Corn on the cob is such an integral part of the summer cornucopia – Norman Rockwell pictures of grinning kids chopping down on ears of corn dance in our heads – that we even have special little corncob holders whose sole job is to keep your fingers from getting all buttery while you eat it. How many vegetables have their very own plastic tableware?
We eagerly anticipate the corn-on-the-cob experience, and often push the envelope on timing, buying the first ears that come into our supermarkets early in the season. But those first ears aren’t local. And it ain’t the same. This isn’t just local loyalty or hype. Corn’s luscious, sugary kernels begin their conversion to starch within hours of being picked, so getting a good sweet ear right off the farm and cooking it right away is the like difference between fresh-brewed coffee and the leftover stuff in the office at the end of the day. (If you can’t cook corn right away, immediately stick it in the frig or a cooler to retard the sugar-to-starch conversion.).
Corn (Zea Mays) is one of the few fairly caloric vegetables – about 155 calories per ear of sweet corn on the cob, depending on what authority you’re looking at, in large part because it’s loaded with carbohydrates. (Actually corn’s a grain, not a vegetable, which makes the calories and the carbs more understandable). Interestingly, some places say it has no vitamin C, others that it has anywhere from 11%-17%, though all say that iron and vitamin A are components. No one disputes corn’s lutein, which is a help against macular degeneration.
Corn is one of the Three Sisters of Native American cooking: corn for carb; beans for protein; and squash for vitamin A and minerals. As most of us know, the three were grown together – the beans climbed up the corn stalks, while the squash meandered beneath, fairly effectively preventing weeds by their coverage.
Few of us garden that way. Instead we buy from the farmers’ market or screech to a halt at roadside farm stands to gather the gold, which is usually picked that morning. Cooked barely tender (4-5 minutes in boiling water) is the corn purist’s summer treat. Butter if you must, but plain offers unmasked sweetness. One friend soaks the unshucked ears in water for about a fifteen minutes, then peels back the husks to expose the cob and lays them on the grill, using the dampened shucks to turn the ears until they are beautifully marked on each side. Eaten with a bit of lime butter, they are a little bit of heaven. These same smoked kernels, cut off the cob and added to black bean and tomato salad with cilantro, olive oil and lime –a dish I first tasted years ago when Chef Kevin McKinney made it at Kennedyville Inn – is unbeatable.
Once you’ve had your fill of that, you can go on to Three Sisters burritos, corn and leftover rice casserole, corn and tomato salsa, corn fritters, corn pudding, Guy Fieri’s roasted corn quesadillas (link below), corn and crab soup, corn, ham and jalapeno muffins, and fanesca, a fabulous South American vegetable soup using virtually everything coming out of the garden and fields right now. Of course most of these dishes can be made with frozen corn, or even canned, though the fresh stuff makes a big difference in flavor. But one of the things that demands the in-season original is Chef Bobby Flay’s fire-roasted snapper wrapped in green corn husks with charred corn/charred jalapeno salsa. What a terrific meal to share with friends on a weekend – margaritas, cold beer, good conversation! Link’s below. I’m gonna try it (with whatever fish I can find, maybe a rockfish) as soon as my grilling Visigoth gets home.
Ecuadorean Fanesca
There are lots of recipes for this soup on the net, using a wide range of ingredients, and it’s described on at least one site as the soup that’s made only for Easter. It’s also described as a spring soup, which makes little sense to me since the ingredients in many of the recipes I found would not be coming out of gardens in South America at that time. Howsomever. The recipe below I make at least once at this time of year. It’s from Garden-Fresh Cooking, and is a delicious combination of flavors that creates a real taste departure from the European-inspired things I often make.
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup chopped onions
1 tblsp fresh oregano
1 tsp cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf (Bay is a nice houseplant and the fresh leaves have so much more flavor than dried)
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup peas
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup diced sweet red peppers
1 cup julienned carrots
1 cup green beans
2 cups pureed zucchini
2 cups skim milk
1/3 cup peanut butter
½ cup shredded Meunster or Monterey Jack cheese
In a large pot, combine stock, onions, oregano, cumin, garlic, pepper and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add corn, peas, cabbage, celery, peppers, carrots and beans and cook for another 5 minutes. Meanwhile in large bowl, combine zucchini puree, milk and peanut butter. When thoroughly blended, stir into soup and simmer for another 5 minutes. Turn heat off, remove bay leaf and sprinkle cheese on top, stirring before serving. This is terrific with toasted garlic bread.
Three Sisters Burritos
This is a quick, easy and satisfying thing to make for supper on a weeknight or when you’re rushed and people are hungry.
3 ears of corn, shucked, blanched in boiling water for 4 minutes and cut off the husk
1 can pinto, cranberry, or black turtle beans
1 zucchini or other summer squash (Gadzukes is a nice sweet-fleshed dry type), chopped
1 med onion, diced
¼ cup diced sweet pepper
1 small hot pepper, diced, if you’re inclined
1 cup cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp dark chili powder
½ tsp cumin
3 tblsp fresh herbs – cilantro/lemon or lime basil, parsley chopped
4 flour or corn tortillas
Sauté zucchini and onion in a little bit of oil along with the spices, about 5 minutes. When they are barely translucent, add the beans, corn, herbs and sauté for about 3 minutes more. Divide cheese into four portions. Lay a tortilla open on a plate. Make a burm of ¼ of the cheese down the middle. Add ¼ of the sautéed vegetables along its top. Fold the tortilla flaps in, to make a roll, and turn so that the folded sides are face-down on the plate (which brings the encased cheese to the top). Microwave or put into the toaster oven or oven for a minute or so, just long enough to melt the cheese. Serve with tomato salsa and, if you like, a dab of sour cream.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/fish-and-corn-chowder-recipe/index.html
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/roasted-corn-quesadillas-recipe/index.html
https://basic-recipes.com/veget/cn/corn027.htm
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/lemon-curry-corn-fritters-recipe/index.html
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