Causa

I remember eating this dish for the first time at the Plaitis/Berru Christmas Eve Dinner the first year Rafael and I were together. Since then it has become one of my favourite Peruvian dishes. The way I like to describe Causa to my non-Peruvian friends is that it is a potato and tuna trifle. Traditionally Causa is made in a rectangular Pyrex and it is layered. To serve, you have to use a spatula and it can get messy. In the end, although you have a delicious dish the presentation gets lost in the serving. Seeing how I'm serving Causa as one of the appetisers for tomorrow's Book Club meeting I had to think of a creative way to present and serve this dish. In the cookbook my Father-in-Law sent for me it suggests to roll the Causa. I wasn't too confident that I would be able to reproduce what is in the cookbook, so I took the basic elements and layered them in a muffin pan. To my delight not only did my Causa turn out to be delicious but also presentable.

CAUSA

8 yellow potatoes
3 cans of solid white tuna, strained
1/2 lemon
1/2 lime
1 cup milk
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp cilantro paste
salt
pepper
2 ripe avocados
1/2 lime
2 tbsp mayonnaise
4 eggs, hard boiled
2 muffin pans
24 muffin cups
24 pimento olives

1. In a large stock pot boil the potatoes for 30 minutes. Set aside and cool.

2. In a small mixing bowl combine the tuna, lemon and lime juice and cilantro. Mix well.

3. In a food processor combine the avocado, mayonnaise, lime juice, salt and pepper until smooth.

4. Boil the eggs for 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside and cool.

5. Peel the boiled potatoes and mash. Add the milk and canola oil to get a smooth consistency.

6. Line the muffin pan with the cups. Add 1/2 tbsp of the mash potato at the bottom and pat it down.

7.Then add 1 tsp of the avocado mayo on each and spread over the mash.

8. Then add 1 tsp of the tuna mixture to the avocado mayo and pat down.

9. Add a slice of hard boiled egg.

10. Last add another 1/2 tbsp of mash and pat it down well to close up the layers.

11. Place in the fridge until ready to serve. Put a pimento olive onto of each piece.