Chorizo and jalapeño corn fritters

Eating corn straight from the cob is a Midwestern summer delicacy. But another great option is to use the corn for fritters. Corn fritters are more filling, and they’re easily customizable to your liking. Another bonus is you can use the cobs to make corn stock after removing the kernels.

First, a few notes on the fritter batter:

• You can customize the fritters with different cheeses and spices.
• Feel free to swap the chorizo for bacon, use vegetarian crumbles, or omit entirely.
• You can use gluten-free cornbread mix.
• Don’t over mix the batter. It will be very thick.
• Chill the batter for at least 30 minutes before cooking. 1 hour is preferred. Or you can make the batter a day in advance.

And here are some important tips for pan frying the fritters:

• Cook fresh corn kernels for a few minutes to soften them because they won’t cook much in the pan. I do this in the microwave before I shuck the corn.
• Make sure the oil in the pan is hot (around 350 degrees) before dropping the batter in the pan.
• Keep the temperature on medium-low to avoid oil splatters.
• Space the fritters evenly around skillet in a clockwise direction so you always know which ones to turn first.
• Don’t overcrowd the skillet.
• Salt fritters immediately after cooking. 
• Place cooked fritters on baking sheet in oven set as low as possible (that’s 170 degrees Fahrenheit for most ovens) so they remain warm while you finish cooking the rest of the batter

It couldn't be easier to make a corn stock with the leftover corn cobs. Just place the corn cobs in a stock pot with 1 gallon cold water, 1 bay leaf, and 10 black peppercorns. Bring the water temperature to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Continue to simmer for 1 - 2 hours. Strain the stock and refrigerate for up to 1 week or freeze.

Chorizo and jalapeño corn fritters

Ingredients

• 304 grams (2 cups) cornbread mix (about 1.25 standard 8.5 ounce Jiffy boxes)
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound (3 cups from about 4 cobs) corn kernels
• 113 grams (4 ounces) cooked chorizo
• 113 grams (4 ounces) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 30 grams (about 1 medium) jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
• 12 grams (1/4 cup) chives or scallion greens, minced
• 80 grams (2/3 cup) whole milk
• 114 grams (2 large) eggs
• Vegetable oil, canola oil, coconut oil, or ghee for frying

Directions

1. Mix cornbread mix, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and black pepper in large bowl.
2. Add corn, cheese, jalapeño, and chives and mix until coated.
3. In separate bowl, whisk together milk and eggs. Pour into dry ingredients and stir just until combined.
4. Refrigerate mixture for at least 30 minutes. 1 hour is preferred. Can also be refrigerated overnight.
5. Pour oil into large cast iron skillet until 1/8-inch of bottom is coated. Heat over medium-low until oil is shimmering.
6. Drop 4 (1/4-cup) portions of batter evenly around the pan and flatten each slightly.
7. Cook until golden-brown on bottom, about 3 minutes.
8. Flip and cook until other side is golden-brown, about 3 more minutes.
9. Transfer fritters to paper towel-lined baking sheet and place in 170 degree Fahrenheit oven to keep warm while making fritters with remaining batter.
10. Serve fritters warm with sour cream or yogurt sauce.

Southwestern quiche with hot honey

This is a sponsored post by Challenge, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

Quiche may very well be the most underrated breakfast food. I don’t understand why more people don’t get jazzed about quiche. The rich, custardy filling encased in a flaky pie crust is exactly what my dreams are made of. If I was a politician, I’d run on a platform of more quiche for America.

One of the things I love about quiche is that it can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be. The first quiche I fell in love with was quiche lorraine. It consists of bacon, onion, gruyere cheese, eggs, and heavy cream. It sounds simple enough, but the flavor combination is nothing short of heavenly.

Using quiche lorraine as my muse, I wanted to create a quiche recipe with both savory and sweet elements. My answer was to make a southwestern quiche with sweet corn kernels and jalapeños in the filling and hot honey drizzled on top.

I even added a little cornmeal to my pie crust recipe to bring out the corn flavor, but it’s just as easy to leave it out if you don’t have cornmeal on hand. I only use Challenge butter when making pie crust. Superior ingredients make superior products, and you can really tell a difference when making the crusts how much better Challenge butter is than its competitors.

The hot honey really takes the quiche from tasty to incredible. You can certainly buy hot honey, but it’s awfully expensive considering how easy it is to make. All you need is honey, hot sauce, vinegar, and red pepper flakes.

Even though quiche is considered a “breakfast food,” don’t let that stop you from eating quiche for lunch and dinner as well!

Southwestern quiche with hot honey

Ingredients

For the pie crust

• 1 3/8 cups (180 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (40 grams) cornmeal (if you don’t have cornmeal, use an additional 40 grams flour)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 stick (154 grams) Challenge unsalted butter
• 4.5 Tablespoons (66 grams) cold water

For the custard

• 4 ounces bacon, medium dice
• 3 ounces sweet onion, medium dice
• 8 ounces corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
• 1 jalapeño, small dice
• 4 large eggs
• 6 fluid ounces heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup (4 ounces) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

For the hot honey

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 Tablespoon hot sauce
• 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

For the pie crust 

1. Mix flour, cornmeal, salt, and butter until pieces of butter are very small.
2. Add water to flour mixture 1 tablespoon at a time and mix just until dough comes together.
3. Shape dough into disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour before baking.
4. Preheat oven to 385 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Roll out dough to 12-inch circle and transfer to 9-inch pie pan. Trim and crimp edges. 
6. Line pie shel with parchment paper and pie weights.
7. Bake until edges turn pale gold in color, about 10 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and remove paper and weights. Bake an additional 5 minutes, or until bottom of crust turns light gold in color.

For the custard

1. Decrease oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Cook bacon over medium heat in skillet. Use slotted spoon to transfer bacon to paper-towel-lined plate. Leave fat in skillet.
3. Saute onion, corn, and jalapeno in bacon fat until onion is translucent and corn is tender, about 5 minutes.
4. In bowl, combine and whisk eggs, heavy cream, salt, and pepper.
5. Place grated cheese, bacon pieces, onion, corn, and jalapeño in pie shell. Pour egg mixture over everything.
6. Bake until quiche is just set, about 35 to 45 minutes.

For the hot honey

1. Add all ingredients to small saucepan on stove over medium heat.
2. Allow mixture to come to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, allow it to continue boiling for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Remove from heat and carefully pour mixture into mason jar.
4. Allow to cool completely before topping with lid.

Savory tomato and goat cheese corn cobbler

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

I've been craving a savory cobbler ever since I made Blueberry Sweet Corn Cobbler for my family on the Fourth of July. I wanted to place an emphasis on using seasonal Indiana produce. Late summer is the peak of tomato season, so I thought tomatoes would be the perfect base for the filling of this cobbler. I added balsamic caramelized onions and goat cheese to the filling, which provided I really delightful contrast of flavors.

The emphasis of the role corn plays in this recipe is what makes it unique. The biscuits are comparable to cornbread; however, instead of using cornmeal to achieve the corn taste, I used the juiced from the fresh sweet corn.

I collected these juices by grating the uncooked corn with a box grater. It’s a messy process, but the milky, starchy pulp from the kernels is worth it.

Depending on the size and juiciness of your corn, you’ll need 3 to 4 ears to collect the 1 cup necessary for this recipe.

I used Challenge butter for the corn cobbler. What I like most about Challenge products is they use fresh, hormone-free milk, and they don't add any unnatural additives.

Tomato and goat cheese corn cobbler
Ingredients for the tomato filling

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup sweet onion, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup flour (30 grams)
• 2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes
• 8 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
• 1 Tablespoon thyme, chopped
• 2 teaspoons rosemary, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Ingredients for the corn cobbler

• 1 1/4 cups flour (150 grams)
• 2/3 cup (100 grams) medium or coarse-ground yellow cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold Challenge unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 4 ears sweet yellow corn, uncooked (about 1 cup liquid)
• 3 Tablespoons honey

Directions for the filling

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease inside of 8-by-8-inch square casserole dish. Set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in large skillet over low heat.
3. Add onion and cook until soft and translucent and it starts to brown (but not burn), about 10 minutes.
4. Pour in balsamic vinegar and cook until it’s mostly evaporated, about 2 minutes.
5. Stir in flour so it forms a paste. 
6. Stir in tomatoes, goat cheese, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper.
7. Transfer mixture to baking dish, spread in even layer, and set aside.

Directions for the corn cobbler

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Cut in butter using pastry blender or hands until mixture resembles coarse meal.
3. Using a box grater, grate corn in large bowl to collect its milky juices; discard corn cobs. Make sure your corn juice measures 1 cup. If not, grate another ear of corn.
4. Add corn juices to flour mixture and mix just until dry ingredients are moistened.
5. Add honey and mix until you have a cohesive dough.
6. Use ice cream scoop to add cobbler on top of tomato filling.
7. Place casserole dish in oven and bake until cobbler biscuits are golden, about 30 to 35 minutes.
8. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Cajun Shrimp and Sausage Foil Packets

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

I was at the grocery store with my mom recently to pick up ingredients for this amazing foil packet dinner when I noticed the shrimp was from Indiana.

Luckily for my mom (wink wink), I know a lot about Indiana shrimp, so of course, I was very eager to share that knowledge with her!

Did you know that Indiana produces some of the best shrimp in the world? I realize that sounds like a crazy claim to make about our landlocked state, but it’s true! Just like soybeans and corn, shrimp is produced in indoor shrimp farms throughout the state. The shrimp grow and develop in large above ground pools.

There are about a dozen shrimp farms in the state, and RDM Aquaculture is the largest. They sell about 250,000 shrimp each month! Farm-raised shrimp is supposed to be a good alternative to wild ocean shrimp because of the growing concern of water pollution.

I was feeling pretty proud about this spiel until I realized the sign said the shrimp was actually from India, not Indiana. Oh well. Onto the recipe!

These foil packet dinners with shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes are so tasty! And there are minimal ingredients – the flavor comes from just a little creole seasoning and butter.

I have a few tips before you try out this great recipe!

First of all, I recommend sticking each ear of corn in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Otherwise, the cob will be very hard to cut through.

Also, I recommend microwaving the potatoes for about 1 minute before you cut them and put them in the foil packets. This is because the potatoes will take longer to cook on the grill than everything else.

Also, my dad brought to my attention that apparently a new study shows cooking with aluminum foil can cause health issues. I’m not sure if there’s any merit to this, and it’s predominantly with acidic foods. But if you’re uncomfortable cooking your food straight on the aluminum foil, just lay a piece of parchment paper in the foil packet before adding your ingredients.

Also, just to clarify, everything goes into the foil packet raw and it cooks on the grill!

Cajun Shrimp and Sausage Foil Packets

Yield: Makes about 4 foil packets

Ingredients

• 4 ears of corn on the cob, shucked and cut into thirds
• 1 pound red potatoes, cut into fourths
• 1 pound uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 pound Andouille sausage, cut into 1-inch chunks (turkey sausage works well too)
• 4 Tablespoons Challenge butter
• 3 Tablespoons Cajun / creole seasoning (I use Tony Chacheres Creole Seasoning)
• Parsley for garnish, if desired
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic

 Directions

1. Preheat grill to 400 degrees
2. Cut 4 sheets of 12-inch aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray
3. Evenly distribute corn, potatoes, shrimp and sausage into the center of each foil packet
4. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons creole seasoning evenly over ingredients in each foil packet and add 1 Tablespoon of butter and 1 teaspoon of minced garlic to each center
5. Seal foil packets by folding up the sides over the ingredients and sealing edges, allowing some room for heat circulation
6. Place foil packets on the grill and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes or until shrimp are no longer pink and veggies are cooked
7. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately