Sassy Southern Cooking with a French Twist

Lewis Barbecue

Hatch A New Side Dish Star This Thanksgiving

Lewis Barbecue’s Hatch Green Corn Pudding Makes Perfect Thanksgiving Fare

Everyone has favorite side dish traditions at Thanksgiving. In my house, it’s cornbread sausage stuffing, smashed rutabagas with parsley and butter, mashed potatoes, and shaved,  butter braised Brussels sprouts. They’ll appear again this year, but I think it’s always a good plan to give the annual side traditions a little kick in the pan and try something new.  Lewis Barbecue‘s John Lewis’s Hatch Green Chile Corn Pudding is as natural as barbecue is to his native Texas. This pudding is a top-selling side as his popular, big-as-Texas restaurant located on the upper peninsula in Charleston, SC, is utterly delicious and easy to prepare. It would shine as a side star with beef, ham, or turkey.  It is featured in The New Charleston Chef’s Table Cookbook (Globe Pequot Press, May 2018).  Here’s an excerpt from the book and the recipe:

…”They come in droves for his prime brisket (Lewis calls it the highest quality and so well marbled it practically bastes itself), beef short ribs, beef back ribs, and more, all cut to order and served on butcher paper. Lewis serves sauce on the side if desired. “Typically the Texas barbecue sauce is a red, ketchup-based sauce with a lot of black pepper and some chiles,”says Lewis.

Sauce or no, it’s not barbecue without the sides. Because Lewis wasn’t willing to share his smoking, rub, or sauce recipes, we decided to use this sweet, creamy, crusty on the bottom corn pudding (in this book). Lewis grew up in El Paso near his great grandparent’s chile farm in Hatch, New Mexico, where the chile in the pudding is grown. “It’s similar to an Anaheim, but it’s a bit spicier with a grassy flavor. It picks up the flavor of the terroir in Hatch,” says Lewis. If you can’t find one, substitute Anaheim peppers, or used canned Hatch peppers already roasted and peeled. Lewis prefers a top quality, high-end cast iron pan, because the iron is denser and less porous so stuff doesn’t stick to it too much. Get the cast iron hot in the oven first, before putting in the pudding mixture. It will ensure a super crispy bottom, “almost like a Detroit style pizza,” says Lewis.

People come in droves to sample Lewis Barbecue’s brisket, cowboy beans, and this star Hatch Green Chile Corn Pudding – the perfect Thanksgiving side.

Hatch Green Chile Corn Pudding

(Serves 4 – 6)

2-3 Hatch green chiles

1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic

3 large eggs

2/3 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup mild cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

3/4 cup fresh corn kernels (cut from one ear of fresh corn)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese

Roast the Hatch green chiles over a hot, open flame until the skins blacken and separate (about 4-5 minutes on each side). Place the roasted chiles in a plastic bag and allow them to steam (in their own heat) for 1 hour. Peel the skins and remove the seeds, discarding both the seeds and the charred skins. In a food processor, roughly chop the chiles. This should yield about 1/4 cup roasted chiles. Defrost the frozen corn kernels and chop in a food processor until pureed.

Combine the flour, yellow cornmeal, granulated sugar, salt, baking powder, and granulated garlic in a mixing bowl and blend together until homogenous. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs and whisk in the heavy cream. Add the frozen corn puree, chopped and roasted Hatch green chiles, cubed mild cheddar cheese, and fresh corn kernels. Pour the dry ingredients in the wet ingredients. Whisk together until homogenous.

Preheat the oven to 375F with a medium cast iron pan. When hot, take the heated cast iron pan out of the oven and add the butter. Allow butter to heat until foaming and milk solids are lightly toasted. Be sure to allow the butter to fully coat the bottom. Pour the corn pudding batter into the hot cast iron pan with foaming butter. Sprinkle the shredded mild cheddar cheese on the batter and return to the oven. Cook for 30 minutes at 375F. The cheese should be nicely browned and the pudding should be set, but not firm in the center. Allow to rest for 5 minutes and serve warm.

(Note: prep the base puree for this recipe ahead and finish/bake while the turkey is resting/sliced. It can wait up to 30 minutes before slicing).

Wishing everyone a beautiful, truly delicious, safe, and peaceful Thanksgiving! This is one of 80 delicious recipes in this beautiful cookbook/coffee table/travel book,  which makes the perfect holiday gift for the cook and Charleston-lover in your life. It’s available at all major bookstores, many Indie bookstores, and Amazon.

Bon appetit!

Holly

New Charleston Chefs Table book cover

The New Charleston Chef’s Table (Globe Pequot Press, May 2018) by Holly Herrick

 

 

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Introducing The New Charleston Chef’s Table

Voila! She’s Finally Here and A Cookbook Give Away

It’s been a long time since I’ve visited. It’s been a very busy and wonderful year.  In addition to a new cookbook (number nine), I have a now sixteen month-old  puppy named Rocky (Rocken Roll) and have been enjoying writing press and news for a large Charleston restaurant group.

I deem The New Charleston Chef’s Table “number nine” with some hesitation, as I’m not sure exactly what to call a new edition of an old book (the original Chef’s Table came out in 2009). Is that really a new book? But since it’s essentially an 80% new book, that is almost all of the old book was pulled and new restaurants, chefs and recipes were added, I’m going to go with number nine.

The reason so much of it is new is that Charleston went through yet another massive restaurant renaissance during the past decade. What was delicious got even more delicious and the boundaries for types of food and restaurant locations and styles got even broader. Increasingly, Charleston taste buds veered farther from formality and more towards casual ethnicity diversification, but always, always with a demand for outstanding cuisine. Because, if it was not delivered, those restaurants went away in short order.

Reluctant at first to take on such a huge task, I was glad I did, and am grateful for the opportunity from Globe Pequot Press. The New Charleston Chef’s Table truly reflects the Charleston of now, which was my intention. I pursued recipes that were less structured and more adaptable for the home cook. Some of my favorites include Leon’s Whole Grain Spoon Salad,  Fig’s Classic Arugula Salad,  Crust’s Chilled Summer Corn Soup, Lewis’ Hatch Green Chile Corn Pudding, The Ordinary’s Fish Schnitzel, and The Daily’s Buttermilk Rhubarb Fool.  In this book, more than in the original, I let the book morph with the commentary and thoughts of the chefs. For example,  Matthew Niessner at Halls Chophouse didn’t want to share just one recipe, but an entire meal catered to this audience, just as he likes to do for groups when they come to Halls. So he shared recipes for creamed corn, iceberg wedge salad with blue cheese dressing, and how to perfectly prepare a restaurant style ribeye. Meanwhile, at Mex 1 Coastal Cantina I surfed with Ryan Jones into the Baja, California peninsula and cool surfer mentality with cantina chicken tacos and stewed lima beans slow and steady with Martha Lou Gadsen of Martha Lou’s Kitchen.

The design and editing team did a beautiful job of designing the book, which is verdant and fresh with lots of green color and beautiful photography, and has an equally more casual and modern look, reflecting an ever morphing Charleston.

New Charleston Chefs Table book coverThe book was released this past week and is available at major bookstores and online now. I’m offering a signed cookbook to one of you. Just click like on this post or elsewhere where you see it  and I’ll do a randomly picked number search on June 4 and announce the winner that day.

Wishing you a beautiful and soulful Memorial Day!

Holly

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