Happy Canary Day! Time for some Mojo!
The 30th of May is a special day ’round these parts….it’s “El Día de Canarias,” “Canary Island Day.” We are celebrating with, what else? Food! And so I can get bizzy celebrating, I’m going to leave you with *thee* most popular Canary recipe ever….papas arrugadas con mojo (which, translated, means ‘wrinkled potatoes with mojo’). Mojo…where to even begin? There are as many varieties as chefs….the particular version I’m posting here is called “Mojo Picón,” or “Spicy Mojo.” (btw….it’s pronounced MO-ho, rhymes with Soho, though it’s got some mo-joe goin’ on too. 
hehe). I’ll do a step by step for the potatoes, for clarity more than anything. Have a happy Canary day everyone!!
Papas Arrugadas
Ingredients:
2 pounds (1 kilo) tiny potatoes
a generous amount of sea salt (more than you think you’d need, like a handful)
2 thin lemon slices
water for potatoes (to come halfway up the potatoes, not to cover them)
Preparation:
Bring potatoes to boil over strong heat.
Loosely cover with a clean kitchen towel.
Reduce heat to medium-low, and allow to cook until done (this will depend on the size of your potatoes, but about 20-30 minutes).
Add more water if necessary.
When potatoes are cooked through and begin to “wrinkle,” they’re done. Like this, see? :)
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While the potatoes are cooking, make the Mojo Picón…or if you can, make it the day before…it gets better with time.
Ingredients:
5-7 cloves garlic
sea salt to taste
2 mini cayenne peppers (dried)
1 generous teaspoon cumin seeds
1 generous teaspoon smokey paprika
bread crumbs to taste (optional, for gluten free, do not use, or sub with gf bread crumbs)
1/4-1/2 cup olive oil
2-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
water to thin (optional)
Preparation:
Using a mortar and pestle, mash garlic, salt, cumin and cayennes to a paste.
Add paprika and mash to combine.
Add bread crumbs (if using) and mash to combine.
Add olive oil and continue mashing.
Add vinegar little by little, mashing constantly to avoid separation (though if it does separate, it’s no big deal…just not as pretty…shake before serving in this case).
Serve sauce with papas arrugadas or Canary cheeses…..oh heck, a quick pimp:
Fresh Cheese from San Mateo, Gran Canaria….a cow’s milk cheese, very soft and mild, just a hint salty:
Semi-cured Artisan Cheese from Fuerteventura, with a paprika rind (this one is made from goat’s milk, and has a wonderful tang):
And lastly, Aged Artisan Cheese from Fuerteventura (made with goat’s milk and pleasantly sharp):
Those look really yummy!
Sounds good!
I made some mojo last night too though I had no idea I was celebrating a holiday! I made essentially the same mojo as I did for the catfish and zucchini mojo but I subbed cucumber for zucchini and pork loins for catfish and I added in some green onion.
I was at your sister’s on Sunday, I brought some tuna steak ceviche. I think it scared the burger and brat crowd
Thank you, Oh the Joys!
They were really good! Fil said that he hadn’t had “papas” that good in years. *brushes nails on shirt* lol
Brian! (read that like “Norm!” on Cheers)
Glad you were able to celebrate with us (even though it was unknowingly hehe). Tuna ceviche…YUM that sounds delicious. I’ll have the scaredy-cat’s portions please! 
Gah! You all are making me hungry. I’ve never had a tuna ceviche, but ceviche in general is pretty easy to get as we have a large Hispanic population in the area.
Those look so delicious! Even though I love it, I have never made mojo before. I will definitely have to give it a try.
Thanks for the comments, Jaklumen and Elly!
Mojo is really easy to make, Elly, I hope you like it!
Ooh, I had forgotten about these! The potatoes and the sauce were so much fun to make and soooo tasty!
Hee! I remember when you made these!! You were like…”A towel? On the food? Ummm, ok.” LOL I’m so happy to see you here, Ginny…You have no idea. MUAC!
Those cheeses are just killing me they look so good!
Jenn, Canarian cheeses are the best I’ve ever tried…seriously…when we lived in the States I used to order Spanish cheeses online…A couple of good places to order from are igourmet.com and tienda.com. Every once in a while a local grocer would carry some of the more common ones, but Canarian cheeses were really hard to find. They are worth searching for, though!
Hello, those potatoes and mojo bring back very good memories of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. I cant wait to try out your mojo recipe. Congratulations on the site it looks superb.
Thank you so much, Darren! Such beautiful islands, those 2…almost surreal looking!
Hello Nikki,
Well, I made your mojo with potatoes last weekend (to go with pan-fried salmon) and it was brilliant! Actually even better than any mojo we had in a restaurant. I used red-skinned potatoes as that is all I could get but they came out really nice and wrinkly also. Thanks for the recipe,
Darren.
Hi Darren! I’m thrilled that you enjoyed the recipe!!
Thanks so much for trying it, and for stopping by to let me know how things turned out. 
I have a question, if I don’t have 2 mini dried cayenne peppers how much ground cayenne pepper can I use?
Also if I must use the dried peppers can I use “chile de arbol seco” or “chile japones seco” they are both red?
By the way I only have sweet paprika is it okay to use sweet paprika.
I don’t mind having to go to the store, it’s just that I have EVERYTHING except the “smokey paprika” (which Im assuming is hot) and the whole dried mini cayenne peppers.
P.S.
I’m so glad I found your blog, I would be very interested in learning other mojo sauces and things from the cuisine of Canary Islands.
It’s funny that Canarian Cuisine uses “Mojo” sauces because Cuban Cuisine has 2 types of mojos “Mojo de Ajo” and “Mojo Criollo” but I guess it’s part of the strong Canarian influence and it can also be seen in the Cuban accent.
Hi Nathan! I’m so glad you like the blog!
The smokey paprika can be subbed with sweet, it’ll just have a slightly different flavor…and the mini cayennes can be subbed with chili flakes or ground cayenne to taste. I do have a bunch of Canarian recipes posted, you can type Canary Islands in the search box up top, and see the ones I’ve got…if you are interested in any particular recipes, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do. 
Well Nikki I don’t know much about what dishes are in Canarian Cuisine, but I would be interested in learning the different types of “Mojos” used in Canary Islands and I would love to know what to accompany with the “Mojos”
Like I’ve read they can be used to accompany fish dishes and some chicken dish. If so then how do I prepare the fish dish that goes with the Mojo or Chicken dish that goes with the mojo.
And what type of Mojo is eaten with with what type of food.
Well Nikki thanks for the response and caring, if you ever want to learn a specific Cuban or Mexican dish I’ll show you (if I know how to make it)
Sure thing, Nathan!
Look for Mojo Verde soon…I’ll do a Mojo post, and add that recipe. Do you know I have a whole cookbook dedicated to Canarian Mojos? LMAO You are correct that mojo goes with chicken and fish. It’s mostly individual taste that dictates which mojos go with which foods, but I can give you my own insights as to which pair well. And Bring on the Cuban and Mexican dishes! I’d especially be interested in Cuban…the slow roasted pork? YUM. 
Look for a mojo post soon, ok? Thanks for reading, Nathan. I’m flattered by your interest.
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