Rachael Rays Avocados With Creamy Maque Choux Recipes

RACHAEL RAY'S AVOCADOS WITH CREAMY MAQUE CHOUX

Steps:

• Heat a skillet over moderate heat.
• Add the olive oil, onion, jalapeno and bell pepper, and saute 2 or 3 minutes.
• Working on a plate to catch the milky juices, scrape corn off the cob.
• Break up kernels and pour into the skillet.
• Combine with peppers and onions.
• Season with sugar, cayenne and salt.
• When mixture bubbles, reduce heat to a simmer.
• Cut butter into pieces, stir into corn mixture, and simmer until creamy, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Cut the avocados in half lengthwise and remove the pits.
• Squeeze lime over the avocados to keep them from browning and season with a little coarse salt.
• Fill the avocado with maque choux, allowing the corn to spill down and over the sides.
• The ripe avocado is spooned away from its skin with bites of creamy, warm corn and peppers.
• Great served with tilapia, or other fresh fish.

AVOCADO BOATS

Steps:

• Cut into and all around the pit of each avocado, down to the pits. Twist the avocados and separate them. Whack the corner of your knife into each pit and remove it. Using a large spoon, scoop out each avocado half and arrange them on a plate. Dress the avocados with lemon juice, a few drops of hot sauce and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. Combine the tomatoes and scallions and season with salt. Fill the avocados with plum tomatoes and serve.

TILAPIA WITH TOMATILLOS AND AVOCADO FILLED WITH MAQUE CHOUX

Steps:

• Season fish with salt, pepper, cumin, paprika. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil, 1 turn of the pan. Heat an ovenproof serving plate in a warm oven. Saute fish 3 minutes on each side or until opaque. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 lime over the fish and carefully slide the fillets onto warm platter. Cover the fish to keep it warm. Return pan to heat and add remaining tablespoon of oil, 1 turn of the pan. Over medium high heat, quickly saute the red onion, jalapeno and the garlic. Saute a minute or so, add the diced tomatillos with seeds and juices. Season mixture with coarse salt and saute the mixture of vegetables 5 minutes.
• Once you get your sauce working, get a second skillet hot over moderate heat for your maque choux. Add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (1 turn of the pan,) chopped onion, jalapeno and red bell pepper. Saute 2 or 3 minutes. Working on a plate to catch the milky juices, scrape corn off the cob. Break up the kernels and pour into the skillet. Combine corn with peppers and onions. Season with a sprinkle of sugar, a dash of cayenne pepper and salt. When mixture bubbles, reduce heat to simmer. Cut butter into pieces and stir into corn mixture. Allow mixture to simmer and cook until creamy, 5 to 7 minutes.
• While corn is working, go back to your sauce for the fish. Add the beer and the juice of 1/2 lime and cilantro to the pan. Simmer sauce 5 minutes longer, then spoon hot sauce down over the fish filets. Garnish platter with a few extra sprigs of the cilantro.
• Cut avocados in 1/2 lengthwise and remove pits. Squeeze lime juice over the avocados to keep them from browning and season them with a little coarse salt. Arrange on the serving plate.
• To serve, fill the avocados with maque choux, allowing the corn to spill down and over the sides of the avocado onto the serving platter. The ripe avocado is spooned away from its skin with bites of creamy, warm corn and peppers. Place the avocados alongside garnished fish and enjoy with lime sorbet topped with raspberries and Grand Marnier.

MAQUE CHOUX

Steps:

• Working with 1 corn cob at a time, set the ear of corn upright in a medium bowl. Shave the corn from the cob by slicing down the sides using the tip of a sharp chef's knife, holding the knife almost vertical. (This gives you neat tablets of corn that land squarely in the bowl and keeps the kernels from scattering all over the counter.) Using the back of the knife, scrape each cob to release all the nibs and the "milk" of the kernels into the bowl. Repeat with remaining ears of corn, then snap the cobs in half, and add them to the bowl.
• In a large, deep sauté pan, melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat until foaming. Add onion and celery, and season with 1 or 2 pinches of kosher salt. Stir constantly until softened and translucent but not browned, about 5 minutes.
• Add 2 tablespoons butter and the bell pepper, poblano and serrano, and stir constantly, adding another pinch of kosher salt, letting the butter melt and the peppers soften and become translucent, about 2 or 3 minutes. You will smell the peppers' sweetness and their mild capsaicin releasing.
• Add the final 3 tablespoons butter and the corn mixture from the bowl, cobs included, and another pinch of kosher salt. Stir constantly to coat with the butter and combine thoroughly.
• When everything starts to hiss and sound hot, but isn't cooking so hard as to take color, add 1/2 cup water and a healthy few grinds of black pepper, and cover the pan for a couple of minutes to steam/shallow braise the mixture.
• Remove the lid, and stir well, noticing the corn releasing its liquid and the kernels softening, and the cobs turning somewhat translucent, if however vague. You will notice a general softening and melding together. Return the lid, and let cook a few more minutes, noticing the water evaporating and the remaining liquid reducing and gaining some "body" and gloss. Discard the corn cobs, but do suck them before tossing - those buttery juices make a nice cook's treat.
• Taste for salt, and serve. It should be sweet, spicy, a bit wet and surprisingly complex, given the few ingredients and their ordinariness. If you want a smoky taste, add a good pinch of smoked paprika.

NO COOK AVOCADO BISQUE (RACHAEL RAY)

Steps:

• Using a blender, puree 1 avocado, the buttermilk and scallion whites.
• Add the lime peel and three-quarters of the lime juice.
• With the machine on low speed, blend in the ice cubes, 1 at a time, until smooth.
• Season with salt; refrigerate.
• Meanwhile, coarsely chop the remaining avocado and transfer to a medium bowl.
• Add the tomatoes, feta cheese, scallion greens and the remaining lime juice.
• Divide the soup among 4 bowls. Top with the avocado salad and tortilla chips.
• Serve with the remaining tortilla chips on the side.