A Peruvian Twist to Make at Home

TRY THIS AT HOME

Alright. Here is a little twist on a simple recipe that packs a lot of flavor. It's Peruvian-inspired. The original dish is called Causa de atun, which is a layered potato dish made with tuna. We wanted to put a healthier spin on it, so we put a little of our "mustard" on it. The inspiration for this dish came from an appetizer that we tried at a recent networking event in Miami. It was individual-sized servings of colored mashed potatoes and topped with tuna. It was drizzled with some sort of sauce and served cold. FULL of flavor and surprisingly delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1 kg (2.2 lb) of yellow potato
  
• 2 limes
• 1 tablespoon of yellow chili/pepper, blended or ground
• 1/2 kg (1 lb) of fresh tuna or 2 cans (180 g, 6 oz) of tuna
  
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 2 T. mayonnaise
  
• 2 avocados
• Optional: bell pepper and cucumber strips for garnish
  
• Salt
• Pepper

Preparation:

Cook the potatoes in water with salt. Peel and press them. Knead and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, lime, yellow chili/pepper and a little milk (add any color of dye). Mix until very smooth.

Mix the tuna with the mayonnaise and the chopped onion.

On a plastic sheet, drop the potato dough into individual 1 inch mounds. Over the dough, put the tuna on top.

Refrigerate for an hour. Remove the plastic sheet and put on a dish. Garnish with parsley, cucumbers, avocado slices, and pepper strips.

CAUSA DE ATUN

AMBIANCE, BABY

To put an extra spin on it, I added my own yellow pepper/avocado/cucumber sauce. It's up to you. Be creative with the cooking! It's a nice little appetizer to serve at parties also. This is how we do it though. On to the next one...on to the next one.

Rosinella Italian Trattoria

The Spot

The first spot we dined at was Rosinella Italian Trattoria, which is located in Downtown Miami. It's a small Italian restaurant with an authentic vibe to it. It really set up the right ambiance for the whole dining experience. We started off with the salmon carpaccio, which was DELICIOUS!

SALMON CARPACCIO

The Food

As you can see, we had to taste it first - make sure it was photograph ready. Anyway, the salmon carpaccio had a distinct flavor to it. Most restaurants serve beef carpaccio, which is very thinly sliced and seared filet mignon. The salmon was a nice little switch up. It was served with thin red onions on top, along with capers, olive oil, and a sprinkling of fresh lemon juice.

The Wine

Of course we had to taste their wine. After all, what is an Italian meal without a bottle of wine? Our waiter poured up a bottle of Pinot Grigio (Torre di Luna), which was a medium-bodied, fresh, lively, and fruity wine. It was pretty smooth, and our waiter served it up right! Maybe it's just me, but service of wine is key. When someone orders a bottle of wine, the waiter shows the bottle to the person. After the person gives it the "okay," it is opened and poured as a tasting for the person who ordered it. After the person agrees that it is good, the waiter pours everyone else a glass and tops off the first glass poured.

Dining

On to the meal...we ate two different dishes, which were Black Linguine with Shrimp, Clams, Calamari, and Mussels and Penne with tomatoes, chicken, asparagus, and a garlic olive oil sauce.

BLACK LINGUINE W/SEAFOOD

PENNE W/TOMATOES, CHICKEN, ASPARAGUS, GARLIC OIL

The black linguine w/seafood was full of flavor and all of the ingredients were fresh. On the other hand, the penne pasta was not so good. The pasta was not cooked enough, the chicken was dry, and the sauce had very little flavor. Overall, the meal was given the yellow mustard. Our rating system will be broken down into different levels of mustard:

Brown mustard - The food and service were horrible. Consider this a warning!

Yellow mustard - The food and service could use some improvement. Overall, everything was pretty good.

Mustard Chow - The food and service were excellent and we highly recommend this restaurant to you.

What is Mustard Chow?

Mustard Chow

Mustard Chow is the # 1 source for finding the hottest spots that will stimulate every palette of unique taste! If you love exquisite food, dining, atmosphere, entertainment, or the best happy hours...this is your destination.

What do we do?

We bring you the best dining and nightlife entertainment spots to hit up in some of the most beautiful cities! Whether you're looking for a trendy spot to see and be seen, or a hole in the wall spot to grub - Mustard Chow can satisfy that desire for you. So let's get it poppin'!