Venezuelan Arepas with Recado & Lime Chicken
If you've never tried an arepa before, you have been missing out. Arepas are to South America, what tortillas are to Central America and Mexico; a simple, easy to make, and yet ridiculously delicious corn-based staple and platform for creativity. These arepas are in a more Venezuelan style, a little more rounded and thick, and cooked primarily on the stove-top. This week we have been topping our arepas with Recado and Lime Braised Chicken, fresh avocado slices, and our Mexican Quick Pickled Red Onions. These arepas are also great with Paul's Yucatán Citrus Pulled Pork.
Yield: 8 large arepas, serves 3 to 4
Ingredients:
- 2 cups white arepa flour (masarepa)
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups shredded Recado and Lime Braised Chicken
- Garnishes of your choice (avocado, Mexican Quick Pickled Red Onions, shredded/crumbled cheese, cilantro, etc)
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 250.
- To prepare the arepa dough, mix and knead together by hand arepa flour, water, and salt until it forms a smooth slightly tacky dough. Mixing the ingredients together slowly at first can help avoid lumps. Allow the dough to rest, covered, for 3-5 minutes.
- Divide the arepa dough into 8 even pieces, roll each piece into a ball and then gently flatten between your hands to form a disk that is roughly 4 inches across. The flatter you make the sides of the disk, the more even browning you will get while cooking.
- Add butter to a non-stick or cast-iron skillet and place over high heat, until the butter melts and just finishes bubbling.
- Add the arepas to the hot pan, pressing them down with a spatula to achieve good contact between the arepa and the pan. Only cook as many arepas at one time as you can fit in the pan without them touching. You will likely need to do several rounds. While cooking adjust heat to keep the butter from burning, while cooking at as high a heat as possible.
- After 4-5 minutes (or when the cooked side of the arepa is starting to brown) flip the arepa and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes on the second side (again until just starting to brown).
- Transfer the cooked arepas to a sheet pan and place in the preheated oven, while you continue cooking the other arepas stove-top. This will allow the arepas' cooking to coast to perfection in the oven while you finish cooking the other arepas stove-top. Make sure all the arepas get at least 5 minutes of oven time before eating.
- Remove the arepas from the oven, you can serve the arepas by splitting them open and filling (pita style) or mounding the toppings on top, we opt for the latter and top ours with Recado and Lime Braised Chicken and avocado and pickled onion. Eat while hot.
Grilled Chicken Bánh Mì Sandwich
Rebecca's all-time favorite sandwich is the Vietnamese Bánh Mì. Our take on this Vietnamese-French fusion classic uses unctuous grilled chicken, tangy pickled vegetables, heaps of cilantro and jalapeno, and a robust mayo sauce. Despite the long ingredient list and exotic heritage, Grilled Chicken Bánh Mì Sandwiches are straightforward to make and can win over even the pickiest of eaters.
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What is your favorite sandwich? Where did you eat your favorite Bánh Mì sandwich?
Loaded Hotdogs
It’s a holiday week, and we’re eating hotdogs. To be honest, hotdogs have long been a favorite of mine, and our freezer is stockpiled, prepper-style, in case of a global shortage. We got sick of the soggy, too large buns and obvious condiments, and for this grilling season we’ve gotten creative and kicked out the bun, brought on the tortilla, and seriously ramped up the flavors for gourmet Loaded Hotdogs. We wanted to share our favorite flavor combination; where ketchup and mustard are supplanted by tart homemade quick pickled red onions, tangy guacamole, creamy queso fresco cheese, and if you are feeling decadent, crispy bacon.
Caribbean Spiced Roast Chicken
Several years ago, while traveling in New Orleans, Rebecca and I heard about a local chef who made a traditional roast every weekend for a family dinner. Inspired, we began our own tradition of a weekly roast, sometimes meat, other times vegetarian. Our frequent favorite was a classic roast chicken with butter, garlic, and lemon. Adapting this dish to our new home in Haiti, we created a Caribbean Spiced Roast Chicken, drawing on the sweet, spicy, and tangy flavors found across the Caribbean basin. This combination of spices is reminiscent of Jamaica's famous jerks and Haiti's vibrant marinades, and the crispy skin will have you coming back for more.
Chimichurri Chicken Kabobs
Delicious meat cookery doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, with quality ingredients, it can be down-right simple. Our Chimichurri Chicken Kabobs start with moist and flavorful chicken thighs marinated and sauced with a jar of fresh and vibrant Argentinian chimichurri. Making your own chimchurri is easy. Raising your own chickens, on the other hand, and ensuring top flavor, moist meat, and ethical animal husbandry, requires a whole different level of DIY commitment. When sourcing your chicken here are my top 3 tips:
- Don't compromise freshness. As chicken ages under cellophane, its quality declines and the tender muscle fibers begin to lose both moisture and flavor. Similarly, each time meat is frozen and thawed, its texture and moistness is compromised. Buy the freshest meat you can find that has been stored carefully without freezing.
- Keep processing to a minimum. Each processing step risks compromising quality and increasing cost at the register. Try to avoid buying meat that has 'stuff' added or injected. As much as you are able, do your own processing (partitioning a whole chicken, deboning thighs, skinning breasts, doing your own grinding, etc.). Not only will this give you more control over your meat, it will give you 'extras' to freeze or use for unrivaled homemade broths and soups.
- Find a brand or farm you believe in. Animal husbandry is tricky business, and so is finding meat at your local grocery that you can feel good about. Understanding how each company balances issues of animal well-being, human health concerns, taste, texture, environmental impact, and cost, is generally not decipherable from the labels and buzzwords found on packaging. Do your research, it's easier than you think.
With Rebecca out of town recently, I found myself on a quest to identify the best supermarket chicken. I'm not even going to share how much chicken I single-handedly cooked and consumed, but a clear winner emerged. In a funny small world kind of way, it's a family business from my hometown: Miller Poultry. From classic roast chicken to smoked wings, from chicken schnitzel to Chimichurri Chicken Kabobs, this is can-do chicken! While Miller's can be found in many Whole Foods, I found that it is also available in our local Shop N'Save.
Recado and Lime Braised Chicken
Recado and Lime Braised Chicken is an easy, vibrant, deep, and tangy chicken dish that we love to make and serve to guests. This week we have been eating it on Venezuelan arepas with pickled red onions, avocado and a fried egg, last week we made our version of a pulled chicken sandwich on Paul's homemade bread with a creamy sauce. This dish is Paul's creation and takes his stunning version of Mexican colorado recado paste, and makes it into a rich braising liquid that allows the pungent recado flavors. Recado and Lime Braised Chicken is easy to make, and is a versatile an endlessly flexible dish, on tacos, over rice, with potatoes, or in sandwiches.
