The Eaten Path: Corn risotto brings Chilliwack's famous crop into creamy decadence

by Paul Henderson 3 days ago 5 min read

I promise, this isn't your grandmother's creamed corn, see cooking video below

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The Eaten Path • Food goes in here: A look at independent eateries, local agriculture, food news, craft producers & home cooking

Recipe from Jessica Battilana, New York Times

There’s nothing better than freshly picked Chilliwack corn slathered in butter, covered in salt and pepper, but eventually you can get too much of a good thing.

Sometimes I like to mix it up, make a rub with salt and pepper and paprika, maybe cumin, cayenne, rub the corn with lime juice and roll it in the spice dust for a nice change with a Mexican vibe. Or adorn the corn any way you like, but cook it with a twist my friend Jeremy always does. He grills the corn inside the husks. Just open them up, pull out the silk (which catches fire), repackage the cobs in their husks, and pop ‘em on the BBQ for a few minutes till they are charred and bright yellow.

Now if your dental floss bill is getting out of control or if you've otherwise had one cob too many but you still want to eat this tasty if barely digestible* summer luxury, here's an elevated and delicious, yet rustic and down-to-earth recipe. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

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*Did you know? While many of us love corn, it's not actually digestible for humans, sorry. Corn is high in cellulose, a fibre the human digestive system can't deal with, which is why it sometimes, ahem, moves all the way through you. The good and seemingly contradictory news, however, is that some of the fibre in corn that we can digest is good for overall digestion. And if you chew your corn well, that helps unlock more of the nutrients within the cellulose. Now you know. Source: Medical News Today

The guts of this is from the New York Times Cooking site/newsletter/app, my new best source for new food experiments. There are two elements here that are optional to my mind, one you should do, one you should try but I wouldn't next time.

First: Make your own corn stock. You can do this risotto recipe with chicken stock, sure, but making your own stock is not hard and fulfills a minor OCD pleasure of mine, not wasting food. This uses otherwise discarded parts of ingredients that are already in this recipe: corn cobs and tough leek tops. Optional, yes, but if you have the patience to make risotto, you can handle making corn stock.

Second: Whipped cream at the end. The recipe calls for heavy cream but not just to make a creamy sauce as you might with a pasta. The original NYT recipe says to whip the cream to the point of soft peaks as you would for dessert, just without the sugar. After all that laborious stirring, building flavour and texture one ladle at a time, then mixing in a pad of butter and a ton of freshly grated Parmesan, for me the whipped cream is an unnecessary flourish. I wouldn't do it again but you should try it to see for yourself.

Corn Risotto

Ingredients
• Risotto

6 cups corn stock (recipe below)
2 tablespoons butter
1 leek, white and light green parts finely chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
cracked pepper
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
corn kernels from two ears of Chilliwack corn
1/2-to-one cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons minced chives or parsley (optional)

• Corn stock

2 corn cobs
onion quartered
carrot chopped roughly
celery ribs chopped roughly
dark green leaves from leek
garlic cloves, smashed
salt
whole black peppercorns

(Cooking directions below video)

Get cooking

Step 1 (optional corn stock)
Combine all ingredients and cover with six cups of water in a large pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat so the liquid is simmering. Cover and let simmer for at least 30 minutes, longer is fine and you can even make in advance, turn off, reheat when needed. Strain through a fine mesh strainer, then you will have less than six cups so add more water or, better yet, some chicken stock to bring it back up to six cups. Now leave that on the stove on a low simmer, or reheat if you turned it off, as you begin the risotto. See? That was easy.

Step 2
Melt one tablespoon butter in a wide, high-sided sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add leek and cook until softened, stirring the whole time. Season with salt and pepper then add the rice, stirring until grains are slightly translucent.

Step 3
Pour in wine and cook until it absorbs, which should be in about one or two minutes.

Step 4
Now it’s time for your chef patience or to grab a friend or a kid to be a sous-chef. One ladle at a time you, or your assistant, will add your beautiful corn stock stirring the entire time only adding subsequent ladles when the prior one is fully absorbed into your kernels. About halfway through this process, add your corn. Keep adding your stock until it is all in there and the rice is creamy and tender.

Step 5
Remove your risotto from heat and stir in Parmesan and the remaining tablespoon of butter. Cover and let stand for five minutes.

Step 6
If using the cream, break out the Devo and whip it real good until you have soft peaks. Uncover risotto and give it a good stir. Add salt and pepper to taste. Right before serving, if using, stir in chives or parsley, and fold in the cream. Serve and enjoy!

Till next time, see you on The Eaten Path.

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Paul J. Henderson
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