Arepas con Chukar Reina Pepiada
The best elements of chukar salad and guacamole are combined in this perfect summertime dish
Five years ago, I built up my hot-weather wild game recipe repertoire. I have always been a very seasonal eater and was raised to believe there is something fundamentally wrong with eating watermelon in January or collard greens in July. It occurred to me that every recipe I kept in regular rotation, including chukar marsala, wood duck gumbo, and fried quail with mashed potatoes and pan gravy, was better suited for wintery evenings by the fire than a summer night on the patio. That just wouldn’t do. So, I set out to fix it.
I still remember the first time I had reina pepiada. As a lifelong chicken salad lover, my mind was blown. It had never occurred to me to take the best elements of chicken salad, combine them with the best aspects of guacamole, and cram the whole assembly into what’s basically pan-fried cornbread. As a card-carrying Southerner, I don’t often feel like I’ve been out-southern’d. But on that hot August day, sweating through my shirt at the service window of a Venezuelan food truck, I felt it.
It would be a few more years before that core food memory would inspire me to try the recipe out on some chukar that I needed to clear out of the freezer, but the results were more than worth the wait. This recipe can be easily scaled to feed a crowd; the filling can be made up to three days in advance and refrigerated. It is best enjoyed outdoors with a cooler full of cold cervezas handy.
Arepas con Chukar Reina Pepiada
Ingredients
Method
- Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a high-walled saute pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers. While the oil is heating up, season quartered chukar with salt and pepper on all sides.
- Brown the chukar pieces on all sides. The goal here is to get good color on the meat without cooking it all the way through.
- Once you have flipped the meat, add your garlic cloves, half a white onion, chiles de arbol, and a bay leaf to the pan. Saute with the chukar until fragrant, 1 or 2 minutes.
- Add the water to the pan and scrape its bottom to deglaze it. Reduce heat to low, cover, and braise chukar pieces for 20 to 30 minutes.
- While the meat is braising, start making the reina pepiada. Finely dice one half of a white onion. Spoon the avocado out of its shell and into a mixing bowl, and add 1 tsp salt and lime juice. Mash the avocado, adding the white onion and cilantro once finished. Stir in the mayo.
- Remove the meat from the pan and set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, shred the meat into bite-sized pieces and place it in a mixing bowl, discarding any bones or connective tissue. Finish the reina pepiada by tossing the chukar meat in the avocado-mayo mixture. Set aside.
- To make the arepas, add masarepa, warm water, and salt to a mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Cover it with a kitchen towel and let it stand for 10 minutes.
- Divide the dough into portions roughly equal to the size of a lemon. Use a circular motion to shape each ball into a flat disk about 4 or 5 inches across and 1/2 inch thick.
- Melt 1 tbsp of neutral oil and 1 tbsp butter in a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.
- Fry the arepas for about 5 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through.
- Open the arepa with a butter knife, similar to opening a pita, and stuff with the reina pepiada. Enjoy!
