Roasted Corn Salsa

We’ve got a wind advisory today, and boy is it chilly! I’m very thankful to have a warm home today. One of the best places to be on a day like today is in the kitchen with the oven on.  I thought something a little spicy would help to warm me up too.

6 Ears Sweet Yellow Corn or 6 cups of frozen sweet corn
1 Poblano Chili
1/2 Red Onion
1 Red Jalapeno (more or less depending on how much heat you want)
1/4 Cup Chopped Cilantro
1/2 Tablespoon Lemon and Lime Juice
Salt and Pepper to Taste

 

The poblano peppers typically have a mild flavor. However, sometimes they can have a significant heat, which can be very surprising. The flavor of the poblano is more complex than the green pepper, but you can substitute it in nearly any recipe that calls for a green pepper. To cut the poblano you want to cut off both the top (near the steam) and the tip at the bottom. Then slice it length wise. Open the pepper and remove the core, white ribs (which can be bitter) and the seeds. Often times the seeds from store bought peppers are no good to save, because the plant was a hybrid, and these seeds will not grow. Slice the pepper into long, thin slices. For this salsa I turned the long thin slices sideways and then diced it very small. Depending on how much heat the poblano has, might determine how small you want your diced pieces to be.

I used frozen corn, and boiled it for 5 minutes, then drained the water off. You could also use sweet corn on the cob. I placed the corn and poblano on cookie sheet (or you could put it on tin foil) that I wiped with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Put just a little bit more oil over the top of the mix, and toss it with your hands to coat. Then place it in the oven at 375 for about 18-20 minutes to roast. But watch the corn carefully; it will go from roasted to burnt very quickly! You want it to be just lightly browned, and still juicy. You will need to stir it a couple of times to keep the browning even.   

Dice the onion, cilantro and red jalapeno.

·         Taste the onion to decide how small you want it. The onion I had today was especially strong, so I diced it even smaller than usual.

·         When chopping the cilantro (and all herbs) be sure to use a sharp knife. You want to cut the herbs cleanly, rather than tearing and bruising them. Bruised herbs loose much of their flavor on the cutting board, and can also make their color dull. When cutting up the cilantro, you don’t have to pull the leaves off the stems. The steams have a great deal of flavor too. However, in this recipe I have chosen to remove the leaves from the stems and just chopped the leaves into very small pieces. This is only because I don’t like the flavor of large pieces of cilantro.

·         Cut the jalapeno the same way you did the poblano.

Combine the above with the corn and poblano mix. Add lime juice. Stir together, and then add salt and pepper to taste.  If your corn wasn’t sweet enough to start with, you can add about a tablespoon of sugar.  You can serve it either warm or cold. We noticed that as you let it sit, and cool the flavors started to come together more. I’m excited at how well this turned out!

As I get better at this, I will post more pictures of the recipes as I make them.