Corn on Thanksgiving

Quite honestly, the first thing that came to mind was maque choux. It's fantastic, and really easy to make. I make a variation of a recipe from Emeril that I think works well.

Ingredients:

1/2 stick of unsalted butter

8 cups of corn (frozen kernels are fine)

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup minced jalepenos (serranos or other peppers will also work fine)

1/2 cup heavy cream

juice of 1/2 small lemon

cayenne pepper (optional)

salt

pepper

fresh herbs (chives, oregano, or thyme work best)

Melt the butter. Cook onions and bell peppers until almost tender. Add garlic, corn, jalepenos, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper (if you wish to add more heat). Cook until everything is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add heavy cream and adjust seasoning. Garnish with fresh herbs.

There are literally hundreds of variations of this classic dish. It also works well if you pour the mixture into a casserole dish, cover with cheese and broil. You can also add seafood if you like.

cream corn is so good!

Creamed corn is generally rather unpopular because there are so many bad versions of it. Most people won't eat it on the very sight of it.  Me included even though I know a good one is possible.

make something else. If a soup spot is open, take a corn chowder.

Corn bread with corn kernals, bacon, scallion.

Corn chowder or other corn based soup, such as Three Sisters.

Succotash.

Corn pudding.

Polenta Cakes with various toppings

Hominy Casserole

Corn Sticks

Corn Fritters

Pumpkin/Corn Cakes

Spoon Bread

Berry Corn Cobbler

Corn-Pepper-Sausage Ball Toss

(Bracing myself for flak)

Heat a big skillet way hot, and have the oven on -- temp doesn't really matter, but not 500 or something. When the skillet is blazing, add a little oil and pour in a whole bunch of frozen corn kernels. Toss, add salt, and toss. Keep tossing until there is quite a bit of definite browning going on, some of the kernels are popping, and so on. Takes 5-6 minutes, give or take. Meanwhile, nuke a smaller amount of frozen baby peas with a little water and a lid on top, just to make them hot, not to really boil them. When the corn is done, drain the peas and pour them in. (Peas and carrots mix is dandy too, but be sure the peas are sweet baby peas so it doesn't get all starchy.) Toss a few times, shut off the heat, and pour the mixture into a heatproof serving dish. Put a fair pat of butter on top and shove it in the oven. If it needs to sit more than 10 minutes, put foil on top. When you're ready, stir and serve immediately.

My kids, who admittedly eat a good range of things considering they're 3 and 5, need to be restrained from eating this. Literally: we give them heaping serving spoonfuls at a time, and wait. Otherwise they'll eat it so fast they choke. Not exaggerating. Adults usually notice that the corn has a lot of the good flavors of buttered popcorn but hasn't lost its juicy flavor, and the peas (and carrots) make it even better. You can add shucked soybeans (edamame) if you like, or replace the peas, but my kids would rather you didn't.

Yeah, I agree that corn is great for Thanksgiving, but as for me, I prefer the turkey. I love turkey cuz' we all know that eating is one of the subjects of Thanksgiving.

BTW, here is a Thanksgiving turkey quiz. Cheers.

Both of those would be best served hot. But they should be easy enough to rewarm on location, either in the oven or even the microwave.

I imagine, with Chris's recipe, you could even do the stovetop work at home, then the final ten minutes in the oven when you get there.

Maque choux can be eaten cold, but I would definitely recommend reheating. If you wanted to make it into a gratin, make the maque choux, pour it into your casserole dish, and put the cheese in a separate container. When you get to your hosts' house, you can bake the casserole for a few minutes to reheat, then top with the cheese and broil. If you want to stay the more classic route, just bake in the casserole for a few minutes and serve. Hope everything works out well for you!

Just one warning about maque choux, KK. You've never had it before, and Tyler is being suspiciously quiet about its addictive powers. Not as dangerous as heroin, perhaps, but just as habit forming.

You have been warned!

The first serving is free...