fun with hurricane rations

Since hurricane Irene has passed without my losing electricity (and because I watched a bunch of episodes of "Chopped" while I was cooped up indoors for 2 days), I decided tonight to challenge myself to come up with a dinner featuring something from my now unnecessary non-perishable hurricane food supply: things like nuts/trail mix, bread, bananas... and beef jerky.

I made queso blanco arepas topped with beef jerky & grape tomatoes:

The arepas: combine 3/4 c masa harina (fine corn flour), 3/4 c water, 1/8 tsp coarse salt, and crumbled queso blanco. Let sit for 5-10 min. Form dough into 4 small "pancakes". Heat oil on medium (dough should sizzle when you put it in the pan). Cook about 5 minutes/side.

The topping: heat a splash of oil in a pan, add 1 clove minced garlic. Before it begins to brown, add sliced beef jerky, to just warm through. Then add sliced grape tomatoes, chopped fresh parsley, and some black pepper and cook for a minute or so. Top arepas with the mixture and squeeze a piece of lime on top.

With the exception of the cheese (which could be left out), none of the ingredients in this meal needs refrigeration. Not a bad meal if you do find yourself without power.

It was quite tasty. The jerky was a bit tough, but actually not too bad.
I would definitely make this dish again, using chorizo or skirt steak instead of the jerky.