Dinner was simple, spaghetti Bolognaise, so I am not going
to bore you with that recipe. Instead,
here are instructions for another Louisiana specialty that Thanksgiving or Christmas at our
house would not be Thanksgiving or Christmas without.
While the ham
was baking the other day, this was one of the two other dishes I made to
bring along to the Christmas party.
My grandmothers made maque choux from fresh sweet corn on
the cob, first cutting the niblets off and then scraping the cob to get the
“milk” out. Many places I have lived
over the years didn’t have sweet corn, just what we would call cows’ corn –
hard and indigestible for humans, used only as feed for cattle – so I learned
that frozen corn is an excellent substitute.
And when your fresh cobs are not so juicy, the frozen is actually closer
what my grandmothers would have used.
Ingredients
About 3 lbs or 1.350kg frozen sweet corn
1 medium or two small green bell peppers or capsicums
2 medium onions
3 medium red ripe tomatoes
7 oz or 200g butter
Olive oil
1/2 cup or 120ml whole milk
Sea salt
Cayenne
Method
Halve the tomatoes and discard the seeds. Chop the tomatoes, onions and bell peppers.
Sautee the vegetables in the butter with just a glug of
olive oil added.
When the onions are translucent, add in the corn.
Add the milk and then the sea salt and cayenne to taste.
Cook over a slow fire until the corn is soft and the other vegetables are almost a memory. My mom
likes the corn still crunchy so, if you agree with her, about 10-15 minutes
will probably do. I cooked this about
30-45 minutes because I wanted it soft and I wanted it to dry out just a bit.
This is meant to be a spicy dish so don't be shy with the cayenne!
Enjoy!
