Traditional Chilean pastel de choclo: the corn gratin with beef, chicken and olives

Few dishes sum up Chilean cooking as well as pastel de choclo. Choclo is what corn is called in Chile, a legacy of the Quechua word, and the dish was born in the countryside, in the central valley, where fresh summer corn was plentiful and meat showed up on feast days.

The structure recalls a shepherd's pie: at the bottom, the pino, a sauté of ground beef with onion, cumin and raisins; in the middle, pieces of chicken, hard-boiled egg and black olives; on top, a paste of grated corn cooked with basil and milk, dusted with sugar to caramelize in the oven. Sweet and savory in the same forkful is what makes Chileans sigh.

Traditionally it is baked in individual clay bowls called pailas and served in January and February, when the corn is at its best. Out of season, frozen or canned corn does the job with a little help from cornstarch.

Recipe card

• Origin: Central valley of Chile
• Category: Main course, oven gratin
• Difficulty: Medium
• Preparation time: 45 minutes
• Oven time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients — filling (pino)

• 500 g ground beef
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup beef stock or water
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded into large pieces
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
• 12 black olives
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Ingredients — corn topping

• 6 ears of fresh corn (about 5 cups of kernels)
• 1 cup milk
• 8 fresh basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar for dusting

Method

1. Sauté the onion in the oil over medium heat until translucent and soft, without browning too much.
2. Add the ground beef, cumin and paprika and cook, stirring, until the meat loses its raw color.
3. Sprinkle in the flour, stir for 1 minute, add the stock and cook until thickened.
4. Add the raisins, adjust salt and pepper and let cool a little.
5. Cut the kernels off the cobs and blend them in a food processor with the milk and basil into a thick paste, not a smooth cream.
6. Cook the corn paste in a pan with the butter and salt over low heat, stirring constantly, for 10 minutes, until thick like a purée.
7. Spread the pino over the bottom of a clay or ovenproof dish and distribute the chicken, egg slices and olives on top.
8. Cover with the corn paste, smooth the surface and dust with the sugar.
9. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C (400 °F) for 40 to 45 minutes, until the topping is golden with caramelized spots.
10. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Tips and variations

• With frozen or canned corn, blend with only half a cup of milk and add a tablespoon of cornstarch to the topping.
• In individual clay bowls, the oven time drops to 30 minutes.
• For more browning, turn on the broiler for the last 5 minutes.
• The vegetarian version replaces the pino with a sauté of mushrooms, onion and walnuts.
• Serve with a simple Chilean salad: tomato, thinly sliced onion rinsed in iced water, cilantro and olive oil.
• Leftovers reheat well in the oven and are even firmer the next day.
• A touch of ají or hot sauce at the table is common in southern Chile.

Serve the pastel de choclo still bubbling, with the sugar crust crackling under the spoon. It is the taste of the Chilean summer, and it is impossible to eat just one portion.