I am guilty. I am a newbie to posting and haven't been doing so. The reason being that hubby is a meat & potato type. And he loves his steaks, pork chops & chicken- nothing special. I did however turn him on to these wonderful Venezuelan sandwiches. He gave them rave reviews. I had seen them for the very first time on Throwdown with Bobby Flay back in 2008 and have been dying to try them ever since. You can view the video here at http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/arepas/23502.html. However I got the actual recipe for the one that Bobby's opponents, owners of the Caracas Arepa Bar in NYC, http://www.caracasarepabar.com/ie_index.php from a Blogger: VenezuelanFoodandDrinkshttp://venezuelanfoodanddrinks.blogspot.com/2008/09/recipe-how-to-make-arepas.html for the Arepas (cornmeal cakes) and http://www.venezuelanfoodanddrinks.blogspot.com/2008/10/recipe-carne-mechada-venezuelan.html for the meat.
The sandwich is called Arepas de Pabellon for the addition of fried plantains and black beans. As the national dish is Pabellon Criollo; shredded beef, fried plantains & black beans and rice all served individually as a plate. It takes a bit of time to make as you need to boil the flank steak for approximately 3 hours until tender. Then let cool and shred. In frying pan saute garlic, onions and peppers,with a pinch of cumin. Add shredded beef and allow to brown a bit. Then add a little of the cooking liquid from the beef, the tomato paste and a dash of worcestershire sauce. Next make the arepas, fry up the plantains and heat black beans. Next build sandwiches in this order: fried plantains on bottom, shredded beef next, then some of the black beans and top off with the cheese. Enjoy! Well, I finally got it out of my system and made these for dinner on Monday night, (I know a little late with the post) this one will go in my keepers file as we thoroughly enjoyed these.
Well back to the grill, as has been the case for most of the last two weeks. Other than some Snow Crab legs and all too simple Shrimp Fettuccine and more plain old steaks,lol. Yes, I do love my steaks as well. Hope everyone enjoys the great grilling weather this week-end. And Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there.
