Sunnys Sweet Quick Kenner Maque Choux Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Roll the pastry out flat on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Brush off any excess flour. In a small bowl, combine the mustard with a splash of water to loosen. Brush the mustard over the entire top of the pastry.
• In a small bowl, stir together the cheese, thyme and a few grinds of black pepper. Sprinkle the entire sheet of pastry with the cheese mixture. Gently roll the top of the pastry again to lightly embed the topping into the pastry. Cut into 2-inch squares and pinch one set of opposite corners together on each square or leave flat. Place on the prepared baking sheet.
• Bake until the squares are puffed and golden brown, 10 to 14 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Steps:

• Heat butter in medium saucepot. Add corn and saute for 2 minutes. Add chicken stock, onion, bell pepper, celery, and tomatoes. Turn heat up and cook until all of the chicken stock has evaporated. Add garlic, Cajun seasoning, salt, hot sauce, and heavy cream. Bring to a boil. Add mirlitons and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add crawfish tails and simmer for 10 minutes or until cream starts to reduce and thicken. Add parsley and green onions and stir to combine. Serve with rice, pasta, or polenta.

Steps:

• Season fish with salt, pepper, cumin, paprika. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil, 1 turn of the pan. Heat an ovenproof serving plate in a warm oven. Saute fish 3 minutes on each side or until opaque. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 lime over the fish and carefully slide the fillets onto warm platter. Cover the fish to keep it warm. Return pan to heat and add remaining tablespoon of oil, 1 turn of the pan. Over medium high heat, quickly saute the red onion, jalapeno and the garlic. Saute a minute or so, add the diced tomatillos with seeds and juices. Season mixture with coarse salt and saute the mixture of vegetables 5 minutes.
• Once you get your sauce working, get a second skillet hot over moderate heat for your maque choux. Add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (1 turn of the pan,) chopped onion, jalapeno and red bell pepper. Saute 2 or 3 minutes. Working on a plate to catch the milky juices, scrape corn off the cob. Break up the kernels and pour into the skillet. Combine corn with peppers and onions. Season with a sprinkle of sugar, a dash of cayenne pepper and salt. When mixture bubbles, reduce heat to simmer. Cut butter into pieces and stir into corn mixture. Allow mixture to simmer and cook until creamy, 5 to 7 minutes.
• While corn is working, go back to your sauce for the fish. Add the beer and the juice of 1/2 lime and cilantro to the pan. Simmer sauce 5 minutes longer, then spoon hot sauce down over the fish filets. Garnish platter with a few extra sprigs of the cilantro.
• Cut avocados in 1/2 lengthwise and remove pits. Squeeze lime juice over the avocados to keep them from browning and season them with a little coarse salt. Arrange on the serving plate.
• To serve, fill the avocados with maque choux, allowing the corn to spill down and over the sides of the avocado onto the serving platter. The ripe avocado is spooned away from its skin with bites of creamy, warm corn and peppers. Place the avocados alongside garnished fish and enjoy with lime sorbet topped with raspberries and Grand Marnier.

Steps:

• In a large saute pan, over medium heat, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the Tasso and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the corn, onions and bell peppers. Season with salt and cayenne pepper. Saute for about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the corn is tender. Add the cream, stir, and remove from the heat.

Steps:

• Working with 1 corn cob at a time, set the ear of corn upright in a medium bowl. Shave the corn from the cob by slicing down the sides using the tip of a sharp chef's knife, holding the knife almost vertical. (This gives you neat tablets of corn that land squarely in the bowl and keeps the kernels from scattering all over the counter.) Using the back of the knife, scrape each cob to release all the nibs and the "milk" of the kernels into the bowl. Repeat with remaining ears of corn, then snap the cobs in half, and add them to the bowl.
• In a large, deep sauté pan, melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat until foaming. Add onion and celery, and season with 1 or 2 pinches of kosher salt. Stir constantly until softened and translucent but not browned, about 5 minutes.
• Add 2 tablespoons butter and the bell pepper, poblano and serrano, and stir constantly, adding another pinch of kosher salt, letting the butter melt and the peppers soften and become translucent, about 2 or 3 minutes. You will smell the peppers' sweetness and their mild capsaicin releasing.
• Add the final 3 tablespoons butter and the corn mixture from the bowl, cobs included, and another pinch of kosher salt. Stir constantly to coat with the butter and combine thoroughly.
• When everything starts to hiss and sound hot, but isn't cooking so hard as to take color, add 1/2 cup water and a healthy few grinds of black pepper, and cover the pan for a couple of minutes to steam/shallow braise the mixture.
• Remove the lid, and stir well, noticing the corn releasing its liquid and the kernels softening, and the cobs turning somewhat translucent, if however vague. You will notice a general softening and melding together. Return the lid, and let cook a few more minutes, noticing the water evaporating and the remaining liquid reducing and gaining some "body" and gloss. Discard the corn cobs, but do suck them before tossing - those buttery juices make a nice cook's treat.
• Taste for salt, and serve. It should be sweet, spicy, a bit wet and surprisingly complex, given the few ingredients and their ordinariness. If you want a smoky taste, add a good pinch of smoked paprika.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Combine shortening, sunflower seed butter, white sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until light and airy. Add eggs one at a time and continue beating on medium speed until very light.
• Sift flour, baking soda, ground ginger, and salt into a separate bowl. Mix well. Stir in candied ginger, chocolate, and sunflower seeds.
• Gradually add flour mixture to the creamed shortening mixture, stirring gently until combined. Do not overmix. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cookies appear set, 8 to 10 minutes. Do not wait for the edges to brown. Cool on the cookie sheets for 2 to 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.