Aunt Clara's Pastelón de Harina de Maiz (Cornmeal Goodness)

It's been over a week without a post, but don't fret! I've been cooking up a storm. Fresh tomato sauces, green salad with tuna in a lime-honey vinaigrette, thai curried sardines, rice cooked with vegetables...and it has all been delectable, healthy, light, and gluten-free. Perfect summer foods, and in my charming new apartment, with my muse, the fiance.

After the triumph of the first pastelón, I looked in my pantry and fridge and decided I would tackle the Cornmeal Pastelón. Why stop while I was on a roll, right? I'm glad I tried it, because it turned out to be one of those meals that melts in your mouth while you eat it slowly with your eyes closed - without realizing it. Heaven is what that is.

However, it took forever to make. I mean it, this was not an easy meal, nor was it my healthiest invention, but it sure as hell tasted good. This meal is so Dominican - there's something about the mixture of sweet (the layers of sweet polenta) and savory (the ground beef mixture in the middle) that screams the Dominican Republic. The recipe is going to look odd right up until you take your first bite. Take my word for it, and try making this recipe! You won't regret it.

A few tips: I made my own polenta from the cornmeal, which was the longest part of the process. If you can find some quick-cooking polenta, you are home-free.  This would be an excellent meal for a potluck or a party - wherever you need to feed a lot of people. And, it's guaranteed to impress.

Recipe

Pastelón de Harina de Maiz (Cornmeal Goodness)


Cornmeal/Polenta:
2 cups cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup grated cheddar or mozzarella cheese (I used mozzarella)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup raisins
salt

Fresh Tomato Sauce
6 cups fresh or canned tomatoes, peeled and diced
3+ tablespoons of sugar (add to make it as sweet as you like it)
1 1/2 cup of water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove of garlic, crushed and minced
1 small onion, diced
oregano
salt

Ground Beef Filling
1-2 pounds ground beef
1 red onion, diced into small pieces
1 green pepper, diced into small pieces
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons olive oil
oregano
salt
pepper

**Before starting to cook, soak the cornmeal and raisins in 6-8 cups of water for an hour.**

1. Make the Tomato Sauce:

If you are peeling your tomatoes from scratch, there's a shortcut that Aunt Clara has on her website, and it is brilliant! Wash your tomatoes, and then slice an X with a knife on the bottom and top parts of the tomatoes. Drop them in boiling water, and watch as within a few minutes, the skin begins to peel back. Remove, rinse in cold water, and place them in the fridge until you are ready to dice them - so you don't get burned!

After everything is washed and diced, heat the oil in a pan. Sautée the tomatoes and onion with a 1/2 teaspoon of oregano. Once the onions are tender, add the garlic for around 30 seconds so it doesn't burn. Add water and sugar, and simmer over low heat until you have a thick, chunky sauce.  Add salt to taste!

Set this sauce aside for now.

2. Make the Ground Beef Filling:

Heat the oil in a shallow pan. Sautée the onions and pepper until they are tender, and then add the garlic for around 30 seconds so it doesn't burn. Add the ground beef on medium heat and stir so it cooks evenly and slowly. Add a ton of oregano! Go on, dump it in there! Don't be scared! Oregano is such a good herb to use with ground beef - especially if it is not great quality or not super fresh - because it masks that meat-y taste and gives it a fresh flavor. When the meat starts to release liquid, add 2 cups of the tomato sauce you just made. Also, add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, and stir, stir, stir! Once the tomato paste melts, simmer over low heat until most of the liquid is evaporated but the meat is still juicy.

When you get to this point, taste it. What is it missing? Add more tomato paste if you need to, as well as more oregano, with a little bit of water. Let it soak up the liquid again, and taste. Add salt to taste. You shouldn't need too much, but it will bring out all the flavors, so don't skip this step (or any step, for that matter!). Remove from the heat and set aside.

3. Make the Cornmeal:

In a big pot, mix the cornmeal, raisins, sugar, salt, and olive oil.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. This is the hard part. Please, just keep stirring. When it starts boiling, lower the heat and keep stirring until it the cornmeal mixture starts to lift itself from the pot. This is going to take at least 30 minutes, and probably more. I lost track of time while I was doing it, my bad. When your cornmeal begins to lift from the pot, it will have the texture of polenta and it becomes doughy. Add salt to taste, if necessary. It should look like this picture:

4. Assemble:

Grease a baking pan with spray and heat your oven to 300 degrees.  Spread 1/2 of the cornmeal mixture on the bottom of the pan.  Make the middle layer by covering the cornmeal with 1/2 of the grated cheese and then add all of ground beef filling.  Finally, spread the remaining cornmeal on top, and cover with the other half of the cheese. Bake until it turns golden brown!

Let it sit for around 5 minutes, and then serve.



a buen tiempo!

Aunt Clara's Pastelón de Papas

Ah, the lovely concept of pastelones. I love pastelones maybe more than any other food in this country. You might hear me say that more than once on La Buena Fe, and it's always going to be true.  Why do you think I want to master Dominican cooking? I can tell you that it isn't because I hate the cuisine.

There are so many forms of pastelones - made with mashed yuca, mashed sweet plantains, mashed potatoes, eggplant, cornmeal, spaghettis, or rice.  They can be made for meat eaters or vegetarians, and they are frequently smothered with cheese. In short, they are basically casseroles, but that boring English word says nothing of the joy they can bring. The Pastelón de Papas that you see in the picture was created with mashed potatoes and ground beef with vegetables, and it was made directly from the fat kid that lives inside of us all - with too much butter, evaporated milk, and cheese, cheese, cheese! If you are watching your diet, forget about it, because you won't be able to resist this dish for long. 

Trust me, I tried...and failed.

I failed so hard that I ate one piece, which started small and then grew little by little to an enormous square of love, and then I gave the rest of the pan to my fiance. "PLEASE," I said, sweating with self control, trying to stop myself from devouring the entire pan, "do something with this. I can't have it in the refrigerator." Luckily, it turns out that he stayed home from work the next day, with a few other people, because he was working on some of his artwork.  

He's a painter, and he's a part of the skateboarding community here in Santo Domingo - so naturally the recycled materials he uses are recycled skateboards and surfboards:

 ...See that Lizzy in the corner? Muahah! This one is mine.

 

A few friends came over to help out with a current project, and this is how they left their plates, and my pan: 

Success.

Recipe

Pastelón de Papas

6 cups potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes 

1/2 cup butter

1 cup light evaporated milk

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced and mashed

2 eggs

1 tablespoon of parsley, finely chopped

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 pound ground beef

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1 green pepper, finely chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon (or more) oregano

1/4 cup water

salt to taste

6 slices mozzarella cheese 

First, put the peeled and cubed potatoes to boil.  While they are boiling, season the ground beef by mixing the raw ground beef, onion, green pepper, oregano and pepper together with your hands.  Heat the oil and then add the ground beef mixture.  Cook the meat, and add water and tomato paste after it begins to brown. Stir frequently until the tomato paste has melted. Add more water if it is necessary to finish cooking the meat, and then continue cooking until all the liquid evaporates. Turn off the heat and set it aside.

After the potatoes are tender, drain the excess water and mash the potatoes. With the potatoes, mix the milk, butter, parsley, eggs, garlic, and salt to taste.  Pour half of this mashed potato mixture into a greased baking dish. Then, add all of the ground beef mixture evenly. Top it with a final layer of the mashed potatoes.  Place in the oven on 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the top of the pastelón is golden.  Remove from the oven and add the cheese slices.  Return the pastelón to the oven until the cheese melts. Serves 6+.

a buen tiempo!

Aunt Clara's Pan de Batata: Sweet Potato Brownies

Living in a country that is not my own opens my eyes to a million new things everyday.  For example, stuffing 7 people in a tiny beat-up car is the D.R.'s version of public transportation.  And women look like they are going to a club to go dancing at all hours of the day - especially at the supermarket.

The cultural surprises of living abroad are no exception in the kitchen. Growing up, I would have never thought of sweet potatoes as an after-meal treat, but here in the Dominican Republic, they are two peas in a pod.

The direct translation of the dish Pan de Batata is Sweet Potato Bread, but my spin on them makes them more similar luscious Sweet Potato Brownies. Here in the D.R., there is also Jalea de Batata, and that is like a Sweet Potato Pudding. The Dominican mixture of sweet potatoes with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, sugar, sweet milk, and cloves, which can result in two different kinds of mouth-watering desserts, surprised me so much that I had to give away as many of these brownies as I could to prevent myself from eating them.

Thanks to Aunt Clara for this recipe, which I only slightly tweaked.

Recipe

Sweet Potato Brownies

1 large sweet potato, peeled and grated
1 egg
1 teaspoon clove powder
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup of coconut flesh, finely grated (Look for canned coconut flesh mixed with sugar in the grocery store - it's much easier and much tastier)
1 teaspoon ginger, grated
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg powder


Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl, except for the grated coconut. Pour the mixture into a greased baking pan and place in the oven for about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven when it is almost done, add the grated coconut, and place in the oven again for 3-5 minutes. Pinch with a clean knife, and if it does not stick to the knife, remove it from the oven. Let it cool before taking it out of the pan.  Makes 12-15 medium sized brownies.

As Aunt Clara says, "Serve as dessert or as accompanying hot cocoa or coffee."




a buen tiempo!

Dominican Arepitas and a little Julie and Julia Action

I've decided I'm going to cook my way, the best I can, through a popular - or better said - iconic Dominican cookbook: Aunt Clara's Kitchen.

Consider this an intercultural version of Julie and Julia. I'm embarrassed to say I got my idea from this movie, but whatever, I love Meryl Streep. The point is that I'm going to learn how to cook like a Dominican - but hopefully with less of the two scary ingredients that they use the most: salt and sugar.

Food is such an important part of any culture, and I really need to learn how to take advantage of what is available here. What better way to do it than copying Amy and Meryl?

I'll be going back and forth between Aunt Clara and my own recipe adventures, so don't be alarmed if you see something super North American like corn-dogs in the mix!

The recipe for today is simple: Dominican Arepitas. I'm going to dare to compare arepitas to our idea of dinner rolls. They act as a side to the typical Dominican lunch: rice, beans, and meat. They are sweet, addictive, and because I am not partial to what is eaten at what meal, I've been eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Recipe

Dominican Arepitas

1 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup oil for frying

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon aniseed

2 eggs

Mix together all of the ingredients, except for the oil. In a frying pan, heat the oil. When it is hot, place one spoonful of the arepita dough at a time into the oil. Fry until golden brown on both sides and serve!

a buen tiempo!