Recipe: South American Chicken Casserole (Pastel del Choclo)

Serves 2-4

Sweet, savory, briney, …. the flavors in Pastel de Choclo are varied and incredible. Special thanks to Linda Bladholm for sharing this authentic Chilean recipe with me. I adapted the version that can be found in Linda’s book, Latin & Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified.

Ingredients:

2 lb rotisserie chicken, taken off the bone
2 onions, chopped
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cumin
pinch of cinnamon
5 olives with pimentos, quartered
1/4 cup raisins
2 hardboiled eggs, chopped

3 cups corn kernels
1/2 cup milk
a few pinches of sugar for topping

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Assemble your spices…

… and shred up the chicken.

Then, saute the chopped onion over medium heat until translucent and soft.

Add chicken, raisins (I only had currants), and green olives. Green olives have a special, briney place in my heart.

Then add chopped egg and spices.

Stir to combine and warm everything through. Spread into a medium casserole. Easy!

Next step is easy too…

In a blender, puree corn with a little milk

Mmm.

Spread the corn mixture over the chicken mixture.

Sprinkle with a bit of sugar…

…and bake for 30-35 min. Then, if you really want to take the pastel de choclo over the top, you can place the casserole under the broiler for 1-3 min, to caramelize the sugar.