Tamales or Arepas?

It was Mama Dove's Birthday and I really wanted to cook with R.D. I used the good old mother's guilt and said, "for my birthday I want to cook tamales with you." This started out fine, but we had weekend of mishaps (every time we left the house something happened). We did not have the corn husks or the masa, so R.D. had the idea to make Arepas. We first saw arepas on Bobby Flay's Throw Down and they looked delicious!!! An arepa is basically an English muffin that is stuffed with savory or sweet fillings. So, we decided to use the recipe for the tamale meat along with a can of black beans to stuff the Arepas. R.D. seared the meat and chopped the onions this had to cook for several hours. There were several types of dried chili that had to be chopped and boiled (pasilla chilies, New Mexico chilies, & ancho chilies). This we did together, I was scared to touch my eyes, but R.D. just started cutting then put a piece his mouth! They were not crazy hot, R.D. thought they were quite good. After boiling the chilies and blending the mixture we had excellent sauce. The cooked meat, shredding easily with two forks, and R.D. added it to the sauce. Now onto the arepas, on the back of a package of corn meal was a recipe for the arepas, basically it was the corn meal and water. They were very easy to form, this was the part we were most worried about. R.D. managed the griddle and they came out just ok. Once we put it all together, the meat beans and cheese it was a great meal... and everyone was pretty impressed. We will definitely try this again, hopefully using the real recipe. If you ever get a chance to go Manhattan, it is a must to stop by Caracas Arepa Bar.