Guestblogging: Chile Lime Creamed Corn

This week Veeda is away at Girl’s Camp and I’m home alone with the kids … and sick. It sucks. Suffice it to say, I miss my wife. She asked me to update the blog while she is away. As her dutiful husband and resident photographer I am obliged to follow through on that request. It’s also a great opportunity to get a bit of credit for my own efforts in the kitchen.

Just before Veeda left for camp we attended a 4th of July Barbecue with some friends. I had recently made Thomas Keller’s creamed corn recipe from his AdHoc at Home cookbook and Veeda requested that I make it again. The original recipe already adds lime and lime zest to an otherwise simple dish of creamed corn and I thought a little southwestern influence would be quite welcome. If the empty bowl at the end of the party was any indication, I was right.

Chile Lime Creamed Corn

adapted from Thomas Keller

serves 6

Ingredients:

6 ears of corn, shucked

Juice and zest of 1 lime

3 Tbs. butter

1 cup heavy cream

1 serrano chile, seeded and finely diced

a pinch of cayenne pepper

half a bunch of cilantro, chopped

salt to taste

To start you’ll need to cut the kernels from the corn. I found it easiest to use a large bowl and cut the corn right in the bowl. Thomas Keller suggests removing any corn silk by swishing your hand around the kernels in a circular motion and rinsing of the silk as it sticks to your hand. This works fairly well though I was not able to remove all of the silk that made it into the bowl. I would probably not last long in Thomas Keller’s kitchen. After you’ve removed the corn silk scrape the corn cobs with the back or your knife to extract any remaining kernels and corn milk. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat. I let the butter brown a little before adding the corn but this is not necessary and is not part of the original recipe. Add the corn and salt to taste. Let it cook for a minute before adding the lime juice. Add the lime juice and let it cook down, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is absorbed and the bottom of the pan is relatively dry. This will take about 15 minutes or so and the corn will begin to sizzle in the pan.

Add the cream, lime zest, serrano, and cayenne.  Cook for about 8 minutes, allowing the corn to absorb the cream and the flavors to combine.  In spite of the time spent on the stove, the corn will still taste fresh and have a nice bite to it. I would stir in the chopped cilantro right before serving or after the corn has cooled a bit so that it doesn’t cook and wither too much. If you are plating this for guests I would also suggest reserving a bit of the cilantro for garnish.