Hola everyone!

Good morning and welcome all!

Before starting today’s party I just need to mention… I received my first vaccine shot last Wednesday.

About goddamn time.

I received the “Moderna” vaccine and will need to return on April 21st for the second shot. Two weeks after that?

I’ll be fully inoculated.

I can’t begin to tell you the difference in my mindset now compared to before receiving the first vaccine. There really could be an end in sight.

Holy fuck. That was a goddamn grind getting to this point.

The relief is palpable. I hope everyone gets to experience that themselves real, real soon.

 

Hope everyone’s enjoying the NCAA Tournament and don’t forget baseball is returning in a few days too!

If you’ve been watching sports, it’s kind of gradually working back to the way it used to be. That being said fuck the Texas Rangers for planning on having a sold out stadium for opening day. Fuck them hard.

This is not the first or only time I’ve used the phrase “Fuck Texas” in my life and I’m pretty goddamn sure it won’t be the last.

Overall I’m pretty happy to see the return of baseball even in a limited capacity. Just makes me think of Spring.

So, about today’s meal.

That tasty looking item in the banner image is an arepa, and I am here to tell you that they are fucking goddamn delicious. Even better though, they are incredibly easy to make!

This dish is extremely old and shit, it’s practically pre-historic. Its origins are in the Pre-Columbian area of Columbia and Venezuela, or northern South America. It owes its longevity and origin to the fact that its primary ingredient is maize – or corn. It makes sense that the 2 countries that claim origin to this dish were in the area where corn was prominent like, up to 3,000 fucking years ago. Some say that the clay slabs that were used to cook them back in the way-back times have been unearthed at ancient archaeological sites dating back to that era.

The dish is still made virtually the same way 3,000 years later. It’s a cooked corn flour that’s been rehydrated and fried. That’s it. Simple? Shit yeah. Delicious? Holy fucking hell is it ever.

While we’ve featured many Mexican dishes, and some Peruvian and Brazilian too, we haven’t dabbled in Columbian or Venezuelan cuisine before.

Cool!

Not to be confused with a pupusa which is El Salvadoran and uses masa harina, like the stuff used in my corn tortilla recipe. And also not to be confused with gorditas, which are similar to the pupusa but are Mexican in origin and are deep fried to make them puff up to create a center pocket similar to a pita, the arepa is it’s very own fucking thing.

The difference?

Doñarepa AKA pre-cooked white corn flour.

Of course Amazon has it.

This is NOT masa harina. It’s just what it says, “cooked” corn flour that simply requires re-hydration to get it to form a dough.

Got all that?

Then you should have no problem with today’s test at the end of the post.

The arepas come together stupid quick so we’re going to get to work on the rest of our meal.

We’re going to start the party by making some black beans first.

Get yourself some fucking black beans.

Sort and rinse and 6 cups of water and the same exact prep for my pinto beans.

Exactly.

I do make a version of black beans that has lime juice and a bit of brown sugar but since I was making these to be a filling? Topping? Side? Shit I don’t know what to call them but I wanted a standard baseline flavor which allowed me to better judge the arepas on their own merit.

Today’s prep is the old onion, garlic, chile de arbol, salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, chile powder routine we’ve been doing forever.

These will simmer on low for 2 1/2 to 3 hours so get them started early.

When approaching the last half hour of simmering?

Yep, we need some chopped bacon.

Specifically we need bacon grease as usual.

Save the bacon since the little bacon bits can be added right on an arepa! Nice.

Add the bacon grease to the beans and finish cooking.

These look about ready.

Before we continue, take a look at that saucepan right there. This fucking thing is brand new. I think this was the first time ever that I used it. Does that motherfucker look perfectly round to you?

It is not. I got this from Amazon because the lid on my old sauce pan basically fell apart. When cooking with it I said “Huh, the lid doesn’t fit right. The fuck?” Then took a closer look. That shit is pretty fucking beyond “true.” My guess is the Amazon workers used the box it was in as a soccer ball. Or maybe it got backed over by one of their noisy ass delivery vans. I don’t know.

As you were.

There really isn’t much of a formal arepa recipe to give here. The Doñarepa package has instructions on the side. It’s basically 1 cup of the corn flour to 1 cup of liquid. It also gives plenty of room for “flair” or improv which is kind of cool.

I used the 1 cup of the corn flour along with 1/2 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of water, a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of melted butter.

You could use just a cup of water with the corn flour and be just fine too.

Let’s get that dough working. Once again since this is “cooked” corn flour we simply need to re-hydrate it.

Add all to a bowl

Like any dough you don’t want this too dry or too sticky. I just finished forming the doughball with my hands.

Let this rest for 5-10 minutes to come together.

After reading several recipes, I found that some folks like to include cheese in their arepa batter. Rather than diving in feet first and doing all cheese, I formed 2 doughballs and put some cheese in one and left the other plain.

I got a total of 6 arepa balls from this. Three of each kind. Don’t think you want to go too much smaller or too much larger. The texture of these today was perfect.

Gonna need a motherfuckin’ skillet for this shit.

Yes sir and yes ma’am, she sure does look familiar.

Put the flame to ‘er and add about 1/4″ of oil to it.

Get the heat in the pan nice and stable. Medium flame should do. Let the skillet come to temp for about 10 minutes here. Now add in the first 3 dough balls. Flatten them between your, obviously, VERY clean hands and get them in the skillet.

These go 4-5 minutes per side, then give them a flip. These are the non-cheese arepas.

That’s nice! Four to five more minutes than remove them to a plate lined with a paper towel and let them drain.

Goddamn lovely they are.

Let’s cook the “cheesed” version next. Same basic protocol. Flatten the dough balls between your hands and into the skillet they go.

Again, four to five minutes and flip.

Oh yeah. Now we’re getting it. See a bit of difference between the two arepas?

Yep, the ones on the right have been “cheese-a-fied.” Honestly? They both were delicious but you know me and my affinity for cheese. I liked that little additional salt and creaminess it brought.

Now, we’ve got our arepas and we’ve got our black beans but what else can we add to these beauties?

Hell, anything really. Use your choice of meats, cooked chicken, cheeses, some folks like a little avocado but I’m not one of those folks.

Shit man, in Venezuela they use this shit.

Yep. That’s “Diablitos”, or as the gringos call it Underwood Deviled ham spread.

Yeah, I cringed a bit at first but then again?

I would eat the fuck out of that shit. Bring it on!

What did we have on hand for today’s festivities?

How about…

Cotija cheese! That’s a good damn call right there. Absolutely that will work.

But hey? Check this shit out.

See what else I got?

Wait? Is that?

You bet your ass it is. That’s some of our leftover cochinita pibil!

This is the part where you may ask, “How in the ever-loving FUCK do you have some leftover cochinita pibil? Were you lying to us about it’s goddamn deliciousness?”

I would not do that to you. Ever.

Mostly.

The way it works is I ate myself silly on the day I made it. Just made a pig of myself actually. Then the pork was shredded into chunks, bone removed, put into that container up there and froze.

Yep.

About once a year I explain to y’all my Monday through Friday diet. It’s ridiculously healthy. My protein is baked boneless, skinless chicken breast. I also eat yogurt daily, a bunch of whole grains and an absolute shitload of fruit each day. I’ve been doing that for decades and it allows me to maintain my girlish figure AND allows me to indulge on the weekends.

THAT means, I freeze my leftovers. Know what’s in my freezer right now? The last of those black beans up there.

Earlier I remember seeing in the comments that not all of you like leftovers. I ain’t gonna say all you motherfuckers that don’t like leftovers are weird, out loud anyway, since I have a nephew who’s the same way. Maybe don’t think of them as leftovers. Think of them as inspiration for re-purposing. Not to mention it saves your ass from having to shell out another 15-20 bucks for a slab of meat.

That’s just value for my cheap ass right there.

 

I digress.

How do we put one of these beauties here together?

Slice in half and add on your shit!

Obviously this was my second plate after I fucking destroyed that first plate. My normal plating isn’t that fucking messy. I just remembered I didn’t have an assembly photo until I devoured the entire first plate.

See? Here it is now!.

Holy fuck this is insanely good.

I mean look again.

It’s like half biscuit, half corn fritter, part taco. I’m at a loss for words.

The texture is sexy as fucking hell. Soft and pillowy on the inside but with a crispiness on the outside that has to be experienced to be believed. It’s like the crust of a perfectly prepared biscuit but with a bit more firmness and crunch.

It’s no damn wonder these things have been getting made for 3,000 motherfucking years.

FUCK!

The saltiness of the cotija, the creamy black beans with the kick of cumin and chile powder, that beautiful, savory, smoky, spicy (not in a hot way) pork and a little heat brought from a spoonful of my chile tepin?

I’m saying this right now. When we are all vaccinated and can gather, I will host a get together and I will make some of these. No shit. These need to be tried.

Goddamn magical they are!

This is my absolute favorite thing about doing these Sunday Gravy posts. Researching and tinkering around for inspiration and stumbling across something that just stops you in your fucking tracks.

Know what?

This never happens without me freezing that cochinita pibil and deciding I need to find a new meal for it.

Use your “Non consumed food stuffs” for those of you who don’t like the term “leftovers.” It opens the door for new possibilities.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Always appreciate you!

Be safe!

Be well!

PEACE!