Pastele de Choclo

[KenK]

I planted Hickory King field corn in the garden this year. Seems like it may be similar to the Chilean corn you reference. The mature kernels are thumbnail size.

An acquaintance has a grist mill and I was hoping to have a few pounds of corn I could take to him to have ground into meal and grits. I would like to be able to make a few meals that everything on the table I grew. I can't eat a meal without bread so that was my angle on getting the cornmeal ground.

 

[KenK]

Mike,
Finally got around to making this. Followed your recipe more closely than I typically would a published recipe but it's still my take on the concept, for better or worse. Put the sugar topping on half and left it off on half and we preferred it less sweet.

Used ground venison, home grown chicken, corn and chiles from my garden.
Pictures are terrible as is typical for me but here it is anyway.

 

[bigmike&nan]

I was surprised/pleased to see this recipe back up at the top of the heap. So Ken, how did you like it ?? I think aside from fried empenadas (beef, onion and potato all slapped together) I like this and a really awesome bean and corn soup I had down at the giant produce market in the old slaughterhouse section of Santiago - the soup must have had a ham bone in it and the beans were like a sweet lima bean - or perhaps Chile's version of the lava bean. It was amazing.

 

[KenK]

It was very good and, will make it again. To me this is the kind of dish that is suitable for wide interpretation and I will tweak it to suit me over time.

 

[bigmike&nan]

I read countless recipes online and watched just as many videos on YouTube - it is a dish that has many variations depending on what part of Central or South America (and some parts of the Med) it's served in. Spend a while on YouTube and see - there's even ones made in small pie shells. Some are made like a soufflé (no meat filling) and some made in big ceramic dishes. In Chile there was this old stoneware crockery that looked a lot like it was carved out of lava - single portion sized Pastels were pre made in these and then slid under a salamander (restaurant talk for a dedicated broiler setup at eye level in a pro kitchen) for a quick warm up and caramelizing of the crust (that caramelized crust is a signature aspect of the dish by the way Ken).


Enjoy