Recipe Review: Southern Living's Okra and Corn Maque Choux

The heat of the summer has left me craving lighter meals, and this month's issue of Southern Living Magazine delivered some great inspirations! The "Summer's Glorious Trinity" article of recipes using tomatoes, okra, and sweet corn had us positively salivating! At first glance we were both agreed that we had to try the Okra and Corn Maque Choux. If you're not familiar with Maque Choux (pronounced mock-shoe), it originated in Louisiana and I believe it was a Cajun spin on a Native American dish.

I faithfully followed Southern Living's recipe, which isn't an easy thing for me to do, resisting the temptation to add Herbs de Provence, which I add to most everything I cook. This was such an easy dish to make and it was so tasty. Here are a few of my notes on the newest staple to our summer recipe collection:

• I used Rodger Wood Polish style smoked sausage, which is made here locally in Savannah. This sausage gave a nice smoky flavor to the dish and had a nice texture. Next time I think I would use their spicy version, as Southern Living used a spicy smoked sausage when testing the recipe for the magazine.
• I chopped all of the vegetables before hand, mixing them in two separate bowls per steps of cooking. That way everything was prepared and I only had to dump in the bowl of vegetables that were required at each step. The corn took the longest to prepare, so it was well worth doing in advance.
• OK, I didn't completely follow their instructions. Since I wasn't using spicy sausage, I added a sprinkle of red pepper flakes with the green peppers, onion, and garlic.
• I found that 6 ears of corn yielded 3 cups. Most of the ears were fairly large too.
• For a vegetarian version, omit the sausage but do add a few drops of liquid smoke as the vegetables used really benefit from having that smoky flavor. You could even add tofu or mushrooms, adding them at a later stage than the sausage so that they are not over cooked.
• As with most dishes, this was tastier on the second day.
• We chose Jacob's Creek 2008 Riesling to have with this, which we thought turned out to be the perfect pairing.
• Left overs: we made amazing wraps with the left overs and some BBQ pulled pork. Such a fantastic combination. Am thinking this was better than eating it on its own. If I made it specifically for wraps, I would leave out the sausage as the pulled pork would be enough meat. For me at least.

With a few ears of corn left, I'm looking forward to trying their Tomato and Corn Pizza!

Creamy Pesto Chicken With Roasted Tomatoes

This recipe is a good example of why I created this blog: to archive recipes that I like but will never again remember to make. I made this several weeks ago, took photos to remind myself what was in it, and then couldn't remember where the recipe came from. We really enjoyed the Creamy Pesto Chicken With Roasted Tomatoes and was so happy to stumbled upon the recipe today. I followed the recipe completely, only making for two instead of four. Also omitting the pine nuts - only because I didn't have any. Oh yeah, and also used Ricotta instead of Mascarpone. Other than that, I honestly followed to recipe - honest!

I suppose the photo below was sort of a note to self: NEVER cook raw beans EVER AGAIN!!! At the Farmer's Market a few weeks back, I was so excited to find fresh Cranberry Beans. Once home, I shelled, boiled, then sauteed in olive oil, garlic, and herbs. Once to what I thought was a good point, I added mushrooms and tomatoes, cooking until softened. Now, I think since MOST of my kitchen attempts come out very well (modestly speaking, naturally), I might - at times - get a little over confident. This was one of those occasions. Good idea, but the beans were not cooked. They were vile. If I do say so myself. Do you know how to cook fresh beans? If so, please do share. My ego is bruised and I am determined to master the art of cooking fresh beans.

It was a truly humbling experience and I have withdrawn my application from Hell's Kitchen. Kidding. Well, not really.

Recipe Review: Rhubarb Ice Cream

This started a few weeks ago when I posted a recipe for Rhubarb and Custard Ice Cream from the Daily Mail on my Facebook page, with a comment of something to the effect of it possibly being the recipe that would make me use the ice cream maker that has been sitting in my freezer for 5+ years. My friend Terri commented that if I made that ice cream, she'd make her famous rosemary and garlic ribs that I've been dying to try. This was all the challenge I needed. As I didn't feel like converting the measurements in the recipe I had posted, I found this recipe on-line. It is apparently adapted from Williams-Sonoma Taste. This ice cream was super easy to make and was fantastic. I highly recommend it and will not wait another 5 years to use my ice cream maker again. My ice cream maker is really an attachment for my Kitchen Aid, which is super easy to use. While I stress that this recipe isn't mine, I'm strictly posting it here so my future reference, along with the instructions for using my Kitchen Aid attachment, as I'm useless at looking things up in the instructional booklet. My notes are highlighted in blue.

• 1 pound rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, about 3 1/2 cups
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream

In a saucepan, combine rhubarb and 3/4 cup sugar. Cover and cook over low heat until rhubarb releases its juices, about 5 minutes.

Uncover and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until most of water evaporates and rhubarb has a soft jam like consistency, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. This was my favorite step. At the end of 20 minutes, I was left with a sweet/tart ~ perfectly balanced taste. At this point I was wishing that I had bought double the rhubarb so I could jar up half to make Rhubarb Preserves. It really had the most perfect consistency, I will most certainly be making this in the future. We had some in France and I've been craving it ever since.

Whisk egg yolks lightly. In a saucepan, combine milk and remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Bring to a boil. Gradually whisk milk mixture into yolks. Return to saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. This was the hardest part for me. Not only did I have to separate an egg, I had to make custard. I'm not sure that the consistency was quite right, but it still worked in the end.Using a fine-meshed sieve, strain into a bowl. While I had planned on skipping this step, I realized that it is important to do so in order to remove and curdled egg from the custard.Add rhubarb mixture and cream. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or as long as overnight. I started this step the night before, so refrigerated overnight.
Per the Kitchen Aid manual, once the base was fitted and top was down and securely locked, I started the motor to the "Stir" setting. The paddle has to be rotating before you add the mixture to stop it from freezing up. It was a bit of a challenge adding the mixture with the top down, but I managed to do so using a small ladle. The directions say to mix for 20-30 minutes, until frozen. It also states that once the paddle starts to slip or make a clicking noise, that the ice cream is ready. Mine was ready after about 15-17 minutes. I think this was partially because I did chill it overnight in the bottom of my refrigerator, the coldest part. The finished product had a nice lovely soft pink color. It was so luscious and creamy. It was best the day of, the longer it is in the freezer, the more icy the texture becomes. Not that it stopped us from eating the rest later, I just let it sit out a couple of minutes to lose some of that iciness.
Serves 8