Arepas de Maiz

On my Amazon wish list for my birthday I always have cookbooks as that’s an easy option for friends and family. This year I noticed Provecho by Edgar Castrejon and added it and it was as purchased for me by my sister. This is a very fun book that will be loved by those that abode gluten and meat. I’m making arepas inspired by his recipe in that book.

1 1/2 cups masa—-I use Tres Latino masa

3 Tbl nutritional heat

Salt to taste

Corn…canned sweet corn. 15 ounces

Water to adjust for the right texture

The arepas should come together like this

The corn gets a blender treatment before being poured in
The photo makes these look way thicker than they are but they are a nice 1/4 inch thick or so

For the green salsa…I toasted the ingredients below and gave them a whir and now they simmer a bit.

For the red sauce…

Roasted tomato, shallot, jalapeño, with garlic, rehydrated California peppers and Mexican oregano.

The two sauces

For the beans…

The beans are leftover “refried” pintos from another post. I added roasted jalapeño and some Chile soaking liquid to simmer and blend.

Other sides…

My curtido is crazy good after the extra fermentation time. Sadly, this is her last appearance.

I wanted something extra so I grabbed some salad shrimp that got dressed up with chili and some lime juice

Then I just loaded them up as a vehicle for the toppings

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Pupusas with fermented curtido and salsa

I started this adventure a week ago as the curtido needs 2 days to ferment so the rest of the time it can hang in the fridge.

A half a head of cabbage, 2 grated carrots, and 2 garlic cloves

I did use 1 tsp of salt and 1/8 tsp of culture…plus about 1 tablespoon of Mexican oregano.

And she got treated to 3 days on the counter at room temp

The sauce starts with three anchos and one California soaking in warm water. Once they soften (retain the water) they are cleaned of seeds and hard stems and added to 1 big Roma and 3 garlic close, a dash of liquid smoke and a quarter of an onion in the blender. Adding soaking water as needed.

The sauce mixture goes on the lowest heat to simmer down by 1/3 volume then adding reserved chili liquid to reach a somewhat runny consistency.

I forgot to soak the beans in advance so they did a cycle in the Instant Pot on pressure cooker. After that I added my home made low sodium no chicken broth—substitute as you will…onion, garlic powder. Simmering slowly to eliminate liquid.

I just mush them in the pan so I have some solid pieces but mostly mashed.

The Pupusas were made with 2 cups masa and 1 1/2 cups water, and a little salt. My Pupusas were small and this recipe yielded 8. You just mix the ingredient and go for a Play Doh texture adding a little more water or a little masa if needed. I filled these with cheese—you can use any melting cheese you want really, but I had a white Mexican cheese.

My dough was rolled into 8 balls. Take a ball and press your thumb in to make a deep indentation. Fill that with about 1 Tbl cheese, close your hole and flatten the pupusa, which next gets fried. you can make this vegetarian by using beans instead of cheese as the filling.

I had a jicama sitting around so I cut that into sticks and sprinkles with tajin and lime.

Here’s the whole table:

The pupusas
Salsa, curtido and margarita
A pupusa with sauce and curtido. I like my curtido dripping over the top….

Pickle marinated tuna salad

I haven’t made this in a bit but was thinking about it coming home from work…

It’s your regular tuna filets marinated in picked juice before cooking.

After it’s looking a little cooked—-like 2-3 hours you can pan fry your tuna.

Once pan fried to just barely done, you can shred it to your liking with a fork. I’m happy with pretty decent sized chunks.

Next you add the fun stuff…1-2 green onions to taste, 3 or so Tablespoons of green olives, some sliced pickle to taste, powdered dill, salt and pepper to taste….and I dislike an all Mayo tuna so I use this: 1.5 Tbl Mayo, 1.5 Tbl lemon olive oil, and 2 Tbl vinegar of choice.

Mix it up and let it rest for like 30 minutes or more so everything marries well.

I served on a salad with some cucs, tomatoes and micro greens.

Shared first on What’s for Dinner Sunday:

The Lazy Gastronome
The Lazy Gastronome

Pulled Jackfruit and Coleslaw

I’ve made this a few times but haven’t really written it down. I’m sure I have some pics poking around the blog. This is definitely a measure by feeling and throw stuff in dinner but it’s gluten free and meat free.

For the coleslaw….

Super easy. I’m not a huge fan of the heavy creamy slaws so I lean toward vinegar and oil types. This one has:

  • 1/2 head coleslaw, cored and sliced
  • 1 green onion, sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1/2 jalapeño, sliced
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tbl olive oil
  • Teaspoon dried onion
  • Tbl dried shallots
  • Salt to taste
  • About a teaspoon black pepper
  • About a Tbl of sugar

Mix it up and let it sit at room temp a couple hours.

For the jackfruit….

  • 1 can jackfruit with the fleshy part pulled apart and the solids finely chopped
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1/2 jalapeño
  • Garlic
  • 1 Tbl honey
  • 1 Tbl molasses
  • 1 Tbl mustard
  • 2 Tbl olive oil
  • 2 Tbl sugar
  • 1 Tbl Worcestershire
  • 1 Tbl soy sauce, tamari or coconut aminos
  • 1 small can tomato paste
  • I used flatirons dark and smoky pepper blend—like 1/2 teaspoon. You can use and nice yummy smoky pepper to add some depth and smoke.

I sautéed all ingredients except tomato and beans until onion nice and wilted.

Then I stirred in the paste…and it need some liquid to thin it out. I used about 1/2 cup of leftover bean cooking broth.

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Pinto Bean Bratwurst with Sauerkraut Salad

I’m revising my bean meatball recipe to become a brat seasoned sausage and see where we go…served along some dressed up sauerkraut.

For the beans…This is a bit labor intensive. This time I’m using pintos. Soaked, then boiled until cooked through just so they are finished and creamy inside. I used 16 ounces and boiled with about a teaspoon mustard seed to add a little flavor that will build with the brat seasoning. Next I used:

  • 8 ounces mushrooms sliced small abs sautéed down with the onion
  • 1/2 onion small dice and sautéed with the beans
  • 1/2-3/4 cup almond flour
  • Teaspoon white pepper
  • Teaspoon onion powder
  • Teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 Teaspoon mustard seed

Mix it all up and roll into sausages and wrap in plastic wrap.

Steam the sausages like 15-20 minutes and then move to freezer. Once frozen, the sausages can be cooked straight from frozen.

For the sauerkraut…This recipe is inspired by a recipe in my great grandmothers recipe box that she learned from her own mother. Using a raw kraut keeps this cold salad as true to original , and preserved the probiotic punch of the sauerkraut. For mine I use:

  • Raw sauerkraut at the quantity you would like. I generally cook for two so 1 cup is sufficient for us especially since I will be adding other ingredients
  • Raw carrot, grated, to your taste. Probably 1-2
  • Grated raw daikon. About 1/4-1/2 cup. I was amazed to find the prevalence of radish in Eastern European cooking.
  • 1 green onions chopped
  • 1/2 stalk celery medium chop
  • Black pepper to taste
  • Just about a tablespoon of sugar. I’m not a fan of a lot of sweet so you might want a dash more for yourself
  • 2 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoon olive oil (that’s my go to oil)
  • 1-2 garlic cloves (or more if you are me)
  • Dash of red pepper flakes
  • Scant teaspoon of salt
  • Black pepper to taste

Mix all the sauerkraut ingredients and give the flavors time to marry for a few hours.

Thanks to https://lazygastronome.com for hosting meatless Monday and What’s for Dinner Sunday.

The Lazy Gastronome

Cobia and Corn Rice

So Bon Appetit graces me daily with piles of new recipes…piles. Today a recipe caught my eye—well two. One for a Greek spinach rice and the other was a slightly Japanese style corn rice. I’m hitting both!

I thought about his since like 2 pm when I got the email and knew that salmon was the best choice to make this happen….alas. The freezers gave me Cobia. i didn’t find fresh corn but I had canned white corn.

I failed at chronicling every detail but I do have some pics.

For the corn…

  • 1 cup rice
  • 1 can white corn
  • 2 cups water less the corn liquid and 1 Tbl soy sauce/tamari…combined should be 2 cups
  • I garnished with some fresh cilantro and fresh rosemary because that’s what I had…

I did it in the Instant Pot on the rice setting.

For the Cobia….

Cobia got a quick marinade in some lemon olive oil, tamari, garlic and onion powder. Then pan sautéed.

I served it up with some homemade kimchis