Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Arepas

Because of living in South FL you get a lot of culture around here, especially Spanish food. Josh and I went to our first Dolphins football game a few months back and I was craving an arepa (but I've never had one before). My lovely kind boyfriend walked all the way to the other side of the stadium to get me one. It was a little circle of heaven! The best way to explain it is: a Spanish verison of our grilled cheese.

Arepas

1 (16oz) bag frozen corn kernels
1 cup milk (plus a little more)
2 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
2 cups fine yellow cornmeal
butter as necessary
sliced of mozzarella cheese

1. Defrost corn by placing in colander and rinsing under cold water. Drain well and set aside for about 10 minutes.

2. Place the defrosted corn in a blender and puree with milk, sugar, salt, and pepper to taste. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl and stir in the cornmeal, add more milk until it is just slightly thicker than pancake batter, it needs to be spoon-able.

3. Heat griddle to medium heat and butter.

4. Add about 3 tbsp of arepa batter to the skillet and use the back of the spoon to spread it out. Cook arepa for about 8 minutes on until golden brown. Flip arepa and cook another 4-5 minutes.

5. stack cooked arepas on a cookie sheet and place in 200 degree oven to keep warm.

6. When all arepas are done, lay them out in a single layer and add the cheese. broil in the over until nice melted and bubbly, add the top and enjoy.

You can eat with sour cream, and/or salsa or just by itself.

~Enjoy~

Eggnog Pankcakes

This was actually suppose to be up around Christmas-time, just got all wrapped up the festivities.
This is delicious for Christmas morning!

Eggnog Pancakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup eggnog
2 tbsp melted butter
1 egg, lightly beaten

1. Heat lightly oiled skillet or griddle over medium heat

2. In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the eggnog, butter, and egg. Mix until well combined. You may have to add some milk to thin the batter out some, it is going to be very thick.

3. Pour 1/4 batter onto the hot griddle for each pancake. Cook pancakes until bubbly on top. Flip and cook until lightly brown.

~Enjoy~

You can make some honey butter to put on top, and then add some powdered sugar. You really don't even need syrup they are so delicious.