It seems like we’re running out of milk options. We can’t drink cow’s milk for a multitude of reasons. Almonds are killing bees and using up all our water. Soy milk might be messing with our hormones. I’m sure any other milk you can name has equally scary warnings. So what’s left? Corn! When you think about it, we grow corn to feed cows to get milk, why not skip the middle step?
The process is relatively straight forward: Shuck a few ears of corn and don’t worry about the little strings. Place a small bowl upside down in a larger bowl. Then with a serrated knife, carefully remove the kernels. Lastly, use the back of the knife to scrape the cob a few times to get any remaining juice.
Load all of this into a blender and give it a whirl. You might need to add a little water to help get things going. Pass all of this through a fine mesh strainer to remove the pulp. Voila, you have corn milk. My three ears produced 2 cups of liquid. So now what?
Corn bread with charred shishito peppers:
- 1 cup corn milk (about two ears worth)
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted or oil
- ½ cup sugar*
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cayenne
- 10-12 charred shishito peppers, chopped (about ½ cup)
*If you use honey, maple syrup, or agave you’ll need to reduce the amount of corn milk by 2 tablespoons.
Shishitos are small, sweet peppers that are very trendy right now. To char them, add a tablespoon of oil to a sautée pan over medium heat. Add your peppers and cook until the outsides darken and the peppers turn a drab, olive colour. Then simply pull off the stems, and roughly chop.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter (or oil), and sugar. Add the corn milk, then whisk to combine.
In a second bowl combine all the dry ingredients. Pour the dry mixture onto the wet mixture along with the chopped peppers and stir just until combined. Avoid overworking the dough.
Spread evenly into a greased 9×13” baking dish, then bake at 400F for 30min. You can also bake them in muffin tins, just reduce the baking time to about 20min.
Normally I make cornbread with heavy cream, roasted jalapenos, and lots of butter. With this recipe you can definitely taste the corn milk, which gives a really bright and fresh corn flavour. The shishitos add a little bitterness which balances well with the sugar. This is the sort of cornbread you want to dip in BBQ sauce.
So I now have a cup of corn milk left over, not sure what to do with it. Anyone have any ideas? Maybe a corny cocktail?