Tacacho con Setas y Beterraga Plantain, Wild Mushrooms & Beetroot

These little guys are such a treat to eat. Each component is delicious: crispy plantains, soft yet firm mushrooms, smooth beets, and a salty cheese sauce. When the flavors and textures become one, magic happens.

If you’re having a special dinner, you can top it with roasted squirrel, rabbit, or chicken (boring) and serve it as your main dish (see the notes). Before you think I’ve lost my mind, this is a Peruvian dish and guinea pig is a delicacy there. I find squirrel is the closest thing in taste and texture to guinea pig so ask your favorite hunter for some. Rabbit is also a great choice and is sold commercially. Chicken will be just fine if you can’t get your paws on the other critters.

This is an easy dish to make and doesn’t require any special techniques. Pretty impressive for the WOW factor you’ll get with the finished product. Be warned easy does not mean fast and you will have many dirty dishes. Don’t say you weren’t forewarned.

The master piece comes from Adina: The Heart of Peruvian Food: Recipes and Stories from the Andes by Martin Morales. It is only slightly modified, mainly to make it easier for you to follow since the cookbook is written using the metric system and to give more detailed directions. I also doubled the recipe so there’s more for you to enjoy.

I thought long and hard about how to organize this recipe. There are several components to make this dish come together and each of the components can be used as part of another dish. I decided to do several “mini” stand alone recipes so they’re easy for you to use for other meals. However, you’ll waste plenty of time if you work one recipe at a time and I know it can be frustrating to know how to time food – choose the wrong dish and you have loads of time waiting. In the notes section, I put a timeline on how I do it. This is by no means the only way so play around and adjust as you see fit.

Beetroot Puree Ingredients
10 ounces red beets
water
2 Tbl hazelnuts, toasted
2 Tbl sherry vinegar
¼ tsp salt
6 Tbl rosemary oil

Beetroot Puree Directions
Heat the oven to 425. Wash your beets well. Poke a few holes in each one with a sharp knife. Place them in a small Pyrex with just enough water to cover the bottom of the dish. Cover the dish tightly (can use aluminum foil if you don’t have a lid) and pop it in the oven. The cooking time varies depending on the size of the beets and how fresh they are. It’s usually between 1-2 hours.

After the beets become fragrant, wait about 10 minutes and pierce the beet with a knife. If the knife goes through easily, remove the beets from the oven.

Line a sheet tray with parchment (you only need a small piece since there aren’t many nuts. Put the nuts on the tray and place it in the oven. They can share the oven space with the beets. Start checking them after 8 minutes. You should be able to smell them but if you have a kitchen full of smells, you might miss it. You’re looking for a “toasted” color. They don’t have to be perfectly cooked for this dish. Please please please go by measures other than time.

When the beets are cool enough to touch (you can even use a folded paper towel as a buffer), slice off the ends of a beet, put the stem side down and use a pairing knife to remove the skin. It’s easiest to peel when the beets are warm so only work one beet at a time and leave the others in the warm dish. Chop into chunks.

Put the hazelnuts in a food processor and process them until it’s almost a powder. Add the beets, vinegar, and salt. Process. Add the oil and process until smooth. Don’t be afraid to run your machine here. You can add a little water to loosen the puree if needed. Depending on the power of your machine it could be running for 5-10 minutes. If your processor starts to run hot, let it rest for a bit and keep processing.

Rosemary Oil Ingredients
18 garlic cloves
400 ml olive oil
1.5 Tbl dried rosemary

Rosemary Oil Directions
Peel the garlic. Slice off the brown end. Using the side of a knife, give a gentle pop to the clove of garlic to loosen the skin. This will take some time because there are so many cloves. I’ve tried various “quick” peeling garlic methods and I never had success. Put on your favorite tunes and sip your favorite tea. Stay with me here. Slice the garlic pole to pole.

Add the oil, garlic, and rosemary to a small frying pan. Turn it on high heat until bubbles under the surface form. Put on low heat for 5 minutes then remove it from heat. Allow the garlic and rosemary to infuse the oil until it’s cool. Do not try to speed up the infusion process by cooking it longer. The rosemary will fry to burn – yes speaking from experience.

Put a small mesh strainer on top of a jar and pour the oil through the strainer.

Don’t wash your pan! Use it to make the cheese sauce.

Mushroom and Onions Ingredients
¼ c rosemary oil
1 purple onion
2 pounds of mixed mushrooms (Chanterelle, oyster, wood mushrooms but crimini or white will do the trick)

Mushroom and Onions Directions
Wash your mushrooms well. I don’t want to hear smack talking about water logged mushrooms – read here.

Heat oil in a large sautee pan.

Slice your mushrooms thinly and put them in the sautee pan. You should hear an initial sizzle. If not, turn up your heat. I cut my mushrooms in batches so they can start cooking while I’m still slicing. I cut a couple of handfuls at time and keep adding them to the pot. After I add all of the mushrooms, I give them a quick stir.

Now patience. Mushrooms leak water. Once the water is gone, the mushroom texture is greatly improved. Give them a stir occasionally.

Cut the ends off of your onion. Slice it down the center of the pole so you have 2 halves. Peel the outer layer of the onion off. Slice the onion in about ½” strips pole to pole. The onion will have a sweeter and milder flavor when cut in this direction.

After the mushrooms released all of their water (you don’t want to brown them), add the onions to the pan. Cook them just enough until they soften.

Taste. The original recipe doesn’t add salt to this piece. I don’t add salt to it, but feel free to do so if you like.

Cheese Sauce Ingredients
7 ounces queso fresco or feta
100 ml heavy cream

Cheese Sauce Directions
In a small frying pan, melt the cheese gently and stir in the heavy cream. Transfer it to a clean food processor and process it until smooth.

Plantain Cakes Ingredients
2 quarts water
4 large green plantains
2 tsp Salt
1.5 tsp ground black pepper
100 ml rosemary oil
olive oil

Plantain Cakes Directions
Fill a stock pot with two quarts of water and cover it while on high heat. Add salt to the water once the water is boiling.

Peel the plantains. Green plantains will not peel like a banana – they won’t peel like one even if you score it along the ridges. Lay the plantain flat and slice off the two ends. Using a sharp paring knife, cut the skin down the entire length. Try to only cut the peel. Cut the peel around the circumference about every 2-3 inches. Take the tip of the knife and gently wedge it between the flesh and peel on the vertical slit. Using your hand, remove the peel around the circumference. For what we’re doing, you can cut the plantain in two-inch chunks then peel.

If you have your plantain intact sans peel, cut it into two-inch chunks and lower it into the boiling water. Bring the water to a simmer and let cook (cover on) about 20 minutes until the plantains are very soft. You’ll eventually mash them with a fork so you want them to be that soft. Once they’re soft, drain the plantains. I usually crack the pot lid a little to allow water to drain out while the plantains stay in the pot.

If you’re like me and trying to use as few dishes as possible, leave the plantains in the pot. Otherwise, put them in a bowl. Sprinkle the black pepper on top of the plantains and drizzle the oil on top.

Take a fork and mash away. You want to have some chunks left but how much is dependent on your liking. Place a little mixture in your hands and gently squeeze. If it stayed in a shape, you’re good to go. If it crumbled, add 2 tsp of water and mix. Do the squeeze test again. We want the shape to stay firm with as little water as possible.

Once you have the texture right, taste it. Add more salt if needed.

Divide the dough into 16 pieces. Feel free to make the pieces larger or smaller.

Begin heating a thin layer olive oil in a cast iron frying pan (or regular frying pan).

Form the pieces into 16 balls (I typically do 3 at a time so I can shape some while some patties are cooking), then flatten them into thick patties. Put the patties in the pan with plenty of space. I cook three at a time. If I do more than that, I have a hard time flipping them over.

You should hear a gentle sizzle when you put the patties on the pan. If not, immediately remove them and get the pan hotter. If you hear plenty sizzle, let them be but lower your heat.

Wait a few minutes and you’ll see the edges of the patties are drying out. Use a spatula and take a peak at the underside. If it’s a little crispy and a little color, go ahead and flip the guys over. Cook them until the new underside is a little crispy and has a little color.

Remove them from the heat and allow to cool in a single layer (preferably on a cooling rack) or plate them immediately.

To Assemble
Spread hot or room temperature beet puree on the bottom of a plate. Place hot plantains on the puree, and ladle mushrooms on top/side of the plantains. Drizzle warm cheese sauce on top. To get the full experience of this dish, taste each component separately then have each component in every bite after that.

Order
Roast beets and hazelnuts.
Make rosemary oil.
Cook mushrooms.
Finish beet puree.
Wash the food processor bowl really well.
Cut onions.
Cook plantains.
Make cheese sauce.
Make/cook plantain patties.
Add onions to the mushrooms.

Notes
Here’s one of the most important notes I will ever make. Green plantains and yellow/black plantains are pretty polar opposites. Green ones are starchy and have a very mild/neutral flavor – think white rice or white potatoes. The ripened (yellow/black) plantains are sweet and flavorful. The first time I ever used plantains I used ripe ones when I was supposed to use green ones because that’s all I could find. While I knew the theory behind unripened/ripened, I miscalculated just how different they are. It was quite the disaster. Don’t be me.

If you’re serving this dish to guests, I recommend making the beets, mushrooms, and cheese sauce a day ahead of time. Cook the plantains before your guests arrive and allow them to cool in a single layer (ideally on a cooling rack but a flat surface will do fine). Pop the cakes in a 400 degree oven until they’re hot (about 10-15 minutes) right before serving. You can do it right after the salad course and your timing will be perfect. You want these to be hot when eating and it will take time to plate everything or pass the dishes around the table so get those suckers piping hot! The beet sauce can be used at room temperature. You want the mushrooms to be piping hot. The cheese sauce needs to be at least warm or it will be too firm to drizzle.

Purple onions –They’re the opposite of “The Ugly Duckling” – beautiful when raw and turns an increasingly ugly ashy grey as heat is applied. I rarely cook with them because of this, but I’ve noticed Peruvian recipes often call for the purple guys and they are also what’s often served in Peruvian restaurants. In the name of “do as the Romans do”, I roll with it and try my best to not cook them too long.

I almost never (less than rarely) have sherry vinegar. I almost always use fresh lemon juice in this dish. You could also use wine vinegar or white vinegar in a pinch. Apple cider vinegar might be a little too sweet when mixed with beets so I don’t recommend that one.

No hazelnuts, no problem. I’ve used pinon nuts, sunflower seeds, walnuts, and almonds. All of those passed the taste test -- I imagine other nuts will work just as well.

I know some of the liquid measurements are cups and others or milliliters. It’s hard to convert ml to cups into nice numbers. A standard liquid measuring cup also has milliliters so roll with it.

If you don’t have a mesh strainer, use a loose leaf tea strainer. If you don’t have that, put a spoon horizontal into the oil and let the oil seep over the spoon sides.