonnay and we served it alongside a watercress fennel salad. Maria hates watercress. Dessert (no pics): berries and fresh cream! And they weren't local.

Oraibi's Peruvian Creamy Spicy Pasta

8 oz. feta

1/2 C. fresh milk

1/4 large onion

2-3 garlic cloves

1/2 cooked potato

5-6 jalapeno peppers, seeds and veins removed

olive oil

grated parmesan cheese (optional)

parsley for garnish

Start with the milk, feta and oil in the blender. Add the rest of the ingredients slowly, tasting as you go along. Pay attention to your onion. This can overpower the sauce. You will be left with a thick and creamy light green sauce that should have a kick from the onions but a nice flavor of fresh pepper. If you need to thicken, add more potato, if you need to thin it, add more milk. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over rotini pasta and garnish with fresh parsley.