Corn season 2011

[Fat Guy]

You can get corn year-round in the US these days, but where I live (Northeast and Mid-Atlantic area) you really get a lot of local corn from July through the fall.

It will only take me about a week to get bored of eating it on the cob, and from there my repertoire of dishes made with fresh corn is pretty limited. My wife, Ellen, makes excellent savory corn pancakes, so that will get us through a few more meals.

What next?

[Kerry Beal]

Corn chowder - making some tonight.

[David Ross]

I was just dreaming about fresh, local corn today. We won't see it in Eastern, Washington until August, and the sweetest, largest corn on the cob arrives in September. I have a hard time waiting all summer for it.

Two ideas for your summer corn-roast the ears on the barbecue to get some char and a bit of smoke. Then slice the kernels off the cob and turn them into a cornbread batter. Or, if you fancy a bit of bacon with your corn, puree the kernels, add some heavy cream and toss in some crispy bacon bits. Turn it into a cast iron skillet and put it on the barbecue. Add some wood chips and cover for about 10 minutes. You've got the most delicious smoked, creamed corn you can imagine.

[heidih]

I cut the young kernels off the cob, combine with the seasonal tomatoes, and add whatever else sounds good like onion, herbs, cucumber, avocado. This gets scooped up onto toasted bread slices, eaten as is with crispy tortillas, added to salads - you get the picture. If I am making a pasta dish with seasonal vegetables, the kernels are tossed in near the end. If there is a glut I cut them off the cob and freeze the kernels for use in soups and corn bread after the season ends. My season is June to maybe early October. I basically toss kernels into anything that needs a sweet pop and since I makes many different raw vegetable salads during the hot months, I am rarely worried about using the corn up. I do practice "sensible purchasing" - no more than an 8 ear bag at a time. My stand sells by the cob as well so I will pay the 5 cents or so more so as not to create waste. I also share with neighbors.

[vice]

Creamed corn with tarragon, from Ed Schneider via the NYT Dining blog. I wait all winter and spring to make this, and then I make it as frequently as possible.

[kayb]

If there's anything in the world I love more than tomatos, it's fresh corn. Some of my favorites:

Corn and black bean salad. Boil the ears, cool, cut off the cob, combine with black beans (I used canned, rinsed, drained) and roasted red bell peppers. Make a dressing with lime juice, vegetable oil, cumin, pimenton de la vera, and powdered pico de gallo seasoning. Add cilantro if you like it. I use this stuff on everything; add fresh diced tomatos to make a salsa, put it on a fish taco, and it's one of my go-to sides with barbecue. Proportions are about four ears' worth of kernels to a can of beans to a single big bell pepper.

Creamed corn. Barely cut the tops off the kernels, then scrape the cobs with a table knife; saute the result in butter until it starts to stick. Add a half cup of heavy cream (for about 4 ears' worth of corn). Cover and simmer. Don't bother to salt and pepper.

Chipotle corn. Dice and saute 2 strips of bacon until crisp; remove the bacon. Saute diced onion in the bacon fat until soft; add the corn kernels and a diced chipotle pepper with some adobo (or two, if you like it hot). Add a half-cup of so of water, cover and simmer.

There are a bazillion versions of corn pudding. I have never had a bad one.

Corn is always improved by being served with sliced tomatos and fried okra.

[Lisa Shock]

I like cutting it off the cob and using it in Indian dishes like Korma, and some of the tomato/onion sauce-based dishes.

[SobaAddict70]

Ricotta gnocchi with roasted corn kernels and Sungold cherry tomatoes.

There's also corn gelato, if you're into that. The version at Otto is excellent.

Edited July 3, 2011 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[Darienne]

Our season in east central Ontario is short and starts nearing the end of August. Then we simply eat it on the cob until the season is gone.

But as for corn two favorites. One is like KayB's salad of black beans and corn except that I might add sweet potatoes and definitely Poblano rajas. Poblanos are new to our region's supermarkets and so we are eating them as if they might not appear for sale the next week...which they might not. I am a one woman ambassador for Poblanos, befriending the produce manager, etc. Anything to keep them coming.

Secondly a potato dish which encorporates roasted diced waxy potatoes, fried corn niblets, poblano rajas, black beans. Sorry, the niblets are either canned or frozen. Seeing as this dish is new to my repertoire, this year I'll use fresh corn for the first time.

[Broken English]

I am very partial to a good corn fritter.

3 cups self raising flour

1 cup plain flour

1 large pinch baking powder

1 large pinch baking soda

1 pinch smoked paprika

4 eggs

About 750ml milk (add until a thick, batter-like consistency is achieved)

Seasoning

Chopped basil and chives

Cooked corn kernels

The key for these is to shallow fry them, before transferring them to the oven for about 3-4 minutes. They puff up beautifully, and are so light and crispy. You can also make a stunning variation using grated zucchini.

Edited July 3, 2011 by Broken English (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Here we go - corn chowder.

[Fat Guy]

What's the procedure for making corn chowder?

[Kerry Beal]

What's the procedure for making corn chowder?

Well I saute a couple of coarsely chopped onions in some olive oil and butter for about 30 minutes. I add a couple of tablespoons of flour and cook together for a couple more minutes. About 2 cups of milk, salt and pepper, some onion powder to taste. Heat until thickens then add in the kernels from 3 or 4 cooked cobs, maybe some leftover cooked potatoes (here I used some small red potatoes that I'd nuked for a couple of minutes then quartered), perhaps a bit of sauteed or roasted red peppers if you have them.

I actually make this in my thermomix and it lets me ignore the onions as they saute until it tells me the 30 minutes are up.

[the old cook]

CORN CHOWDER WITH SHRIMP, topped with bacon.

Brown four slices bacon,cut into small pieces. Remove and drain bacon on paper towel, use for each serving on top of ladled soup.

Add chopped large onion, and eight green onions (white only), two smashed garlic cloves, celery salt, three peeled and cubed large potatoes. Cook onions, garlic and potatoes until scallions have softened,add 2 Tb. flour to pan and stir. Cook about one minute.

Add 3 cups whole milk, some seafood seasoning(I also add a shot of Tabasco), 1/2 tsp thyme leaves, or dried.

AND, 2 cups water.(I use the corn cobs left from cutting kernels and put them in about three cups water, cooking them until flavor is brought out; use THAT as your 2 cups of water.) Adds more flavor to chowder.

Bring to chowder mixture to boil, reduce and simmer until potatoes are soft. About 10-15 minutes. Add 6 ears corn, that's been cut off cob and cook for few minutes, then add 1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp, and scallion greens from the left over green onions, chopped. Cook until shrimp are done, season. Serve topped with the bacon.

This is very hearty chowder!!

Sorry, no picture available.

[kayb]

Kerry, your corn chowder is a thing of beauty, and I think a version with shrimp is on my menu for next weekend, soon as I get back from the market with fresh corn and new potatos. If I don't go to a produce stand and get both, before then.

[Doodad]

Macque Choux. My favorite corn dish.

[Katie Meadow]

Here is a link to a recipe for corn fritters from Fine Cooking #100. It is simple and seems foolproof, and I'm not a person who generally makes much fried food. These are not really deep-fried, so the quantity of oil isn't scary. The recipe calls for whole milk and some sour cream. I haven't bothered using sour cream in years: 2% Fage works fine here. These are addictive, and I can eat them with or without salsa. If someone else would do the cooking, I would certainly have them with maple syrup for breakfast.

I'll happily eat corn on the cob daily, if the corn is good, but I also like it combined in salads with quinoa and grilled poblanos, or with bacon and fresh shelling beans and okra in a succotash, in Mexican Tortilla soup or in combined corn-zucchini pancakes. Cut off the cob and sauteed in butter (with or without basil or chives?) and just dumped over fresh tomato slices is no-fail as well. And I haven't tried making it myself yet, but there's an artisanal ice cream place around here that makes a dynamite fresh corn ice cream. With a sprinkle of sea salt and/or a drizzle of caramel it's out of this world good.

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/fresh-corn-fritters.aspx

Oh, and this is great too, especially for kids, but it is a tad labor intensive. My daughter invented this when she was seven or eight and wanted to help make salad for a potluck. For a while, corn, peas and carrots were her only vegetables:

Cut corn off cob, steam very briefly. Shell English peas, steam or boil very briefly, so they are still tender (Shelling peas--always a good job for someone without knife skills). Cut carrots in very small dice. Steam very briefly, or not. We dressed it with just salt and olive oil and a little squeeze of lemon, but any number of dressing could work well. If you don't put any little flaky green herbs in it most kids seem to like it.

Edited July 3, 2011 by Katie Meadow (log)

[patti]

I second the maque choux suggestion, but I won't give a recipe because mine has never come out as good as my grandmother's. I do know that when cutting the corn off the cob, cut half the kernel on the first cut, the second half on the second cut, and then go in for a third cut to get the corn "milk." Good maque choux should be a little sweet with a little heat.

[auds]

I LOVE Aki and Alex's fresh polenta:

http://blog.ideasinfood.com/ideas_in_food/2009/07/fresh-polenta.html

I bought a cheap corn creamer just to make this every year, and I live in a tiny NYC apartment. It's wonderful with just about anything, but my favorite is a summer shrimp and grits. Fresh polenta, butter-poached shrimp, diced tomato, green herb of choice, Louisana hot sauce. Bacon eaters could add bacon but it's not really necessary.

[JAZ]

I haven't made it, but this recipe for Mexican corn salad sounds good.

And here are a few recipes I wrote about last summer.

[Paul Bacino]

I think.. in Ad Hoc--- a creamed corn recipe

Here!!

http://www.tastespotting.com/features/creamed-corn-ad-hoc-at-home-recipe

[Paul Bacino]

You put up some for winter, correct?

[CaliPoutine]

Corn chowder - making some tonight.

Last night I made a double batch of Cook's Illustrated's Lighter Corn Chowder. Its from the latest issue. It was good, very fresh and light. I left out the bacon, but garnished my partner's bowl with some ready cook bacon that I recrisped in the microwave. This chowder has you scrape the flesh from the cobs ( after you get all the kernels off) and then squeeze the corn juice from that and add it at the end.

[scubadoo97]

I've been making cold corn soup in my Vitamix. Not much besides lots of corn, some stock to adjust the thickness, sauteed onion and maybe celery, a small amount of chipotle in adobo, cilantro, salt and pepper.

I also just used fresh corn cut from a cob that was lightly cooked. This was added to a quinoa salad with baby limas and a little diced green pepper and red onion then seasoned with a vinaigrette.

[onrushpam]

I got some wonderful corn at Publix yesterday. It was much better than what I got at the farmer's market last weekend. I just bought 3 ears... one white, one bi-color, one yellow (totally on accident).

At the DH's request, I made corn salad/relish/salsa (whatever you want to call it)...

Cut the kernels off the corn

Chopped bell pepper (the one I had was orange)

Chopped scallion

Lime juice (I think I used one for the 3 ears)

Just a little bit of sugar

A little bit of olive oil

Pinch of salt

Let it sit in the fridge for about an hour before dinner.

Outstanding accompaniment to crab cakes and a caprese salad

Sometimes I add jalapeno.

I also like to mix this up as succotash salad with cooked baby butter beans or white acre peas, half-and-half with the corn.