Suzi's Blog
Brian’s Chipotle Crema for a Hot Day with Grilled Corn
The current heat is good for some things and certainly great for one: corn. The burst of heat now is letting your local corn plants create sugar in those kernels as they expand to the bursting point.
So, it’s the perfect weekend to visit your farmers market and grab as many fresh ears as you can handle. Don’t dawdle with that culinary treasure. Head home, and cook as soon as you can. Grilling is ideal, but boiling the ears is fine.
And, to serve with that corn, better than butter is a chipotle crema. You’ll find many recipes for crema, with a variety of dairy of products considered: half-and-half, heavy cream, and sour cream. This recipe uses my favorites, equal parts heavy cream and sour cream.
However, to quote Robby the Robot in Forbidden Planet [1956]: WARNING, WARNING!
Creama recipes typically call for mixing the dairy products together and letting them sit out at room temperature for 3 to 24 hours [depending on the recipe]. The idea is to let “natural cultures” form and to thus create the correct texture and flavor. In the heat wave now blanketing the United States, following those directions might result in very upset tummies. Or worse. Or worst.
So, in my recipe, you mix everything at once and refrigerate. I’ve included some lime juice for tang and an acid safety factor. No, this is not authentic street-wise crema. But it is quite delicious and very food-safe.
How to grill corn? Oh, there are many suggestions. We loosen the top of the husks, but grill with the husk on, checking an ear or two for doneness. Some folks prefer to husk the corn first, put the corn on the grill, and constantly turn. Others will husk, wrap in aluminum foil, and grill with occasionally turning.
Keeping the corn in the husk seems the easiest. Rotate every 5 minutes. Total cooking time with this method is about 15 minutes on a medium-high grill.
Brian’s Chipotle Crema for a Hot Day
Yield: 2 cups
Ingredients:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- Juice of one lime
Preparation:
Place all ingredients, perhaps just 3 of the peppers first, in the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth.
Taste test and adjust. You may want to add the 4th chipotle or simply more of the adobo sauce. You can work your way up the heat ladder, but not down very easily.
Refrigerate until using with your corn.
Source: Brian O’Rourke
Poblano Chili con Carne from James Peterson
From James Peterson’s Meat comes a new level of heat. His interpretation of chili [not chile] uses meat along with beans, but it’s the poblanos that make the difference. This is a hot dish. A beer evoking, tongue singing recipe that will put sweat on your brow. Those are facts, not a complaint. This chili is definitely a meal unto itself.
You can make a full batch of this chili, enjoy what you wish, and then freeze for a rainy day. We ate this just straight from the pot, with none of the adornments you might want: sour cream, onion, or cheese. We wanted to enjoy the flavor of this recipe by itself, and we did just that. The first ingredient listed below is 8 poblano chiles, and Peterson does suggest you have sour cream on the table. You just might want the soothing sour cream ready on the side!
Poblano Chili con Carne
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients:
- 8 poblano chiles
- 3 pounds boneless beef stew meat from the chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
- Salt
- Pepper
- 5 tablespoons olive oil, or as needed 1 large onion, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 10 tomatoes, about 5 pounds total weight, peeled, seeded and chopped
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, rinsed, seeded, and chopped
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- Sour cream
Preparation:
If you have a gas stove, put the poblano chiles over the flame and turn as needed to blacken evenly. If you don’t have a gas stove, preheat the broiler,
Put the poblano chiles on a sheet pan, slip under the broiler, and broil, turning as needed to blacken evenly. Transfer the chiles to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let stand for about 15 minutes to steam to simplify peeling. Rinse the peppers under cold running water and peel away the skin with your fingertips. Scrape off any stubborn patches with a small knife. Seed the chiles and cut length-wise into ¼ inch-wide strips.
Season the meat all over with salt and pepper. In a heavy sauté pan, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil over high heat. When the oil begins to smoke, working in batches if needed to avoid crowding, add the beef and brown well on all sides. Transfer the beef to a plate. Pour the fat out of the pan.
In a pot just large enough to hold the meat, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sweat them, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until the onion and garlic have softened. Add the browned meat, tomatoes, oregano, and cumin to the pot and stir well. Cover, adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer, and cook for about 1½hours, or until the meat is just tender.
Add the poblanos, re-cover, and simmer for 30 minutes longer, or until the meat is easily penetrated with a fork. Add the chipotle chile and cilantro and stir well. Spoon the chili into warmed soup plates and serve. Pass the sour cream at the table.
Source: Meat: A Kitchen Education by James Peterson
