Recipe: Mexican Corn Cake

Mexican Corn Cakes

1 and 1/2 cups masa harina or cornmeal
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup feta cheese
2 cups free corn (2 large ears worth)
3/4 to 1 cup warm water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 ripe avocado, halved, sliced
Tender Shredded Pork (recipe to follow)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 ripe tomatoes, cut into thin wedges

Mix together masa harina, flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in cheese and corn. Keep stirring and add in the water, 1/4 cup at a time until the mixture begins to hold together.

Heat oil in large skillet (cast iron if you have it) until hot but not smoking. Form corn patties using 1/3 cup mixture. They should be about 1/2 inch thick. Repeat forming 8 patties total.

Fry in two batches, turning once, until golden brown, 4 or 5 minutes per side. Transfer to paper towels. Top with avocado, shredded pork, 1 tablespoon sour cream and tomato wedges. Garnish with cilantro if you'd like. I ended up topping this with green onion.



Tender Shredded Pork

1 pound pork tenderloin
4 cups chicken stock
2 small onions, finely chopped
1/2 jalepeno chile (I left this out)
1/2 bunch cilantro
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 dried bay leaf
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Add pork, stock, half the onions, jalapeno, cilantro, cumin, bay leaf and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium saucepan. Boil. Reduce to simmer. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pork reaches 138 degrees. This takes about 10 to 15 minutes. (Note, mine took longer and still was too pink when I removed it, so I chopped it all up and added it back to the simmering liquid for another two minutes. Perfection.)

Heat broiler. Remove pork from liquid and cut into 2 to 3 inch long pieces. Transfer to baking sheet. Shred and add in remaining onion and mix in butter and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Broil pork until golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Serve warm.


via vita nostra