Pastel De Choclo Beef Casserole With Corn Batter Topping Food

PASTEL DE CHOCLO: CHILEAN BEEF AND CORN CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Sauté the onions in the vegetable oil until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Add the ground beef, cumin, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the beef is crumbled and browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Place the corn kernels in a food processor or blender with 1/4 cup of the milk. Process for 1 to 2 minutes, until the corn is blended and appears creamy.
• Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a large saucepan. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, sugar, and the blended corn mixture.
• Add the remaining 3/4 cup milk and simmer, constantly stirring, until the mixture thickens-about 5 to 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in the chopped fresh basil. Preheat oven to 375 F.
• Drain the liquid from the browned beef mixture.
• Place the ground beef mixture in the bottom of a 3- to 4-quart casserole dish.
• Sprinkle the raisins, olives, and hard-boiled eggs over the beef, then layer the chicken on top.
• Spread the corn mixture over the top of the casserole so that it covers the rest of the ingredients. Sprinkle some sugar on top.
• Bake the casserole in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes, until the filling is bubbling hot and the corn mixture is golden brown.
• Serve warm.

CHILEAN PASTEL DE CHOCLO

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Combine milk and corn in a large saucepan, bring it to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, let stand, covered 5 minutes. Place the corn mixture in a food processor, process it until smooth. Stir in the basil, 1 tsp of the sugar, and 1/2 teaspoons salt.
• Combine broth, onion, bell pepper, carrot, black pepper, garlic and bay leaves in a large saucepan. Bring it to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 teaspoons salt, chicken, and parsley. Cover and cook 10 minutes or until chicken is done. Drain, discard bay leaves.
• Place chicken mixture in the bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with the corn mixture, sprinkle evenly with remaining 1 tbsp sugar. Bake at 400°F for 25 minutes.
• Preheat broiler. Broil 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Enjoy!
• Yield: 4 servings.

PASTEL DE CHOCLO

Steps:

• Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and let eggs stand in hot water for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, a pinch of salt, 1/4 teaspoon paprika, and some pepper. Cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add beef; add remaining salt, paprika, and more pepper. Cook and stir until mostly browned, about 5 minutes. Add chicken, raisins, and olives.
• Remove eggs from hot water, cool under cold running water, and peel. Roughly chop and add to the beef mixture. Keep pino mixture warm.
• Puree corn with basil in a blender or food processor. Pour into a saucepan over medium heat. Add butter; cook and stir until thickened, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in milk, sugar, and salt. Continue cooking until thickened to a paste, about 15 minutes more.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Spread pino into a baking dish. Cover with the corn paste. Sprinkle a little sugar on top.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown on top, about 20 minutes.

PASTEL DE CHOCLO (BEEF CASSEROLE WITH CORN BATTER TOPPING)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375ºF. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent. Stir in the garlic and saute for another 1-2 minutes. Add the ground beef, paprika, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper and saute, breaking up the meat, until the beef is just cooked through, 6-8 minutes.
• Pour in the water or stock and bring to a simmer. Sprinkle flour over all and stir in well. Simmer for another 5-8 minutes until lightly thickened. Adjust seasoning, remove from heat and set aside. This meat mixture is called pino.
• Place the corn, cornmeal, cornstarch and sugar in a food processor and process until well pureed. With the blade running, add the milk a little at a time until the corn forms a thick batter. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Melt the butter over medium-low heat in a large saucepan. Add the corn puree and cook, stirring constantly, until well thickened, about 5-8 minutes. Set aside.
• Spread the beef mixture in a greased casserole dish. Top with the cooked corn puree and spread out evenly over the dish. Sprinkle the sugar over the corn topping.
• Set the dish in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until bubbling and golden brown on top.
• VARIATIONS:.
• After placing the beef mixture in the casserole dish, top with two poached chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces, and 2-3 sliced hard-boiled eggs. Then top with the corn puree.
• Add 1/4 cup raisins and 1/4 cup chopped black olives to the simmering beef mixture.
• Stir 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil into the corn puree topping.
• Some Chileans add 1/4 cup or more sugar to the corn topping to make it quite sweet.
• Set the finished casserole under a hot broiler for 1 or 2 minutes to brown it well if you like.

PASTEL DE CHOCLO

Steps:

• Poach chicken in broth until cooked through. Cool in broth. Shred chicken. Save broth for another use. Set aside.
• Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and stir until golden brown. Add paprika, cumin and oregano and stir until fragrant. Add shredded chicken and stir well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Using grater, grate corn from cob (WilliamsSonoma sells a special gadget for grating corn right into a bowl). If using canned or frozen corn, pulse in food processor until coarsely pureed. Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add corn, sugar and salt. Gradually stir in enough milk and cook until mixture is slightly thick. Stir in basil.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spoon chicken mixture into 2quart baking dish. Arrange hardboiled eggs, olives and raisins over. Pour corn mixture over, smoothing top to cover filling completely. Sprinkle powdered sugar over top. Bake until crust is golden brown and firm to touch, about 40 minutes. Serve hot.

PASTEL DE CHOCLO - CORN CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 120C/100C fan/gas 1/2. Grease a 20 x 20cm cake tin and line with baking parchment. Separate the eggs. Put the yolks in a food processor or blender with the sweetcorn and blitz to a rough purée. Tip the blended mixture into a large bowl and stir in the butter, cornflour, baking powder, sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix thoroughly.
• Whisk the egg whites until they have reached the stiff peak stage. Gently fold the egg whites into the corn mixture using a large metal spoon until completely incorporated, keeping as much air in the mixture as possible.
• Spread the corn batter over the base of the tin with a spatula. Sprinkle over the cubes of cheese and push them into the mixture so they are almost completely covered.
• Cook for 1 hr 45 mins until firm and golden and shrinking slightly from the sides. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for at least 15 mins before cutting into chunks and serving, scattered with olives. Leftovers will keep in the fridge until the next day.