At least once during any Aria Amazon voyage, usually during the midday heat, our chef invites guests to gather in the air-conditioned Indoor Lounge for a cooking demonstration of Amazonia inspired dishes, perhaps a solterito salad that we prepare on board with Inca corn and wild Andean cilantro. Executive Chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino’s internationally renowned Peruvian fare with flare can be found in From the Kitchens of Aqua Expeditions.Here we offer a few samples here to try at home:
PISCO PUNCH
1 glass
INGREDIENTS
Pineapple syrup
- 1 pineapple, diced into small pieces
- 1 pint water
- 2¼ cups white sugar
Pisco punch
- 1½ ounces pure Pisco Quebranta
- ¾ ounce lime juice
- 1 ounce pineapple syrup
- 1 ounce water
- 1 tablespoon pineapple, diced
- 5 ice cubes
- 1 maraschino cherry
PREPARATION
Pineapple syrup
Pour equal amounts of water and white sugar in a saucepan. Boil and add the pineapple. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl with a lid. Let chill and refrigerate for a day. Put through a fine strainer and keep syrup and pineapple separate.
Pisco punch
Mix the Pisco with lime juice, pineapple syrup, and water. To serve, put a tablespoon of diced pineapple into a goblet, fill with ice and add mixture. Place cherry on top to decorate.
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CAUSA WITH FRESH WATER SHRIMP ESCABECHE 
4 servings
INGREDIENTS
- 1 small avocado
- 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
- Fresh heart of palm strips to decorate
- Sea salt
Causa
- 1 pound small yellow potatoes, peeled
- ½ cup yellow chili pepper purée
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- Salt
- Pepper
Escabeche
- 4 fresh water shrimp, cleaned and deveined
- 2 cups red onion, sliced
- 1 ounce sweet chili, sliced
- 2 sachaculantro leaves
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon sweet chili paste, lightly roasted
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon powdered turmeric
- Black pepper
- 1 leaf wild oregano
- 1 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 cups fish stock
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
PREPARATION
Escabeche
This recipe must be done a day before planning to serve.
In a frying pan, heat olive oil and sauté shrimp. Season with salt and pepper. Cook shrimp until medium rare, remove from pan and place in a container with lid. In the same frying pan, sauté the onion with sweet chili and sachaculantro. Season with salt and pepper and sauté until onions are translucent.
Remove everything from the frying pan except the oil, and add mix to the shrimp.
Continue using the same frying pan, and add more oil if necessary. Make a dressing with garlic, sweet chili paste, cumin,turmeric, black pepper, and wild oregano. Season with salt. Add vinegar and fish stock and let it reduce to half. Check taste, add salt if necessary. Pour the hot sauce over the shrimp. Cover with lid and let cool. Once cold refrigerate.
Causa
Cook the yellow potatoes in water with salt. Once the potatoes are cooked, force them through a fine potato ricer while hot.
Cover mashed potatoes with plastic wrap to prevent them from drying. Chill potatoes. When the potato mix is cold, season it with yellow chili purée, vegetable oil, lemon juice, and salt.
Mix well and knead until mixture becomes a uniform color. Refrigerate.
Assembly
To serve, place a quarter of the potato mix in the center of the plate and top with a piece of avocado. Season the avocado with salt and mayonnaise. Place shrimp on top of the avocado and bathe with escabeche sauce. Finish with fresh heart of palm strips and sea salt.
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TIGER CATFISH CEBICHE WITH CASHEW FRUIT AND PURPLE ÑAME 
4 servings
INGREDIENTS
- 1 pound fresh tiger catfish fillets cut into ¾-inch cubes
- ½ pound red onion cut in julienne strips,
- soaked in iced water
- 1¾ ounces sweet chili cut in julienne strips,
- soaked in iced water
- 8 cashew nuts, toasted and chopped
- 1½ teaspoons sachaculantro cut in julienne strips
- 4 charapita chillies, grounded
- 2 ice cubes
- ½ pound purple ñame, boiled and cut like fish
- A few drops of lemon juice
Cashew purée
- 2 ripe cashew peduncles (stalks) cut into 4
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- Salt
Tiradito sauce
- 2 charapita chilies, deveined
- 2 cups red onion, chopped thick
- 2 sachaculantro leaves
- ¼ pound fish trimmings, skinned and cleaned
- ½ celery stick
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 cups lime juice
- 1 pinch hondashi
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
- Salt
- White pepper
- 5 ice cubes
PREPARATION
Cashew purée
Cook cashew stalks in boiling water with sugar and salt to taste, until soft. Remove from the water and let it cool. Place the cold fruit in the blender and emulsify with olive oil. Put through a fine strainer. Keep cold.
Tiradito Sauce
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, season with salt, pepper, and hondashi to taste. Put mix in a blender and pulse 3 times. Do not blend more than necessary. Put through a fine strainer. Keep cold. Pour cashew and tiradito sauce into a blender and emulsify. Season with salt and keep cold.
Assembly
In a bowl, put fish, some ice cubes, half the onion, and sweet chili. Add sachaculantro, charapita chili, and cashew nuts. Fold and season with salt and some lemon drops. Add tiradito sauce and mix. In a cold martini glass, place cooked purple ñame on the bottom and layer ceviche (cebiche) on top. Finish with onion and the sweet chili that is left.
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