Pastel de Choclo (Chilean Corn and Beef Casserole) Recipe

In Chile, we are saying that you have not actually had a whole summer time till you’ve eaten pastel de choclo. Served household fashion or in particular person clay bowls, the layers of this beloved Chilean summer time casserole stay the identical: a beneficiant base of pino (conventional Chilean savory beef and onion stew), a scattering of poached hen items, slices of hard-boiled eggs, raisins, and, historically, exactly one giant pitted black olive per serving. All of that’s topped with a thick layer of pastelera, a basil-kissed corn puree made out of a much less candy Chilean corn referred to as humero, although this recipe is designed to work with candy corn since humero is so exhausting to seek out within the States. The stew, hen, and corn puree are all totally cooked previous to meeting, then layered, baked till sizzling, effervescent, and flippantly browned on high. 

Pastel de choclo is by far the heartiest dish we Chileans eat in summer time, usually on weekends in eating places or at household gatherings, each in cities and out within the countryside. It is a heavy and wealthy dish, and is normally served as a essential course accompanied by little greater than a light-weight tomato and onion salad. It needs to be loved leisurely, taking a minimum of half an hour to complete, at which level all needs to be prepared for a nap.

There are just a few key necessities to success right here: The meat stew must be thickened to a velvety consistency and studded with juicy items of beef, the hen should be tender, and the corn puree ought to come out candy and sliceable after baking. Right here I’ve damaged down the recipe into its key elements to show you the way cook dinner and assemble a nap- and accompanying dream-worthy pastel de choclo at house.

Perfecting the Pino (Beef Stew)

It’s frequent to seek out pastel de choclo with beef stew made with both finely diced beef or floor beef. The primary possibility is what’s normally present in do-it-yourself variations, whereas floor beef variations are extra usually served in small eating places and meals markets. Floor beef is, no doubt, the much less laborious possibility (in all probability why time-strapped small eating places go for it), and the outcomes are nonetheless nice. Given that you simply additionally should prep the hen, corn puree, and extra, I additionally go for floor beef in my recipe to maintain the method manageable (but additionally clarify find out how to use minced, in the event you choose).

In my view, utilizing 80% lean floor beef yields a filling that’s not solely simpler to arrange (no knife work required), however with its larger fats content material it’s additionally extra flavorful than the lean cuts of meat sometimes used as mince within the stew. One disadvantage to utilizing floor beef is that it is extra susceptible to drying out after first searing it after which simmering and baking it; within the worst instances it got here come out with a texture like sandy gravel. To keep away from this, I add baking soda to the meat by whisking it with water and tossing it with the meat earlier than browning. The approach is a recreation changer: The baking soda raises the meat’s pH in order that it stays moist and bouncy throughout cooking and browns superbly.

As I discussed, you possibly can nonetheless make the recipe with diced beef, and I’ve given steerage for a way to take action beneath the recipe within the notes. If making pino with diced beef at house, I like to recommend utilizing a reduce of meat similar to flat iron or high blade steak. This differs from most Chileans, preferring even leaner cuts like high or backside sirloin butt, sirloin tip, or high or eye of spherical. I discover the upper fats content material in flat iron and high blade steak leads to a juicier, extra tender filling, whereas leaner cuts produce robust and dry morsels of meat that lack taste.

The Add-Ins

The commonest variations of this casserole embody a chunk of poached or roasted hen in each portion, and whereas I choose to incorporate them these additions aren’t necessary. I go for boneless, skinless hen thighs since they’re flavorful, stay juicy even with lengthy cooking, and require no deboning. Poaching can also be my most well-liked cooking methodology for the hen, because it yields probably the most tender and juicy meat. I like seasoning the poaching water with primary aromatics like onion, carrot, oregano, garlic, and bay leaf to construct a flavorful broth that is useful for the pino. 

The egg needs to be completely hard-boiled and olives black and as large as doable; search for the extra salty and impartial varieties, like a Nyon,Niçoise, or Liguiria olive, not bitter or acidic varieties like kalamatas. It’s conventional in Chile so as to add only one olive per portion—discovering the olive is sort of a enjoyable, salty little shock. Lastly, don’t skip the raisins, they’re additionally a part of the basic recipe and echo the sweetness of the corn topping.

The Corn Puree (Pastelera)

By the tip of spring, when the primary ears of humero corn begin showing within the markets, a standard scene unfolds throughout Chile: Ears of the thick and milky corn are shucked, then grated or floor to make both pastel de choclo or humitas (the identify of Chilean tamales).

The same old approach is to grate the peeled ears towards an enormous, do-it-yourself grater, which removes a lot of the kernel skins. Humero corn is exclusive to Chile. It’s starchier, much less candy, and has bigger, extra fibrous corn kernels than the candy corn used for cooking within the US. Except you might be in Chile, you gained’t discover humero corn at your native market, so I name for candy corn right here, and have made just a few changes described beneath to the puree to make sure the feel and taste of pastelera is much like the unique.  

Begin with browned butter. In one in all my checks, I by chance browned the butter wherein the corn is cooked. I made a decision to proceed in any case after which, after I tasted it, I yelled the equal to eureka! in Chilean slang: “chanfle!” I dwell for these completely satisfied accidents within the kitchen. It’s no large secret that browned butter improves the flavour of properly, virtually every thing, however right here the nutty, caramelized milk solids within the butter deepened the flavour of the puree, really mimicking the extra advanced taste of the humero corn selection utilized in Chile. 

Use a Blender. Since American candy corn is extra delicate and its pores and skin significantly thinner, there was no must grate the corn to chop and separate the kernel skins, like when utilizing humero corn. Merely processing it in a excessive efficiency blender yields an ideal outcome with loads much less effort and mess. 

Add cornstarch. As talked about, humero corn has extra starch than candy corn, and when it’s pureed and cooked that additional pure starch thickens it extra. Including a small quantity of cornstarch will make up for the dearth of it in American candy corn. I added the smallest quantity wanted, however if you’re utilizing recent corn at the start of the season that has larger water content material, you could must thicken the puree with a tiny bit extra cornstarch than the recipe requires. 

Prime with sugar earlier than baking. In Chile, pastel de choclo could be cooked dulce o salado—candy or savory—or any stage in between. This relies totally on the sweetness of the corn, but additionally on the cook dinner’s tastes. I choose the puree barely candy to steadiness the savory beef pino and hen. Beginning with candy corn helps obtain this, however I end the casserole with a sprinkle of sugar earlier than it goes into the oven to advertise a golden, candy caramelized high.

Use recent or frozen candy corn. There are apparent execs and cons to utilizing every. As anticipated, the puree made with recent corn has a extra advanced taste (nearer to when made with humero corn), nevertheless it requires extra work (shucking and chopping 10 ears of corn), and the ultimate taste and thickness of the puree is much less predictable as a result of corn’s water, sugar, and starch content material, which may differ extra with recent in-season corn. If utilizing frozen corn, the flavour gained’t be as vivid, however much less prep is required, it’s obtainable year-round, and it is a constant product that produces the identical outcomes each time.

Assembling and Serving

When able to assemble, I like to recommend having the stew and hen chilly or no less than at room temperature for simpler dealing with, however hold the corn puree sizzling or no less than heat so it spreads readily excessive. You’ll know the casserole is prepared when the saucy beef filling bubbles up across the edges of the pastelera layer and the candy aroma of corn fills the home. It smells precisely like a Chilean celebration on the peak of summer time. Serve it as we Chileans do, with a easy tomato and onion salad and a medium-bodied Chilean crimson wine.