Name: Huitlacoche Sauce over Polenta
Yield: Serves 4 as a main course, 8 as a first course
Ingredients: 1 medium onion, chopped; 2 tablespoons corn oil (preferably unrefined); 2 cups fresh or frozen huitlacoche (½ pound); 2 medium ears corn; 1 cup vegetable or poultry broth; ⅓ cup chopped cilantro (coriander) leaves; 1 to 2 teaspoons adobo sauce from canned chipotles en adobo or Chinese chilli sauce; ½ teaspoon ground cumin; 1 teaspoon ground coriander; ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves or allspice; ½ teaspoon kosher salt; 1 large tomato, diced; About 2 tablespoons lime juice; About ⅓ cup heavy cream; Soft Polenta, made with 1¼ cups cornmeal

Preparation info

Serves
4
as a main course

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini

By Elizabeth Schneider

Published 2001

About

“Polenta” is the word we now use in North America to refer to the former cornmeal mush, a gift of the Americas—not Italy—that attained celebrity with its use by Italians. Now we need Mexican huitlacoche to teach us about the pleasures of what we grimly refer to as “corn smut,” which grows anywhere corn does.

The following warm, thick, sweetish charcoal porridge is utterly mysterious—your guests will have no idea what it is made of. The looks suggest a dark chilli sauce or refried bl