Tag: Latin American
Pudin de Pan (Colombian Bread Pudding)
Pudin de Pan (Colombian Bread Pudding)
Bread pudding is popular everywhere in its numerous variations. This Colombian version is sweet, rich, and dairy heavy. You pretty much take a loaf of cubed bread and soak it in a sugary milk mixture, then bake it in the oven. What you get is a baking dish of comfort. You can serve it with a light dusting of powdered sugar, or even better, dulce de leche.
Ingredients
- 1 loaf white bread cut into cubes
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs beaten
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup sugar
- powdered sugar for a dusting
Instructions
- Place the cubes of bread on a baking sheet in a 400 degree preheated oven for 5 minutes.
- Whisk together the milk, sweetened condensed milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon.
- Add in the bread cubes. Let sit for 20 minutes until the bread has absorbed the milk mixture.
- Place in a greased glass baking dish. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.
- Let rest for 30 minutes before serving.
Bandeja Paisa
Bandeja Paisa
Bandeja paisa is the most popular dish in Colombia. It’s really more of a platter than a dish. This caloric feast consists of fried chicharon, chorizo, powdered beef, beans, rice topped with a fried egg, fried plantains, a cheese arepa, and sliced avocado. There’s no way around it, you don’t want to eat this very often. Once or twice a year tops. But when you are in the mood for this protein overload, prepare to work for this meal. Plan out a timeline for making all of the components. I recommend making the beans and powdered beef the day before.
Ingredients
- chicharron
- chorizo
- carne de pulvo
- white rice
- fried eggs
- Colombian beans
- cheese arepa
- fried plantains
- avocado sliced
Chicharrón Colombiano
Is there a greater gift to man than the belly of swine? The answer is no. No there isn’t. It is so great that we make the decision to fry this gift in it’s own rendered fat while naked, bathing in it’s crackling bukkake of lipidation. Oh yesss! Pinch that pork nipple.
Ingredients
- 1 lb skin on pork belly
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- water enough to cover
Instructions
- Cut 1” cuts crosswise into the meat of a piece of pork belly, but not into the skin. Rub with baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the pork belly to a large sauté pan. Add enough water to cover the belly. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook until all of the water has evaporated.
- Cook the pork belly for 15-20 minutes depending on thickness. Flip the pork belly every couple of minutes to get even browning. The pork will render out plenty of fat, so no oil or lard required.
Argentinian Chorizo
When we talk about chorizo in South American countries like Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, etc., it couldn’t be more different than Mexican chorizo. Argentinian chorizo usually has a 2 to 1 ratio of pork and beef. It is seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, and fresh garlic. Red wine is also a major flavor component to the sausage. It is also a raw chorizo, as opposed to the dried Spanish chorizo.
Equipment
- standing mixer
- sausage stuffer
Ingredients
- 3 lbs ground pork
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 1/2 tbsp salt
- 3 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup red wine
- hog casings
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a standing mixer.
- Mix with the paddle attachment on low speed for 2 minutes until all of the ingredients are homogeneous. Place the sausage in the refrigerator for an hour before stuffing.
- Pipe the sausage through a stuffer into the hog casings. Twist to 6” each link.
- Let rest for a couple hours in the refrigerator before cutting.
Cooking the Sausage
- Heat up a tbsp of cooking oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Add in the sausages. Cook for 5 minutes a side.
- Make 5-6 slits half way into the sausage. Cook for a couple more minutes.
Powdered Beef (Carne en Polvo)
Powdered beef is commonly eaten in Colombia as part of a bandeja paisa platter. Flank steak gets marinated, boiled, then pulverized in a food processor until it resembles a powdered form. Carne en polvo is great for little kids who might have a problem chewing pieces of steak. Not me. I was consuming meat at 6 months old like a champion.
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
- 1 lb flank steak
- 5 cups watet
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 green onions chopped
- 1/2 cup white onion chopped
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the flank steak in a storage bag with the garlic, green onions, white onions, cumin, salt, and pepper. Marinate for 24 hours.
- Put the flank steak in a pot of water.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low. Simmer for an hour.
- Strain the meat. Let cool.
- Cut up the flank into chunks and place in a food processor.
- Process until it is finely shredded.
Frijoles Antioquenos
Frijoles antioquenos is a Colombian bean soup that’s bursting with flavor. Pinto or cranberry beans are simmered with pork hocks, plantains, and carrots. After simmering, the carrots are scooped out, puréed in a food processor, then stirred back into the soup to thicken. But the main source of the flavor of this soup comes from the alinos and hogao sauce, which I’ve attached the recipes for below.
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
- 1 lb dried pinto beans soaked overnight
- 3 smoked pork hocks
- 1 plantain cubed
- 2 large carrots each cut into 3 pieces
- 1/2 cup alinos sauce
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 9 cups water
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 cup hogao sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the beans and smoked hocks to a pot of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat medium low and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Stir in the cumin, alinos, carrots, and plantains. Simmer for 1 hour.
- Add in the hogao, cilantro, salt and pepper. Continue simmering for 30 minutes.
- Scoop out the carrots along with 1 cup of the bean broth.
- Purée until smooth.
- Add the purée back into the beans. Scoop out the hocks. Cut off any meat and return to the pot. Simmer for 10 more minutes.
Arepas de Rellenos Queso
Arepas de rellenos queso is stuffed with mozzarella cheese and is fried for an extra 2 minutes a side, allowing the cheese to melt. Top it off with a little hogao sauce and cilantro. This is similar to a grilled cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 arepa corn cake
- 2 slices mozzerella
- 2 tbsp hogao sauce
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Cut your arepa in half; like you would an english muffin.
- Put 2 slices of mozzarella inside.
- Add it back into the pan. Cook for another 2 minutes a side until the cheese is melted.
- Top with hogao sauce and cilantro.
Colombian Pulled Pork Arepas
Colombian Pulled Pork Arepas
This pulled pork is next level. Pork shoulder gets rubbed with cumin, paprika, and achiote, then simmered in a slow cooker with onion, garlic, green onions, and dark beer. I used a nice locally brewed porter from my friends at the Urban Growler in Saint Paul. The pork will take about 6 hours in your slow cooker. Once the pork is finished, transfer everything from the slow to a large saucepan. Since there is all of this pork/beer broth left, we are going to cook it all off; not wasting a bit of flavor. Once all of the liquid has evaporated, your pork is ready. I stuffed some of the pork into arepas with avocado, pickled onion, and cilantro.
Equipment
- slow cooker
- tortillas press
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground achiote
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 small onion diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 5 green onions chopped
- 1 1/2 cups dark beer
- 4 lbs pork shoulder
Arepas
- 1 cup masarepa flour
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 pinch salt
- vegetable oil for frying
Toppings
- pickled onion
- avocado mashed
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
Pulled Pork
- Make a bed of onions in the bottom of a slow cooker. Layer with green onions and garlic. Pour in the beer.
- Mix together all of the spices.
- Rub the pork shoulder with the spice rub.
- Place in the slow cooker and cover.
- Slow cook for 6 hours until the pork falls apart.
- Place all of the contents in the slow cooker in a large saucepan over medium high heat.
- Cook down until all of the liquid has evaporated.
Arepas
- Mix together the masarepa flour, salt, and warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Mix in more warm water ass needed to form a dough.
- Split into balls.
- Place a dough ball on a plastic wrapped tortilla press.
- Press until it is between 1/4” – 1/2” thick.
- Pour 1/4” deep of cooking oil in a sauté pan and heat over medium high heat. Add in an arepa. Turn down the heat to medium.
- Cook for 6 minutes a side until golden brown and crispy.
