Maque choux

Rarely do I post recipes on my blog, and for good reason. I'm not the Domestic Goddess, I'm more like the Processed Pagan. For the Cajun-themed party that Scott and I threw on Saturday, I used Zatarain's jambalaya and gumbo mixes (adding shrimp and andouille sausage). I only made one dish from scratch: Maque choux.

Much to my surprise, several guests actually requested a copy of the recipe, so here it is.

Maque Choux

Slightly spicy and a little crunchy, maque choux (MOCK shoo) is a Cajun smothered corn dish. In Cajun country, "smothered" means cooked with tomatoes, onion and green pepper.

Ingredients:

8 medium ears of fresh corn (or four cups of niblets)

1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)

1 small green sweet pepper, chopped (1/2 cup)

2 tablespoons margarine or butter

1 medium tomato, cut up

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper


Directions:

Remove the husks from the corn; scrub with a stiff brush to remove silks. Rinse. Use a sharp knife to remove corn from cobs, cutting two-thirds of the way to the cob. Scrape cobs with a dull edge of a knife. (See, by this point I would have lost at least one finger.)

In a 3-quart saucepan cook onion and green pepper in margarine or butter for about 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in corn, tomato, salt, black pepper and red pepper. Cover and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes or until corn is tender. Season to taste. Makes 6 side-dish servings.