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Breakfast Arepas

(SING) Oh it’s a beautiful morning, oh it’s a beautiful day.

Clouds are not gray and stormy, and I’m eating breakfast arepas all day (END SINGING).

Breakfast Arepas.  Creamy ricotta scrambled eggs on top of dense cornmeal pancakes<3 | immaEATthat.com 

Do you know that song? My grandpa always used to sing it (minus the “I’m eating breakfast arepas all day” part).

Assuming it’s one of the 5 days of the year when I’m craving something savory for breakfast over something sweet, these arepas are the way to go.  When I first learned of arepas, and the fact that you could make an arepa sandwich or an arepa pizza(?!!), a part of me came alive.  I’m such a thick corn tortilla person and arepas are like a pancake meets a corn tortilla meets cornbread.

Oh yes, if you like cornbread I’m 98% sure you’ll have a thing for these as well.

They’re like cornbread cookies! But that doesn’t sound too appetizing but these SO ARE!

Breakfast Arepas. Like a cornbread meets a pancake. | immaEATthat.com

For these you mix up a masa + cornmeal mixture.  Are you familiar with masa? I feel like I hear about it all the time since 1) we live close-ish to Mexico 2) my grandma loves making homemade tamales with masa around Christmas time.  And that same grandma also likes to recruit you to help make said homemade tamales, which looks like you spending 6+ hours elbow deep in masa.  

It’s nice.

breakfast arepas | immaEATthat.com

I don’t mind being elbow deep in things.  I’m not the cleanest person.  Have I mentioned this? I don’t see messes. They don’t bother me.  A pile of clothes on the floor? It’s fine. A suitcase I haven’t fully unpacked even though our trip was a month ago? It’s also fine.  I mean, what is a guest bedroom for if it can’t be your place to collect everything you need to organize but haven’t gotten around to yet. 

But last Friday I texted Andrew to tell him I was in cleaning mode.  I left for San Antonio for a Dairy Max event before he got home so I didn’t get to see him, but he texted me later and said he spent 30 minutes trying to figure out what I had cleaned before he finally realized it was our office.  The rest of the house was a mess…but the office was spotless.  AND there were leftover breakfast arepas for dinner.  I’d call that a wife win.

Breakfast Arepas. The perfect brunch dish for the holidays! | immaEATthat.com

Breakfast Arepas

Yield: serves 3

Prep Time: 45 minutes (30 minutes of inactive prep time for the dough to rest)

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

arepas
3/4 cup cornmeal, finely ground
3/4 cup masa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon honey
2/3 cup sharp white cheddar, shredded

toppings
5 eggs
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
salt/pepper
fresh cilantro
chives
bell pepper, finely chopped
thinly sliced avocado

 

Directions:

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine milk, butter and honey.  Heat until butter is melted.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl, combine cornmeal, masa, salt and cheddar.  Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredient and stir.  Once combined, cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes for the masa to hydrate.  

Roll dough into 2" wide balls.  One at a time, place a dough ball on a piece of wax paper and use another piece of wax paper to flatten the dough into a 1/2" thick circle.  Grease a skillet with cooking spray (I used a coconut oil spray) and heat over medium.  Add uncooked arepas and cook on each side for 1-2 minutes, or until nice golden brown color begins to form.  Transfer cooked arepas to a cooling rack.

Once arepas are done cooking, make your eggs.  In a bowl, whisk together eggs, ricotta cheese and salt/pepper.  Pour into a greased skillet over medium heat.  Use a wooden spatula to constantly stir the eggs.  Once eggs first begin to start cooking, decrease heat to lowest heat setting and continue stirring until cooked.  This is my dad's way of cooking eggs, the decreased heat method, and it's brilliant!

Top arepas with eggs, cilantro, chives, bell pepper and avocados.  Serve! 

Feel free to go crazy on the toppings...black beans, corn, more cheese, salsa, etc.

inspired by FauxMartha (<-- LOVE THAT BLOG.)

9 comments

  1. OMG I LOVE AREPAS! Never thought to top them for breakfast though. Brillz!

  2. I would be literally making this right now if I had masa… whatever it is.  I must find some….  This looks sooooooo good!

    Side note:  It would appear to me that if you rolled them out thinner and then put the black beans inside it, and topped with another one, it might be reminiscent of those concoctions you tried this past weekend.  Because those looked pretty awesome too…

  3. Yum! So, they’re not Venezuelan Arepas, but that’s just a good excuse to add them to your list of foods to try :) I think you would love them!

  4. LOVE aprepas!  This recipe looks like a breakfast fiesta for my mouth!

  5. i have had arepas only once and absolutely loved it, this sounds great…about the cleaning, im just the opposte but lately i have been slacking 

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