Thursday, February 18, 2010

Lee's Fried Corn


My mother’s brothers can cook. ALL of them get it in in the kitchen! For years, my Uncle Lee has made this dish. It is soooo Southern, bacon, ham, butter, onions, peppers, garlic, BAYBEY!! During the holidays we would form alliances so that whomever wasn’t going to be home to eat it fresh out of the skillet, the other would hide some away. It is THAT good! This is the number one requested ("like one of my jams" word to JD) dishes when any of us head to Dallas to visit him and his family!
 
Now once I got a tad more health conscious I had to lighten it up a bit. Not by much mind you but it is less of everything without missing any of the flavor. For convenience, I often use frozen corn, I eliminated the ham and the flour and I added herbs and fry the corn in olive oil mostly...I love butter.  The colors in this dish just scream FRESH! Again, this is another recipe that can be easily suited to your tastes! Hope you enjoy!
 
What you will need:
  • Pat of butter
  • 1 – 2 Tbsp Olive Oil (or whatever cooking oil you have on hand)
  • Small red onion diced, or half of a large one (you can certainly use a white or yellow onion)
  • Half green pepper, diced
  • Half red pepper, diced
  • 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
  • Bag of frozen corn
  • 3 strips of cooked bacon crumbled to bits
  • Black and cayenne pepper to taste
  • Couple of stems of fresh parsley chopped or 2 tsp dried, optional

 What to do:

  • Place the butter and olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
  • Place onion and peppers in oil/butter mixture and cook until good and soft, about 5-7 minutes, stirring often.
  • Add garlic and cook another 5 minutes stirring often.
  • Add corn; give mixture a good stir to incorporate all of the ingredients
  • Cover with lid and cook, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes or until corn is cooked through and begins to brown. You may need to add another pat of butter or tsp of oliveoil but this is optional (the steam usually gives you the moisture you need).
  • During the last 5 minutes of cooking add the bacon pieces and stir.
  • Top with parsley.

2 comments:

MrsSaditty said...

Fried silverqueen or white corn, cut straight from the cobb...amazing childhood memory for me.
I've never had it with ham or the exact way you described it but best believe it's going to be tested in my kitchen really soon. Your description is simply amazing!

ThreeFoodWords said...

MrsSadditty You are too kind!

Fresh corn on the cobb IS the best! Please let me know how it turns out.