We Visited Inka Fé – Restaurant Review
This post is a sum up of our visit to Inka Fé, a Peruvian bakery in Great Neck, Long Island
“Caigua Rellena”
Caigua, stuffed with beef, and veggies, served over rice.
“Anticuchos”
Beef heart skewers, marinated in spices and in a Peruvian pepper paste, served with potatoes/corn with a spicy sauce.
“Seco de Mariscos”
“Seco de Mariscos”, is a creamy stew with some seafood, great aroma, and texture in one quick dish.
“Lasagna de Ají de Gallina”
Ají de Gallina (Creamy spicy hen stew) turned into a Lasagna
“Pollo a la Brasa”
Peruvian blackened chicken, rotisserie chicken, one of the most iconic Peruvian dishes.
“Causa Escabechada”
Causa Escabechada, Spicy Sour Potato dough, served with Fish Escabeche on top
“Chupe de Camarones”
Chupe de Camarones, Peruvian style shrimp soup, has a thick texture, has some sweet, spicy, flavors.
“Kam Lu Wantan”
Chifa dish, saute meats and veggies served with a sweet-sour tamarind sauce and wontons.
“Pan con Chicharron”
Pan con chicharron is a pork belly sandwich, full of textures and flavors!
¿En otro idioma? – Different lang?
“Pastel de Acelga”
Today I am sharing my recipe of “Pastel de Acelga”, this Swiss chard pie is the perfect dish for your next potluck.
My dad’s family immigrated to the USA when I was 3 years old, I grew up with my mother’s family, we cooked, played, shared, learned together, most of my memories are from when I was with them, I treasure those memories, my family helped me to become a better human being.
My ex-couple is someone really smart she managed to get a full sponsored scholarship for her Ph.D. She provided me with the opportunity to travel to the USA (for a short period of time), although the relationship did not work, I always thank her for the opportunity she provided, I was able to meet my dad’s family, I got to see my grandparents, lived with them for a couple of months, met my uncle and aunt. We shared a lot of experiences, meals, conversations and I felt blessed because even tho they left when I was 3, they never stop thinking on me, and they supported me in my time in NYC.
So you might be thinking: “how that story related to the Pastel de Acelga”. My dad’s mom name is Guadalupe, she goes just by “Lupe”, She has a cookbook with recipes she cooked during her life, on that cookbook I found this recipe that I am sharing with you, I tweaked the recipe a bit to add more flavor. But that recipe served as a base for the one I am providing, she loves Pastel de Acelga, that is why I decided to cook that dish for her.
"Pastel de Acelga"
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 1/4 cups of Ap - Flour just regular flour
- 3 tsps of Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp of Salt
- 100 gr Unsalted Butter at room temperature
- 2 Egg yolks at room temperature
- 2 - 5 tbsp of Cold water
Egg Wash
- 1 Yolk beaten
Pie Filling
- 6 cups Spinach
- 8 cups Swiss Chard leaves
- 2 tablespoons of Butter at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons of Flour
- 2 cups of Evaporated Milk
- 1/2 cup of Shredded Mozzarella
- 1/4 cup of Shredded Parmesan
- 1 Red Onion diced
- 2 Garlic Cloves minced
- Salt and Pepper
- 3 Hard boiled Eggs cut into 4's
Instructions
Crust
- Sift all the dry ingredients, then integrate butter and flour with the help of a fork (you should end with something that looks like oats), add a yolk at the time, integrate them. finish with two tablespoons of water or more (if needed), just integrate do not over knead, shape the dough like a ball, wrap it on plastic and let it rest on a fridge for at least 30 min.
Filling
- In a pot with boiling water blanch your Spinach and Chard for 30 seconds after that, strain them, chop them, and then reserve.
- In a different Pot add butter and cook onions, garlic then add flour, let it cook for 2 minutes, stir your ingredients all the time then add milk, the two cheese, spinach, chard, salt, and pepper, let it cook for 3 min or until the juices are reduced, turn off the heat and let it rest.
- cut in half your dough, then roll it and put half on an oiled casserole or pie pan. Then add the filling, put the cooked eggs on top and cover with the other half of the dough, make some cuts on the top and bake at 325 F/ 160 C for 15 min. Then egg washes your dough and let it cook for another 5 min or until golden.
Notes
- Blanching is a cooking term, consist of submerging "raw" ingredients into a boiling liquid for a very short period of time, is like pre-cooking.
- Blanching your Spinach and Swiss Chard will make them more "green" and soft.
it starts like any other pie, flour, butter, some salt.
Not overworking the dough is the key to a soft (inside) and crisp (outside) pie.
Bechamel is the filling that complements the best for this pie, you could add any cheese of your preference I used mozzarella for some texture and parmesan for some flavor and aroma.
Be sure to leave some room for the eggs, otherwise, you will end with big lumps.
Don’t forget to egg wash your Pastel de Acelga, to get that golden beautiful color.
What are your thoughts, about this dish? comment below
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