The difference that fresh can make...

It has come to the last home cooked meal in Phoenix as the movers will be here tomorrow to pack up the place. I may not be able to post everyday as we will be dealing with the packers, flying out east and dealing with the closing. We will "officially" be in the new house next Friday - Woo! I've been making a few new recipes for lunch over the past few days that I need to write about, so we will be posting new recipes throughout the week.

Jeff told me a long time ago that he has never been a fan of creamed corn - but I think that is because he has only had it from a can. The fresh corn is just too good to pass up nowadays, so I thought I would give it a go and see if we could change his mind. The recipe, Creamed Corn, turned out to be delicious and was insanely easy to make. I used a combination of fresh yellow and white sweet corn that was pureed with milk, cornstarch and a touch of salt. A cup corn is set aside to lend some texture to the smooth mixture. Once the puree and whole kernels are combined, the corn is allowed to simmer until it thickens up and the kernels are tender.

I did have one issue... while I used a "medium" saucepan, I had a lot of problems with the mixture "burping" hot corn everywhere, as I think my pan was not deep enough. I ended up using a splatter guard, but it still made a mess... so be careful as the hot corn mixture does not feel good on the skin! Jeff ate more than his share and said "Why didn't you make this before? And just so you know, I get the leftovers! I love creamed corn now!!" Bah.... at least there is one more thing to check off that he will eat now!

I did finish using up all the leftover chicken from the freezer with the recipe Chicken Picadillo. You can use pre-ground chicken, but after using the food processor to make our own lately, I have come to the conclusion that I like the resulting texture a bit better. Not as mushy as I find in the store. Since I had to dirty up the processor anyway, I used it to mince the garlic first, then added the chicken and pulsed both of them together. This mixture is then browned with some seasonings and then the chipotle salsa along with golden raisins are mixed in. After cooking down, the mixture is finished with some sliced toasted almonds. The smoky chipotle salsa brought a fiery heat that was a perfect off-set to the sweet plump raisins and crunchy almonds. At first bite, I was unsure about the cinnamon, but as I ate, I found myself enjoying the complex flavor it brought. While you could serve this alone, this would be an awesome filling for tacos or placed on some flatbread.

Recipes
Creamed Corn
Chicken Picadillo