Crab Causa | Andrew Enrique Cisneros
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Our goal at Small Circle is to not only shine a light on the featured chefs in our series, but to help those chefs highlight other members of their team who put in the hard work behind the scenes in the kitchen. Every great restaurant is the culmination of talented chefs working together to create an amazing experience through cuisine and that’s exactly the approach we found with Ben Grupe’s team at Tempus. We are super excited to start sharing some online only recipes with you here that you won’t find in our cookbooks!
Meet Andrew Enrique Cisneros
Chef de Cuisine at Tempus.
Andrew comes to us already having spent time in some of St. Louis’ most celebrated kitchens including the St. Louis Club in Clayton, Elaia, Privado, and Dia’s Room at Cinder House.
Andrew introduced us to this amazing Peruvian dish that is a classic at home recipe from his childhood. He describes crab causa as a layered potato salad dish served cold and normally prepared family meal style in a casserole pan or large serving tray.
Andrew’s interpretation elevates the dish with traditional Japanese flavors like Nori, Bonita flakes, and Kewpie mayonnaise.
Crab Causa Recipe
By Andrew Enrique Cisneros
Ingredients:
Crab Salad
4oz Lump Blue Crab meat or fresh crab meat if in season
Dressing for Crab Salad:
1 cup Kewpie Mayonnaise (Japanese Mayonnaise)
Fresh Juice of a 1/2 of an Orange,
Fresh Juice of a 1/2 of a lemon
Fresh Juice of a 1/2 of a lime
1 Tablespoon of minced Shallots
Sea salt to taste
Chilled Peruvian Mashed Potato:
2 Large Yukon Gold Potatoes, Peeled and cut evenly to 4 large potato wedges (each potato)
Fresh Juice of 1 1/2 Limes
Fresh Juice of 1 1/2 Lemons
3 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1/4 cup Aji Amarillo Paste (Yellow Peruvian pepper)
Garnishes:
1 whole Avocado, thinly sliced or largely diced
1 Hard Boiled Egg, sliced or cut into wedges
Herbs: Dill Fronds, Cilantro leaves, Italian Parsley leaves, and tarragon leaves
Optional: Bonito flakes and Nori
Directions:
To begin, make your Peruvian mashed potatoes.
Bring your potatoes to a boil and then turn low to a gentle simmer until you can easily run a fork through one of your “larger” pieces.
Drain the water and pass the potatoes through a potato press or use a masher.
Mix in your lemon, lime juice, olive oil, and aji Amarillo paste, and season with salt to taste.
Once all is combined, cover and chill.
2. Next, prepare your salad by mixing the dressing with the crab.
3. Now you may garnish and assemble your salad. There are different methods of assembling this dish.
You may use one of the following options below:
Option A: In the form of a casserole. Layer in a Tupperware potato-salad in the center-potato.
Option B: Using an ice cream scoop to scoop the mashed potato and build the salad on top.
Option C: Using a piping bag with a tip and piping circle on a plate and either building a salad in the middle or over the piped potato.
***Kewpie Mayonnaise, bonito flakes, nori and Aji Amarillo Paste can be found in international grocery stores such as Jay’s international, Global Foods, and seafood city in St. Louis***