Hello and welcome to my dining room where I present the next course of the Progressive Eats – This is the e – version of Progressive Dinners of yore. Carefully planned and brought to fruition by Barb at Creative-Culinary. As in the days past, when people would get together for a meal and move from home to home for different courses; we are getting together to throw a virtual progressive dinner party and invite our readers to come join us in this fun event. The only difference is, you will be moving home to home in different cities! To kick off the party, Lana at Never Enough Thyme is hosting the “Summer in the South”. Let’s get to know rest of the party people!
Main Course
Never Enough Thyme – Creole Style Smothered Chicken
Appetizers
The Heritage Cook – Old Bay Shrimp Boil Skewers
Stetted – Fried Green Tomatoes with Smoked Tomato Basil Aioli
Bread
Savvy Eats – Jalapeno Cornbread + How to Store Cornbread
Salads
Life’s a Feast – Shrimp, Grilled Peach and Quinoa Salad
Soup
Spiceroots – Maque Choux Soup
Sides
Creative Culinary – Bacon and Caramelized Onion Creamed Corn
Pastry Chef Online – Spicy Succotash
Beverage
Healthy. Delicious. – Watermelon Lemonade
Desserts
Barbara Bakes – Key Lime Pound Cake
That Skinny Chick Can Bake – Banana Cream Cheesecake Pie
Maque Choux is a traditional Louisiana dish said to have been passed down by the Native Americans. Though Maque choux is great as a side dish, the Maque choux soup is perfect for the days when there is a slight nip in the air. As with all traditional dishes, the dish seems to have been created to use up all the seasonal produce in summer, corn being the main one.
The key to making a good Maque Choux is to use fresh corn, the freshest you can get. It makes a world of difference to the depth of flavor in the soup since fresh corn is naturally sweet.
Since cooking Southern Cuisine is an unchartered area for me I relied on various internet searches to find out more about my chosen dish – The Maque choux Soup. I was intrigued by the name, which incidentally is pronounced as “Mock shoe” . It is said that the dish is a result of fusion between cuisines of the Acadian French (Cajuns), and Native Americans. (source :- WiseGeek )
Maque Choux Soup
Ingredients
- 3 fresh corn ears kernels scraped
- 1 medium-size orange bell pepper chopped
- 1 tbs cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup yogurt/ sour cream room temperature
- 2-3 cups of Vegetable broth
- Suggestions for toppings - cooked bacon fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, Cilantro leaves, fresh lime juice, charred corn kernels
Instructions
- Stir together the corn kernels and peppers.
- Place a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add half of corn mixture and stir.
- Cook until the vegetables begin to char. Transfer mixture to a medium saucepan.
- Add remaining corn mixture to skillet; cook, stirring constantly, until vegetables begin to char. Stir in cumin and coriander and cook until fragrant.
- Now add 1 cup broth to corn mixture in saucepan, and process with a handheld blender until smooth.
- Add in the remaining corn mixture and 1- 2 Cups of broth to saucepan; bring to a slow simmer over medium heat. Add salt and cayenne and let it simmer for at least 5 minutes.
- Whisk the yogurt and add it in. Be sure to first temper the yogurt a bit by placing it in a heat proof dish and adding some hot soup to it and mix. This will make the yogurt less like to split when added to the soup. Alternately, add the sour cream or yogurt on top when serving.
- Add cornstarch to some water and add the mixture to soup. Simmer, stirring occasionally, 2-3 minutes or until thickened.
Recipe Notes
Recipe Adapted from :- Southern Living