Tuesday, September 21, 2010

SIDE DISH - Corn Relish with Roasted Peppers


Corn Relish with Roasted Peppers
From the August 2010 issue of Food and Wine
First made in August 2010
    

Active: 40 min; Total = 1 hour
MAKES  4 pints

INGREDIENTS:
12 ears of corn, shucked
1 red bell pepper
1 green pepper
4 jalapenos (I couldn’t find these at the time and used Hungarian sweet papers.)
1 ½ cups apple cider vinegar
1 ½ cups sugar
1 Spanish onion (I used a Vidalia onion)
2 T. whole-grain mustard (I used some other sort of mustard)
Salt

DIRECTIONS:
  1. Fill a large bowl with ice water.  In a large pot of boiling water, cook the corn until the kernels become slightly translucent, about 3 minutes. Transfer the corn to the ice water; let cool. Drain the corn and pat dry. Cut off the kernels.
  2. Roast the red peppers and jalapenos over a gas flame, turning until charred all over, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, cover and let cool slightly.  Peel, stem and seed the peppers into ½ inch dice and the jalapenos into ¼ inch dice.
  3. In an enamel cast-iron casserole (I don’t have one of these) combine the vinegar and sugar and bring to a boil, stirring. Add the onion, peppers, jalapenos, onion and mustard and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Season with salt and let cool.
  4. Ladle the corn relish into four 1 point canning jars and refrigerate for up to 3 months.
A variation I am trying this year is to roast the corn in the husks on the grill. (September 2024)

Instructions

  1. Remove the silk: Remove any loose husks from the corn cobs. Shuck the corn by peeling down the outside layers one at a time and keeping them attached, facing downwards away from the cob. Remove the silk, then pull the husks back up over the corn (it can be a bit messy, so it doesn’t have to be perfect!).
  2. Soak 20 minutes: Soak the corn cobs in cool water for at least 20 minutes to prevent scorching.
  3. Preheat: Heat a grill to medium high heat (375 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit). 
  4. Grill the corn: Place the corn directly on the grill grates and cook until the husk begins to blacken, then turn. Cook 20 to 22 minutes total, until the corn is cooked through (the outside husk will be charred). To check whether it’s done, pull back the husk on one corn to make sure it is bright yellow and cooked through all the way to the bottom of the cob. (You can err on the side of over-cooking it, since you may find the cooking is fairly uneven in the husk.) Serve immediately with butter and salt.