PASTEL DE CHOCLO
Pastel de choclo is what we would call a layered casserole or a sort of shepherd’s pie.
In one way of looking at it, a cuisine’s simplest dish sometimes is its most difficult to cook.
When I was a restaurant critic, for example, and if the place that I was reviewing prepared it, I always tried to assay the menu’s roast chicken. A delicious roast chicken isn’t just a snap of the fingers.
Once, on a trip to Chile, a home cook told me that the country’s signature corn and beef “pie,” pastel de choclo, “is Chile’s easiest dish to cook—and that makes it the hardest.”
Pastel de choclo is what we would call a layered casserole or a sort of shepherd’s pie, consisting of a topping of a sweet corn polenta over a savory ground beef filling, separated by and further flavored with a vein of chopped hard-boiled eggs, golden raisins, and sliced olives. When skillfully assembled, with the best ingredients, its simplicity is irresistible.
“Choclo” is the word for “corn” to Chile’s Indigenous people, the Mapuche. Sold in this country under the same name, it is a South American variety of corn with kernels larger, less sweet, and whiter than common North American cob corn, although to make your own pastel de choclo, you may use the latter. (I have made it both ways.)
You’ll find frozen choclo in Latin or Mexican markets, and in many Asian groceries. I add whole milk to my mash of yellow North American corn in order to sweeten and moisten it some.
When finished baking (or, better, just a few moments before taking it from the oven), add a dusting of confectioner’s sugar. The top of a perfect pastel de choclo will have pulled away from the edge of the pot where it has caramelized, and when you break through the polenta in pursuit of the meat, a steam will rise, searingly hot and with the aromas of onion, beef, sweet raisins, and of choclo, of the earth.
RECIPE: Pastel De Choclo (Chilean Beef and Corn Casserole)
Translated by Bill St. John from “El Libro de Doña Petrona,” 81st edition, by Petrona C. de Gandulfo (Editorial Presencia Ltda., 1992), for decades the most popular cookbook in both Argentina and Chile. The only addition to the original recipe is the whole milk.
Ingredients
3 medium onions, chopped finely, separated into two batches
6 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil
3 cups corn or choclo, unfrozen
1 cup whole milk (if using North American yellow sweet corn)
2 plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped well
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup green olives, pitted, roughly chopped
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled, roughly chopped
Salt and grated pepper, throughout, to taste
Directions
In a pot over medium-high heat, sauté one batch of the onions in 3 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon oil until soft and lightly golden, about 5-6 minutes. Meanwhile, put the corn or choclo and the milk, if using, into a food processor and blend, pulsing and scraping down, until roughly blended and pasty. Add the tomato and garlic to the onions, cook for another 2-3 minutes, then add the processed corn or choclo, salt and pepper to taste, and the sugar, and mix together, cooking and stirring until the porridge begins to bubble and slightly thicken. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Prepare the beef: To another large pot, add 3 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon oil and sauté the second batch of onions until soft and slightly golden, about 5-6 minutes. Add the ground beef and brown the meat, breaking it up, until the beef appears browned throughout and has given up any juices. (If very wet, strain away some of juice in the next step.) Salt and pepper the beef, remove from the heat and set aside.
While the beef is cooking, in a bowl mix the raisins, olives, and hard-cooked eggs. Together, they will form a layer in the next step.
Heat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large buttered or greased earthenware casserole or Dutch oven, place and flatten the meat mixture, and top that with the raisins, pitted olives, and egg, evenly scattered about. Then evenly spread the cooked corn mixture over all. Bake, uncovered, for 30-45 minutes, until the filling is bubbling hot and the corn mixture is golden brown. Let rest for 15 minutes before serving, but serve very warm.
Wine Pairings and whys: For centuries, in order to form clothing or shoes, tanners softened raw animal hide by applying extremely astringent tannin (found most commonly in the bark of the tanoak tree). Tannin binds to animals’ natural collagen proteins and softens hides. In exactly a reverse way, animal proteins and fats (and some vegetable fats) bind to tannin in red wine, mollify the tannin’s astringency and, as it’s put, “soften the wine.” Likewise, wine tannin makes the fats appear less fatty or oily on the palate. To pair fat and tannin to the best effect, match the level of tannin in the red wine with the level of fat in the dish.
Because there are the fats from both beef and milk in this dish, but not a great deal of either, a white might be nice here, but nothing beats a red’s ability to wipe fat from the palate with its tannin. Keep in mind that a slight chill on even a red wine perks up the aromas and tastes better than serving the same red at room temperature. No need for a cold; just 20-30 minutes in the refrigerator if it begins at normal American room temperature—which itself is too warm to serve most any wine. Obviously a medium-weight Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Carménère serves this dish admirably. But also, go for wine such as Spanish Rioja or Greek Agiorgitiko especially for their tangy acidity, or a Rosso di Montalcino for its round-the-mouth tannins, or perhaps a Washington State Syrah.