food & dining
Peruvian Chicken
KERI WHITE | SPECIAL TO THE JE
H aving returned from a recent trip to Peru, I
am enjoying experimenting with some of the
techniques and ingredients I discovered there.

“Pollo a la brasa” is ubiquitous in Peru. This sea-
soned whole chicken, roasted on a spit and served with
“aji verde” sauce, is an iconic dish that is offered in
eateries all over the country.

Few U.S. home cooks have access to a spit or a
rotisserie, so this version is adapted to a home kitchen
using an oven. Aji peppers, which form the basis for
the sauce, are not easily found stateside, but a jalapeño
or any spicy chili pepper is a suitable substitute.

I made this dish for dinner one Sunday, and it was a
hit. The leftover meat became a delightful chicken salad
studded with celery and laced with the aji verde and
mayo the next day, and the pan drippings and carcass
delivered a flavorful, slightly reddish chicken soup.

A word on the roasting technique: We are fans of
the braise in pretty much any meat; our family favors
meat that is tender to the point of nearly falling apart
and is well infused with seasoning. If your crew
prefers a more traditional roast chicken, cooked at a
slightly higher temperature, uncovered, resulting in a
firmer texture, stick to that cooking method and just
follow the recipe below for the marinade.

Serves 4
A note on the peppers: I used jalapeños and
included the seeds for more heat. If your crew has
more timid palates, remove the seeds, or use a
milder pepper such as a fresh poblano or even a
quarter of a sweet bell.

1 roaster chicken, about 7 pounds
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 whole jalapeño or chili pepper
1 whole lime, juice plus rind
¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
Puree all the ingredients in a blender.

Place the chicken in a large zip-seal bag or a bowl,
and pour some of the marinade into the cavity.

Separate the skin from the meat and add the remain-
ing marinade, rubbing the mixture in to ensure opti-
mal flavor. Let the chicken marinate for 2-24 hours.

28 NOVEMBER 24, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Bring it to room temperature before roasting.

Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken in a large roasting pan with a
cover. Pour any remaining marinade over the chicken,
cover it and cook until done, about 15-20 minutes
per pound. (Cooking the bird covered often acceler-
ates the process, so if you use that method, check it
for doneness about 30 minutes ahead of schedule.)
When done, let the chicken rest for 10 minutes, carve
it and serve it with the aji verde sauce.

Aji Verde Sauce
Aji amarillo refers to the yellowish hot peppers that
are used in many Peruvian dishes. Jalapeños are a
solid substitute. This sauce is traditionally made
with a combination of sour cream and mayonnaise,
but for this recipe, as it was served with chicken,
I omitted the dairy and added a bit more mayon-
naise for texture.

If you are serving fish, sour cream (or Greek
yogurt) would work well, and this sauce would
complement pretty much any fish. It is also excel-
lent as a vegetable dip, a sauce for tacos or quesa-
dillas, stirred into tuna salad, poured over roasted
veggies, mashed into potatoes or mixed with mayo
and spread on a sandwich. I have not yet tried
to drink it straight or ice a cake with it, but I just
might: It’s that versatile and delicious.

3 cloves garlic
1 jalapeño pepper
Juice of 1 lime
1 cup fresh cilantro, well rinsed
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup mayonnaise (or ¼ cup mayonnaise and ¼
cup Greek yogurt or sour cream)
1 tablespoon canola oil
In a blender, puree all the ingredients until
smooth. If the sauce needs “loosening” in the
blender, add a teaspoon or two of water. Serve it
chilled or at room temperature. JE
Photos by Keri White
Peruvian Chicken



arts & culture
New Penn Museum Exhibit
Adds Context to
Jewish History
Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer
Photos by Jarrad Saff ren
W e tend to think of Jewish
history as isolated, as the
story of a chosen people, as
the plight of a fallen kingdom with no
nation (until the return to Israel in the
20th century).

But Judaism’s origin story is far
more expansive than that, according
to a new exhibit at the Penn Museum
on the University of Pennsylvania’s
campus. Like Judaism today, the religion’s
founding and development cannot
be separated from the larger context
in which it exists. Th ere were three
monotheistic religions — Judaism,
Christianity and Islam — that emerged
in the Eastern Mediterranean region
that includes modern Israel, Jordan
and Syria, among other nations. All
three spread, as one museum display
puts it, “throughout the world.”
Yet they were all born and raised in
the same vibrant and eclectic region.

And it was that territory’s melding of
diff erent cultures and ideas that led to
such an impactful legacy, according
to the Penn Museum’s new Eastern
Mediterranean Gallery.

Th e exhibit opened on Nov. 19 and
includes “nearly 400 artifacts from the
Middle Bronze Age (2,000 to 1,600
B.C.E.) to the Ottoman Period (the
1800s),” according to a press release
from the museum. Th e gallery “reveals
how innovation was rooted for more
than 4,000 years” in that area. As vis-
itors walk through the 2,000-square-
foot space, they should gain an
understanding of “how their own lives
are impacted by concepts fi rst intro-
duced in this region.”
“Th e new Eastern Mediterranean
Gallery showcases a territory that has
always been central to the human story,”
Penn Museum Director Christopher
Woods said. “Today, of course, but also
in antiquity.”
When you fi rst walk into the gal-
lery and turn right, you see a display
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Lauren Ristvet, the lead curator for the new Eastern Mediterranean Gallery at
the Penn Museum in Philadelphia
about how, before the emergence of the
monotheistic religions, deities took on
specifi c forms. But over time, the idea
of a formless deity emerged.

It’s an important lesson that clarifi es
the timeline behind the key concept
that unites all three of these religious
traditions. But it’s not the only rea-
son for Jewish residents of the greater
Philadelphia area to visit the new gal-
lery, according to Lauren Ristvet, the
exhibit’s lead curator and a Penn pro-
fessor of anthropology.

Th ese are some others.

A Large Collection of Objects
from Israel
Th e exhibit includes the largest col-
lection of objects from Israel in the
United States and Canada, accord-
ing to Ristvet. It’s also the third-larg-
est such collection in the world. Th e
Penn Museum has led excavations
into Israel, Jordan and other Eastern
Mediterranean countries since the
period following World War I.

More Historical Context about
the Torah
“Basically, the early period that we’re
looking at, the period from 1800 B.C.E.

to 1150 B.C.E., is the period that’s really
represented in stories in Genesis and
Exodus,” Ristvet said.

But the stories only happened during
that period. Th ey were not yet written
down. Th at would come later. First,
though, from around 1150 B.C.E. to about
700 B.C.E., Jews started craft ing “a lot of
the historical books” about the Kingdom
of Judah, which lasted for almost 400
years during much of that same era.

Th is was a time when Jews had an
empire, both the Kingdom of Judah
and the Kingdom of Israel. Th ough by
this point, they were likely separate
instead of united as they had been in
the time of Saul, David and Solomon.

“Th ey are really starting to write.

Th ese people invented the alphabet,”
Ristvet said of the 1150 to 700 stretch.

“We have early Hebrew inscriptions.”
And then from 700 B.C.E. to around
330 B.C.E., the Torah as we know it was
“edited, put together,” she added.

“A lot of religious traditions and
thought are really formed during this
period,” Ristvet concluded.

More Historical Context about
Beit She’an
Th is ancient Israeli city played an inter-
esting role during the Roman Empire
period, according to Ristvet. It was
home to a multi-faith community that
used both synagogues and churches.

Th ere were plenty of diff erent groups
living in the city at the time.

Th e Penn Museum has “pretty cool
material” from this period showing the
changes that took place aft er the destruc-
tion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by
the Romans. Th e Romans took Jerusalem
in 70 C.E., forcing the Jews to become the
wandering tribe we know today. Aft er the
destruction, Jews had to settle in multi-
faith places like Beit She’an. Roman era
Beit She’an is an early example of the way
Jews would go on to live for almost 2,000
years ... until the creation of modern Israel
aft er World War II.

“We get a little bit in the end of
what’s happening in that later phase,”
Ristvet said of the gallery. JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 29