Pastel de choclo (corn pie) is a classic dish in several countries, such as Argentina, Peru and Chile, with some variations in how it is made from one country to another. The recipe I’m sharing serves 12.
Traditionally, pastel de choclo is baked and served in individual clay dishes called pailas, but if you don’t have them, you can make it in a baking dish instead. It is made in three stages, which can be done at the same time: preparing the corn paste, preparing the chicken and preparing the pino((ground or chopped beef and diced onion, seasoned with pepper, Chilean mixed seasoning and other spices)).
Corn Paste
Ingredients
- 10 to 12 ears of corn with pale yellow kernels, depending on their size
- 4 to 5 basil leaves
- 2 to 3 tablespoons of butter
- 3/4 liter of whole or semi-skimmed milk
- Salt to taste
Preparation
Cut the kernels off the cobs with a very sharp knife. Be careful not to cut too close to the cob, as pieces of it, which are very fibrous and hard, may come away with the kernels. Once all the kernels are off, grind them into a paste. You can use a grinder or, if you don’t have one, a blender, adding a little of the milk with the kernels to make blending easier. Add the basil leaves while grinding so they are worked into the paste.
Once the corn has been ground, mix it with the other ingredients and cook it over low heat, stirring constantly so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Cooking time will depend on the size of the flame, the shape and size of the pot and other factors, so the best way to tell when it’s done is to keep tasting it until it’s cooked.
Chicken
Ingredients
- 12 long or 12 short chicken drumsticks
- Oregano
- Salt
Preparation
Boil the chicken in salted water with a little oregano until fully cooked. Once cooked, remove from the heat and let it rest.
Pino
Ingredients
- 1 large white onion or 2 medium ones
- 1/2 kilo of ground beef with at least 5% fat
- 4 or 5 tablespoons of oil
- Aliño completo((a spice blend sold in Chile, made mainly of black pepper, nutmeg and cumin))
- Salt and pepper
Preparation
Dice the onion, put it in a pot and fry it slowly in the oil until golden. While it fries, add the aliño completo, salt and pepper. Once the onion is cooked, turn up the heat and add the ground beef to the pot with the onion to brown it. Once the meat is cooked, taste for seasoning and, if you like, add a few golden raisins.
Assembling the Pie
Ingredients
- Corn paste
- Pino
- 12 cooked chicken pieces
- 3 hard-boiled eggs
- 12 olives
Preparation
In a baking dish (or several individual ones, if you have them), spread a layer of pino one or two centimeters thick over the bottom (dividing the pino evenly among all the dishes you are using).
Place as many pieces of chicken in the dish as the number of servings it will provide (if the dish will serve 6, place 6 pieces of chicken in it; if it’s an individual dish, place just one).
Add one or two olives and a quarter of a hard-boiled egg for each serving.
Once the pino, chicken, egg and olives are in place, cover everything with the corn paste. Sprinkle a little sugar over the surface and bake in an oven preheated to 250–270 °C for as long as it takes to heat the filling through and brown the top.
Wine Pairing
For this pie, the best choice is a young red wine with a light touch of oak, such as a Merlot, Carmenère, Zinfandel or perhaps a Pinot Noir.