Introduced to me on a class field trip to see the Florida Marlins one year, I tried an arepa -- a South American corn bread -- when a friend gave me a piece of hers to taste. Since my first bite of the sweet, cheesy cornmeal, I make it a point to grab one at every possible trip to the stadium.
Now that baseball season is in full effect, I'm visiting Sun Life Stadium frequently, but I find myself craving the corn bread even more. Since I'm not down south at every possible mouthwatering moment, I discovered that making arepas at home isn't a bad substitute until the next home game.
Apparently there are a variety of arepas out there, but I salivate over the very simple cheese filling. Apparently, you can fill those suckers with damned near anything.
For just yourself, mix together one cup of corn flour, 1/3 cup of grated cheese (mozzarella or Monterey jack), 3 tablespoons of sugar, 1 cup of boiling water and ½ cup of corn kernels. Take ¼ of the mixture, roll into a ball and then flatten to be about ¼" to ½" thick. Lightly fry both sides in oil (or butter), cut arepa in half, add 2-3 slices of mozzarella cheese and then return to the pan. Remove when the cheese is melted.
