Jalapeño Corn Muffins

These are based (closely) on the Mesa Grill Blue and Yellow Corn Muffins recipe from the Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook: Explosive Flavors from the Southwestern Kitchen; a book I highly recommend - easy, accurate, tasty recipes with a bit of flair (substitute parsley for cilantro for those with an aversion to that oh so typical southwestern flavour).

I've been to Mesa Grill in New York several times. I took my Dad, went with my brother a couple of times, my little sister once, with my big sister once too I think, and a couple of times by myself to have a burger. Always they serve these muffins in the bread basket for the table. If my big brother is there we always had to request some extra ones; these are a highlight of going. I don't know if the Mesa Grill place in Vegas also serves these; they should.

Moist, savoury. They're easy enough although it takes some patient chopping to make the little pepper bits and there's some complexity to getting the two colours into the muffin tin. By the way, it uses a lot of bowls to make and mix and separate stuff so be prepared.

What I actually did was:

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Jalapeño Corn Muffins

Makes: 12

Ingredients

• 1/2 C red pepper, brunoise [diced] (corn kernel sized)
• 1/2 C corn kernels, thawed (from previously frozen)
• 2 T finely chopped cilantro, fresh (measure this, it's really quite a lot - but just right)
• 2 jalepeño chiles, brunoise [diced] (canned, since there's reports of dicey chiles coming along with that tomato/salmonella scare)
  
  
• 1/2 C red onion, fine brunoise [diced] (that's about 1/2 an onion)
• 6 cloves garlic, fine brunoise [diced]
• Olive oil
  
  
• 1 1/3 C milk, whole (not skim, not 2 %, not goat's)
• 4 eggs, large
• 2 T honey
  
  
• 1 C yellow cornmeal
• 1 C purple corn flour (supposed to be blue cornmeal but I mis-purchased it)
  
  
• 1 1/3 C flour, all purpose
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 4 t kosher salt

Procedure

1. Chop all the things that need to be chopped and set them aside in little cowls or something
2. Go have a beer; you're tired after all that chopping and measuring (preferably a Corona)
   • oven to 200 C [400F]
3. Oil into a pan, sauté the onions until soft; add garlic in the last minute
   • allow to cool (meanwhile, carry on with the following)
     
     
4. Mix together the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and kosher salt - really really well - with a fork
5. Put 1 C of each corn meal into a big bowl
6. Add 2/3 C of the regular flour mix to each cornmeal/flour bowl (if there's a bit left in the bowl after measuring just split it between the two)
   
   
7. Mix the milk, eggs, honey together
8. Add the red pepper, jalapeños, corn and cilantro to the milk mix
9. Divide the whole liquid mess equally between 2 bowls (about 375 ml each [1 1/2 cups))
   • don't worry too much about getting the cilantro, corn and other solids equal; some of the charge will be the irregular distribution
     
     
10. Put one share each of the liquid into the yellow and blue cornmeal bowls
    • Blend mixedly - it's a mush rather than a thin batter
11. Oil the muffin tin and spoon a glob of each batter into the tins in a somewhat left and right fashion
    
    
12. Bake for 18 minutes (until a toothpick comes out almost completely clean)
13. Let cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tin then turn out on a cooling rack

Done

Notes

1. My cornmeal mixture ended up a wee bit too thick so I thinned it with what ended up being 3 T of milk (added one at a time)
2. The recipe is very accurate. It made enough for the 12 regular sized muffins and just enough left over to not have to worry about running out of batter. I was able to make 1 extra single colored muffin in a little ramekin.
3. I also made a variation of the recommended jalapeño jam; a jalapeño/green pepper version - delicious.