Pastel de Choclo casero dance remix

choclo detritus

The choclo or gigante corn cobs, started to appear in January. I am always a bit freaked out by their oversized look. In fact, I always prefer my produce to come in smaller sizes; apples, kiwis and tomatoes always taste better when they are smaller.
The fearsome looking choclos got overlooked for awhile in favour of the more recognisable, slender maiz or choclo americano. I happily ate the huge choclos prepared as freshly made humitas that were touted at the feria for 500 pesos each, steaming warm and authentically parcelled up. But I had to pass over the home made Pastel de Choclos because of the unknown meat content.

tipo casero

Then I went to Quinoa, the vegetarian restaurant that doesn't make loud noises about being vego but simply "fresh from the market". Here I had my first Pastel de Choclo, served up in the traditonal greda dish, hot hot hot from the oven. And it was good and evidently easy to make. I now had a solid reason to buy my own choclos.

As a starting point I used trusty Clasicos vegetarianos del mundo. However, I discovered their version of the recipe was only really good for learning how to make the choclo topping. Handy, as this was what I needed the most. The rest I significantly adapted or made up to match the Quinoa version.

We have been using Plenty religiously since it was gifted and the enthusiasm ol' Yotam has for berenjenas is contagious. We have made all of his aubergine recipes and I have the burnt aubergine cooking technique down pat.

So,this is what I used for the filling of the Pastel.

 The aubergines can also be prepared over the asado, whilst waiting for the carbon to get to the right temperature, before any meat gets cooked. 

So, Pastel de Choclo is a good dish to make the day after an asado, 

saving some barbequed vegies for its filling.

And this is how I made it!

Pastel de Choclo con berenjenas

Makes enough for 4 folk using one largeish baking dish say 20 x 30cm or 4 single serve dishes, preferably round
TOPPING INGREDIENTS
4 choclos, kernels scraped off, discard cob and leaves [can substitute for regular sweet corn even frozen corn kernels will do, about 5-6 cups of kernels]
1 medium onion, diced
2 tbs olive oil

FILLING INGREDIENTS
4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in rounds
4 eggplants, medium, roasted with the flesh scooped out, skins discarded
400g mushrooms, sliced
olive oil for frying

1-2 zapallo italianos [zucchini], oven roasted and diced up [optional]

1/2 tsp oregano, fresh and chopped
1/2 tsp cumin, toasted and lightly ground
about 20 black fat olives, pitted [in Chile the amargo ones]

brown sugar for top sprinkling

METHOD
Heat oven to 180C
Hard boil eggs, peel, cool and slice.
If roasting eggplants, put them on first and get them going. Balance the whole aubergine directly on a gas element and roast until skin is burnt. Turn until all the sides are burnt. It's ready when a sharp knife can slide easily into the flesh. Then remove from flame and put on a plate. Cut open lengthwise and scoop out flesh and set aside. Discard the skin.

TOPPING
In large saucepan, fry onions in the olive oil until soft and golden. In a blender add cooked onions with corn kernels and blend until smooth. Return corn mix to saucepan over low heat and stir mix until it thickens, about 5-10 mins. Then set aside.

FILLING
In medium pan heat some olive oil and fry mushrooms until soft. Add eggplant flesh and zucchinis if using. Mix thru and then take off heat and mix in the oregano, cumin and olives.

ASSEMBLY
In the baking dish fill with half the filling mix
then make a layer of the sliced eggs
then cover with the rest of filling
then slather with the corn mixture completely covering the dish
then sprinkle with the sugar
then bake for 45-60 mins trying to make the top go golden brown
then eat it.

greda is gold!