Corn and Roasted Green Chiles

It’s not often that I am caught with my culinary pants down. But that’s exactly what happened last week when I was asked to host our book club gathering at the last minute when the intended host got sick. The truth is, living alone over the last three months has challenged my cooking skills.

I don’t always plan meals and cook the way I did when David was alive. He made cooking fun and joyful because we talked about what we both wanted to eat, shopped and cooked together and then ate together. It’s now more like, “What can I eat that is quick and nutritious and doesn’t give me leftovers for days?”

Use What You Have

However, this challenge to perform on the fly didn’t make me run to the store or plan anything special nor did it stop me from creating two dishes to share with my book club fictionistas using what I had in the fridge. The pear tree in my backyard provided a few pears for a pear, toasted walnut and Roquefort salad with Little Gem lettuce. This salad was a nod to the fall weather that is already upon us.

And then there were four ears of corn in my fridge and some roasted green chiles from the farmers market and I had a second dish. I cut the corn off the cob, sauteed it with a big knob of butter and olive oil, a good bit of salt and pepper and added sliced, roasted green chiles and a bit more butter for a dish that had everyone asking for the recipe. Recipe, I thought? It wasn’t a recipe per se, but it was so incredibly easy and good, I made it again and realized that, yes, there is a recipe. This simple dish celebrates the end of the summer and the arrival of roasted chiles in Santa Fe in a big way.

Summer Corn and Chiles

All you need are four (or less or more) ears of corn, good quality butter, olive oil and roasted green chiles. A quick saute of the corn in the pan and a side dish is ready to dazzle your diners. For our book club gatherings, everyone brings something, so I served this corn and green chiles as a second side dish. When I made it again, I served it with seared scallops and a bit of arugula salad. This flavorful dish comes together in less than ten minutes and recognizes the powerful combination of corn and green chiles in a delightful way.

Buen provecho!

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Corn and Roasted Green Chiles

Summer corn is succulent and sweet and the addition of roasted green chiles adds a kick of heat to make this a stand-out dish. If you prefer it spicy, add three green chiles, but I think two is just right.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword corn, green chiles, Hatch chiles

Prep Time 4 minutes

Cook Time 3 minutes

Total Time 7 minutes

Servings 4

Author The Cowgirl Gourmet in Santa Fe

Ingredients

• 4 ears fresh corn on the cob remove the husks and silks from the corn
• 2 tablespoons butter unsalted, divided
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 roasted green chiles peeled, seeds removed and diced
• 1/3 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Cut the corn off the cob.

   

2. Place a skillet over medium-high heat and add one tablespoon of both butter and olive oil. Once the butter melts and is bubbly, add the corn and saute for two minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir to coat.

3. Add the diced roasted green chile and last tablespoon of butter and stir to combine for one minute, to heat the chiles thoroughly and let the butter melt.

   

4. Turn off the heat and serve immediately--as a side dish or with seared scallops or shrimp, grilled chicken or fish or your protein of choice.