06/13/2026
Your Farmers Market Recipe: MAQUECHOUX!
Last week, we staffers of the Conway, Arkansas Farmer's Market Secret Laboratory got a little too busy and didn't post any recipes. But we've finally got our feet beneath us again, and we'd like to share this one with you, because we've just been told that Randy Hardin Farms & Market is bringing sweet corn!
Fresh sweet corn, boiled until tender and slathered in butter, is one of the great joys of summer. But perhaps you were wondering: what else can I do with sweet corn? Well, I grew up in south Louisiana, in the heart of “Cajun Country.” So today I’m giving you a Cajun recipe that hasn’t really gotten famous, although it’s as Cajun as any gumbo or etouffee could be. It used to be served in my grade school cafeteria. It’s an easy and tasty side dish called maquechoux (pronounced “mock shoe”). It seems to be a Cajun adaptation of a Native American dish.
You'll need a bowl, a sharp knife, a cutting board, a fairly deep skillet, and a cooking spoon or spatula.
Shopping list for the farmer’s market:
12 ears of sweet corn
3 ripe tomatoes
2 bell peppers
1 large onion
Shopping list for the grocery store:
Butter or cooking oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cayenne pepper or Louisiana seasoning mix, to taste (if desired)
Garlic (if the market doesn't have any yet; it may be a couple more weeks)
1. Shuck the corn and remove the cornsilk from each ear.
2. Stand each ear upright in a bowl, and use a sharp knife to cut off the corn kernels. Then scrape each cob with the back side of the knife. This will not only release some fragments of corn kernels, it should release a milky liquid into the bowl.
2. Finely chop the onion, peppers, tomato, and 3-4 cloves of garlic.
3. Melt 1/2 stick of butter in the skillet, or else heat up 4 tablespoons of cooking oil. Add the onion and saute until it’s beginning to turn transparent. Add the peppers and tomato and keep sauteeing until everything is tender.
4. Add the corn with its milk. Add the seasonings and the garlic, and stir everything together. Simmer until the corn is tender, about 10-15 minutes.
VARIATIONS:
Cajun food has always been adaptable to what people had on hand, and no two people cook it in exactly the same way. Many maquechoux recipes call for adding milk or heavy cream to the corn. You can do that if you want to; a cup of heavy cream is about right. If you’d rather keep it vegan, you could add a little vegetable stock, if the dish seems to need more liquid.
To make this more of a main dish, some cooks will add shrimp, crabmeat, and/or crawfish and simmer until these are cooked through. Others might add chopped ham, or cooked sausage or cooked bacon. It's really up to you!
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