Pastel de Choclo, a Southamerican delight

This recipe is dedicated to my chilean friends, to their beautiful country and their gastronomy. This dish is the national pride, no wonder...It´s succulent, full of flavours, delicious, and on top of that, the well known, omnipresent, and beloved corn, with so many varieties in all Central and Southamerica, specially in Mexico (I particularly loved the black corn) and the main ingredient throughout the culinary history of this wonderful continent. Here´s to them, to the other side of the ocean people, Viva Chile!

Ingredients:

4 pieces corn on the cob or one bag of frozen sweetcorn

2 cups of milk

500g mince beef

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 onion finely chopped

1 small bunch basil

2 hard boiled eggs sliced

handful of olives

handful of sultanas

salt and peper

3 or 4 sprigs of saffron or 1 teaspoon of turmeric

sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Grate the corn kernels and blend with the milk and the basil, salt and peper and pour this mixture on to a pan, heat until it thickens. Cook for 5 minutes. Reserve.Fry the onion in oil, until it changes colour, add the mince beef, and brown, until is cooked, season with salt and pepper, add the cumin and saffron or turmeric. Add the olives and sultanas, and arrange this mixture over an earthenware dish in one thick layer, top with the egg slices, cover everything with the corn mixture,spread the surface with sugar and cook in the oven for 20 minutes, or until its golden brown.

This dish is best served with a chilean salad, which is a mix of tomato slices, very thin slices of onion, chopped coriander lemon juice and olive oil.