Book of Yum

I discovered Arepas some time ago thanks to some of my blogging friends, and I posted my own green chili cheese variation. It was lovely and delicious, and I was so glad to have bought some Pan corn mix to make them. And then… I put the mix away in my cupboard in a ziploc bag and forgot about it for a while. This weekend as I was trying to decide what to have for breakfast, I happened to see that mix in the cupboard, and thought… why not? I’d been curious about the Venezuelan take on arepa with its perico scrambled egg filling… and I also wanted to try them with a plain cheese filling. So, authentic or not, a mix of recipes or not, I found myself making arepas stuffed with cheese and topped with perico. I added a dollup of hot sauce because something in the scramble just seemed to call for it… and found it was the perfect breakfast with coffee… and then the perfect lunch with a cool glass of lime water (no sugar).

The next time you have gluten-free breakfast doldroms, why not try an arepa, in one of its many forms? I bet you’ll find at least one that you love…

Karen’s arepa Recipe
Shauna’s simple and traditional arepa Recipe
My green chili cheese arepa recipe

Gluten Free Cheese Feta Arepas with Venezuelan Perico Breakfast  Main Course  Corn  South American

Ingredients 1 1/4 cup PAN 1 1/4 cup warm water 1/2 tsp. salt *1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded *1/4 cup feta cheese (not traditional, but what I had in my refrigerator), crumbled *You can omit cheese for vegan arepa, or use vegan cheese sub Perico Scramble 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp margarine or butter 3 shallots, diced (or other onion equivalent) 3 small tomatoes or 1 medium roma tomato, chopped 2 eggs OR (for vegan) 1/2 firm tofu block, drained (Refrigerated type) salt pepper your favorite hot sauce- tabasco or srirachi etc, to taste Directions Preheat oven to 350 F. If you can’t put your arepa browning pan (say a nonstick pan) in the oven, preheat something like a pizza stone in the oven (covered with a sheet of aluminum foil.) Combine your pan meal, salt and warm water in a medium bowl and stir to combine. Then shape it into two balls and knead each with your hands until they are smooth and ingredients are well combined. Cover the dough you are not working with with a damp paper towel to keep it from drying out. Pull off a small ball of dough and shape into a flat disk, and place a small pinch of mozzarella cheese in the center, along with an even smaller pinch of crumbled feta cheese. Carefully fold over the disk so you have a potsticker/ perogie half moon shape and then gently press out the crease where the dough comes together so that it is roughly in the center of a new, circular disk you are creating. Make sure the edges of your arepa are smooth. Heat a nonstick pan or cast iron pan (ideal) with a little olive oil or other favorite oil on medium. Brown each disk- each side will take from 7-10 minutes. Try not to burn the disks- ideally they will be golden brown and not blackened. If they seem to be getting too dark too quickly, turn down the heat. When they are golden brown on both sides, put them in the oven either in the cast iron skillet OR onto the heated surface you have already placed in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, turning if desired, or until the arepas sound hollow when you tap them. While they are in the oven, you can make the perico scramble. Heat your teaspoon of olive oil and margarine or butter and add the diced shallots. Let them start to turn translucent and then add your chopped tomato and a little salt. While it is cooking, either whisk your eggs together (you can omit egg yolk for less fat if desired) or crumble your drained tofu. Add whisked eggs (or tofu) to the pan and combine. Let them cook nicely into scrambled eggs (or tofu) and turn as needed. Taste and season to taste with salt (if needed) and pepper. If you make it with tofu, you might try adding nutritional yeast or chopped avocado for a little extra pow. Place your arepas on a plate with your perico scramble and add some dashes of hot sauce to the scramble or on the side of the dish. Enjoy!

Rating:  8 Original Source:  My own creation, based on a traditional dish and various internet inspiration. Please do not replicate anywhere without my permission. thanks! Recipe ID:  1322 Added:  November 15, 2008 Last Modified:  November 15, 2008

This month when I read about the exciting “indigenous foods” event that Vittoria at Deliciously Gluten Free had proposed with “Go Ahead Honey… It’s Gluten Free,” I was excited to participate. I even had an idea what I wanted to make- artichokes! After all, California is the national capital of artichokes, with more grown in Castroville than anywhere else in the United States. Imagine my dismay some time later, when I found out that artichokes are not native to California at all. In fact, they are believed to be “a native of the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands.” The California attempt at cultivating artichokes began in 1922, when “Andrew Molera, a landowner in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County, California, just south of San Francisco, decided to lease his land to Italian farmers that he encouraged to try growing the “new” vegetable.” (source: What’s Cooking America). So much for my idea to make artichokes as an “indigenous food.” What next? I turned to the internet to find out what actually qualified as an indigenous, gluten-free, and vegetarian ingredient. I almost immediately found that besides nuts and berries, acorn was one of the most important vegetarian and gluten-free ingredient for many Californian Native Americans.

According to my friend Wikipedia:
“Acorns were a traditional food of many indigenous peoples of North America, but served an especially important role in California, where the ranges of several species of oaks overlap, increasing the reliability of the resource. Acorns, unlike many other plant foods, do not need to be eaten or processed right away, but may be stored for long time periods, as squirrels do. In years that oaks produced many acorns, Native Americans sometimes collected enough acorns to store for two years as insurance against poor acorn production years. After drying them in the sun to discourage mold and germination, Native American women took acorns back to their villages and cached them in hollow trees or structures on poles, to keep acorns safe from mice and squirrels. These acorns could be used as needed.”

For my first experiment, I wanted to test the flavor and texture of the new ingredient, so I didn’t want to make something JUST made of that ingredient, but something in which it would play a subtle role as a flavor and texture enhancer. I found inspiration from this list of acorn recipes and then branched off from the Acorn cornbread recipe to create the following yummy muffins. Note to the wise: I used acorn starch, not acorn flour as the latter was not available to me, but it worked beautifully. My resulting muffins were fluffy, light and delicate, with a pleasing brown bread appearance and flavor. I did notice that when I baked them lightly, they were prone to sticking to the bottom of the muffin tin. This might be a perfect recipe for paper muffin liners. These are absolutely lovely muffins for fall…. and I’ll definitely be making them again. *Edited: By the way, they are perfect the first day, and after that I like to zap them in the microwave for 20 seconds and enjoy them with butter or margarine. Delicious! They should last 4-5 days if stored properly*

What else can you do with Acorn Starch? Try this…
Korean Acorn Jelly Recipe

Find a Korean supermarket in the United States

Although the price is high, you can buy acorn starch online at Hmart. However, I found it in my store for almost half the listed price here, so I really recommend finding a market or having a friend find a local market and mail the flour to you. *For the Hmart site, click the English button in the upper right of the page, unless of course you read Korean. *

Acorn Muffin Recipe Bread  Alternative Grains  American

Ingredients 1/2 cup acorn starch flour 1/2 cup brown rice flour 1 cup white GF flour blend (such as Bette Hagman’s gourmet blend) 2 tsp baking powder 3/4 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 2 large eggs 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup applesauce 1/4 cup butter, melted 1 cup buttermilk Directions Prepare a muffin tin by spraying with nonstick cooking oil. Preheat oven to 375. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then combine wet ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk until combined. Then make a well in the center of your mixed dry ingredients and pour in your wet ingredients, mixing until smooth. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until muffins are brown and cooked through.

Rating:  8 Original Source:  Based on (gluten-containing) a-corn bread recipe, but modified heavily. Recipe ID:  1318 Added:  November 7, 2008 Last Modified:  November 7, 2008