Chilean recipes

Well, I've done it.  I made my first Chilean dish even before we tried it in a restaurant.  Pastel de Choclo, which is basically like Shepard's pie but using corn instead of mashed potatoes, is a very popular Chilean dish here.  I hear about it and see it everywhere, so I thought I should try to make it, why not?  I have to say it turned out pretty good, but I have nothing to compare it to since I haven't tried the real thing.  Here is a picture.  It wasn't too difficult but next time I'm going to add more corn since that was the best part.

I also have to say that I finally found good potatoes! There are a billion types of potatoes here for some reason, and the ones I bought the other day are fabulous.  Perfect for mashed potatoes.  Let's hope I can find them again!

Next up, my list of recipes for main dishes I can make in Chile.  Super boring, but I figured this would be a good place I can keep track of the ones I can actually find ingredients for, and maybe some day I'll want to look back and see what I used to cook.  (and maybe one of you will want to make some of these family faves!)

Pastel de choclo (pictured above, although if you read the recipe you'll note that I forgot to put the olives and raisins in between the meat and corn, and I also omitted the hard boiled eggs): http://sweb1.dmit.nait.ca/~yastorga1/chilean-recipes/cornPie.html

Pot Roast: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pot-roast-recipe2.html using this instead of cream of mushroom soup since that doesn't exist: http://centercutcook.com/cream-soup-substitute/

Sloppy Joes (courtesy of Aunt Vicki who brought this one with her when she visited in August - probably in the top 3 of Steve's and Sadie's faves): http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/super-sloppy-joes-recipe.html (as long as I get the steak seasoning from the US!)

Meatloaf (from Alton Brown, one of my faves; also this recipe courtesy of Aunt Vicki!): http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-meat-loaf-recipe.html

Chicken Enchiladas: my own easy recipe using sour cream and a jar of taco sauce as the base (and Lopez Family Rub of course!)

Stir fry: my own easy recipe using store-bought sweet chili sauce and soy sauce as the base

Fried fish: Carmen's recipe, using flour, milk, egg, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper all mixed together


Mac n Cheese: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/stove-top-mac-n-cheese-recipe.html (Since boxed isn't always available!)

Spaghetti (however, I have yet to find good tomato sauce...)

Tacos (using my all-time favorite, Lopez Family Rub, I will be so sad when it's gone!)

Chicken, tomatoes, olives: Steve's and Sadie's fave.  Sadie loves the olives. Steve loves the roasted garlic. http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/roasted-chicken-tomatoes-olives Note, I use chicken breasts instead of bone-in, I use the green pimiento olives instead of the black olives, and I also substitute fresh rosemary instead of the thyme (did I mention we have rosemary growing in our backyard?)

Oven-roasted drumsticks: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/spicy-roasted-chicken-legs-recipe.html These were really good, and Sadie loves eating them right off the bone since they are so fun.  In the states I never would buy drumsticks but here I buy them all the time for some variety since we eat out maybe twice a month...

Fried rice: http://therecipecritic.com/2014/03/chicken-fried-rice/ so good for using up leftovers! and Sadie loves trying to eat this with chop sticks...