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Category: Corn

  • Easy Fresh Corn Polenta

    First things first, join me in wishing Mazel Tov to Kai and Joel! They got married this weekend! Much love and happiness to you both.

    OK, back to business; Fresh polenta. This is a really easy dish to make. Unlike polenta made with dry ground corn, fresh corn polenta is unbelievably sweet, fresh and light tasting. I like to eat it with roasted mushrooms and vegetables and a runny egg, or pan seared shrimp or fish. Cheese is a great topping for this dish. Like I said the polenta is sweet and the cheese, especially hard cheeses like parmesan or feta are good, but so is a soft goat cheese, it balances the sweetness. I love to freeze this dish and trot it out for a special side dish on Thanksgiving or Christmas.

    It does take some time in the kitchen, mostly hands off time letting the pureed corn cook down. Here is the method.

    • 6 ears of corn
    • about 1 teaspoon  salt and pepper
    • 2 tablespoons vegan or dairy butter
    • Optional but delicious-crumbled feta or any hard sharp cheese, 1 fresh herbs

    Shuck the corn and slice the kernels off the cob into a large pan. I save the cobs and make corn stock. 

    Add just enough water to the pot to cover the kernels. Add the salt. Place over high heat until a gentle boil starts. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

    Strain the corn, (I save the cooking liquid and make soup or rice, taste it, it’s too good to throw out) and set the pot to the side. Add the corn to a food processor and process until smooth.

    Return the corn to the pot, (I did this in the sink to minimize the mess) and lower the burner to simmer cook until you like the consistency.

    I cooked mine for about 20 more minutes. The longer you let it go the creamier it gets. See how in the picture below it is holding it’s shape and mounding almost like loose mashed potatoes. When you are happy with the consistency add the butter and taste for more salt and pepper.

    I’m going to freeze this batch and bring it out for a holiday meal. Oh! I just remembered, fresh polenta is great with some cheddar cheese and chopped roasted chilies mixed in. Yum. I love roasted chilies at Thanksgiving. Maybe I’ll do that!

    Only a few more weeks of regular CSA season left. Enjoy the Fall bounty.

    Mo

  • Corn Stock

    I really don’t like store bought vegetable stock. I think it often tastes muddy and makes whatever dish I use it in taste muddy as well. If I need vegetable stock and don’t have any homemade I often opt for water with a little miso or often times I just use water. Honestly I often use water instead of beef or chicken stock too unless I want a very deep complex flavor.

    Corn stock is a very deep and complex flavor, it screams CORN! Nothing subtle here. Use it like you would any other stock, just know that the corn flavor is really going to come through. I especially like to use it when I make polenta, vegetable chowders or risotto.

    You will need

    Corn cobs from uncooked, boiled or grilled corn. Uncooked corn with give the stock a stronger flavor.

    Water to cover

    Pinch salt

    Break corn cobs into 2-3 pieces. Stuff them into a pan – you want a snug fit. Cover with water. Salt lightly. Bring to a simmer, then lower heat and cover. Simmer gently, rolling the cobs around from time to time. Cook until broth tastes deeply corny. Rule of thumb is about an hour to an hour and a half.

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    Strain stock — and store it in the fridge, where it will keep for a week, or pop it in the freezer. I like to store it in quart containers because that is usually how much I need when I make a dish using stock.

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    That’s it. Super easy.

    Enjoy this cooler weather we are having.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

  • Three Sisters Quesadilla

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    Yum. I think this is my favorite quesadilla.

    Three Sisters is an agricultural term for 3 main crops native to America; corn, squash and beans. The three plants benefit each other when grown together. They also benefit each other when eaten together!

    Grating the zucchini and mixing it with the other ingredients, especially the cheese, melds all the ingredients and they come together in a cohesive satisfying filling. This isn’t overly cheesy like some quesadillas tend to be.

    To make 4 really substantial and filling quesadillas you will need;

    8 tortillas

    2 ears of cooked corn.

    1 can of beans drained-I had black beans, use what you like.

    2 zucchini grated then squeezed  like you are making a snowball, to get as much water out so you don’t have a soggy quesadilla.

    1 cup of grated cheese-I used Manchego and cheddar-goat cheese is really good too, you don’t need as much goat cheese.

    I decided I wanted to add a jalapeno at this point-so I did, then I mixed everything up.

    Now you just make a quesadilla; heat a tortilla in a pan, add the filling, put another tortilla on top of the filling, when the filling is warm and the tortilla is brown flip it and brown the other side. Be careful flipping it, sometimes the filling likes to jump out.

    Cut it into wedges and eat.

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    I had some leftover filling so I made pizza.

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    Have a great week, see you at pickup.

    Mo

  • Corn, Bean and Barley Salad

     

    I made this for a neighborhood potluck we had this weekend and it was a big hit. Even my husband said ‘this salad is really, really good’. He’s never said that about a salad-ever. He is meat and potatoes guy. I guess he’s a corn, beans and barley guy too.

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    This makes a boat load, like probably 8 to 10 big servings. It holds really well, travels well and tastes fantastic the next day. I would be happy to have the leftovers, if there were any. You can easily halve this recipe if that suits your needs better.

    Corn, Bean and Barley Salad

    2/3 cup pearl barley
    1 pound  green beans trimmed and cut into bite size pieces
    2 ears corn
    1 large handful of greens. I had kale, you could use chard, arugula, lettuce, or you could leave the greens out.
    1/2 cup  olive oil
    1/4 cup vinegar I used white wine
    3 tablespoons minced red onion or shallots
    a few tablespoon minced fresh herbs. I had basil and parsley
    1 tablespoon of your favorite mustard
    Crumbled or shredded cheese for topping-I didn’t use any this time.

    Cook barley in medium saucepan of boiling salted water until tender, about 30 to 40 minutes. Drain; cool. Transfer to large bowl.

    Cook beans in large pot of boiling salted water until bright green, about 3 minutes. Don’t drain water, just fish the beans out of the water with a slotted spoon into a colander.  Drain the beans well. Transfer to bowl with barley. Add corn to boiling water and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Dry and cut kernels from cob, then add to salad bowl. Coarsely chop washed and dried greens; add to bowl with barley mixture.

     

    Whisk the dressing ingredients together in small bowl to blend. Pour enough dressing over barley mixture to coat, I used it all but taste it to see if you like it, and add more if you need to. Season salad to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheese if you are using any.

     

    Have a great week. I’ll see you at pickup.

    Mo

     

     

  • Water-mule cocktail, and Corn Tomato Salad.

    Happy Labor Day. I wanted to share a couple things I made this weekend with the CSA bounty we got last week.

    My favorite thing to do with watermelons is to juice them and make cocktails. Last year I posted a watermelon margarita recipe. This year Moscow Mules are all the rage so yesterday we had Water-mules.

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    I extracted the juice the same way I did when making the watermelon margarita and used the below proportions and directions for the drink;

    Ingredients

    • 1/4 cup watermelon juice/pulp
    • 1 1/2 Ounces vodka
    • squeeze of lime
    • 4 Ounces ginger beer
    • watermelon wedge and mint leaves (for garnish)
    • ice cubes

    Directions

    Place the above in a (preferably a copper mug) glass, mix and enjoy

     

    I also made a nice tomato and corn salad.

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    I had everything except the basil and parsley from my CSA share, and I had the basil and parsley in my garden.

    I cut up two tomatoes and a few cherry tomatoes I had lurking on the counter, a red onion, and an ear of corn. That is raw corn. I just cut it off the cob and added handful of basil and parsley.

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    I dressed that with some red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper and tossed it. There was so much juice from the tomatoes after I tossed it I thought; I need something to soak that up with. So I threw some croutons in the bottom of the serving bowl I was going to use and dumped the tossed vegetables on top of them. When you scooped up the salad the soaked croutons were an unexpected bonus!

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    And that was it. I think this could have been really good with some cheese on it, but we were having pizza so I opted out of any more cheese with the meal. You might want to add some mozzarella or feta though.

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    What’s not to love there?

    The croutons were leftover from a tomato and bread salad  I posted on last year. I made this night before. One of my favorite salads.

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    Yum and yay for fresh tomatoes!

    Have a great week.

    Mo

     

     

  • Worms and Organic Corn

    Oh my gosh. We grew corn! This is the first year Wyatt has grown corn and look at how beautiful it is!

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    And it is delicious. I ran home and cooked two ears and that was my dinner tonight.

    Eating corn isn’t what I wanted to talk about though. I want to talk about this;

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    The little worm (corn borer) that probably hitchhiked in on each ear of corn. There is almost always only one little borer per ear but still. I get it. It’s a little gross.  But honestly if you want sweet, tender, organic, healthy corn you are probably going to have to deal with one little borer per ear of corn.They don’t eat much and they are only in the tip of the ear of corn, they don’t travel farther than the tip.

    If you see a bin of corn at the store without any borers I promise, it was sprayed and sprayed with insecticides and probably shouldn’t eat it.

    If you go through and partially shuck each ear of corn until you find one that doesn’t have a borer you will probably go through a dozen ears before you find the ONE without. Two things are wrong with doing this; you waste a TON of corn and the one you find without the borer is probably a little under ripe and won’t be as sweet. Bugs and animals know when fruit and vegetables are ripe.

    So, what to do?

    Here is how I deal with this little  borer problem. I cut the tip off if all the ears before I cook and shuck them.

    Problem solved with no ick factor. You don’t have to find the borer, assume it is there.  Cut off the tip and throw it away, cook, shuck, eat.

    Enjoy this weeks bounty. I’ll see some of you at Thursday pick up at the Farm.

    Mo