Food Friday is skedaddling out of town for a few days. This is a column from the Way Back Machine. Enjoy!
This summer has been hot and steamy. Do you really want to boil up a few gallons of water to cook perfect corn on the cob? If your air conditioning is functioning, then that’s a fine idea. We boiled up a few ears last weekend, when we had an army of folks here for dinner. It was festive and noisy and we liked the hot butter dripping off our many chins.
This weekend I think we will have something a little cooler – and we won’t have to even light the stove. I found this great corn salad recipe on the Food52 website for an uncooked Amagansett Corn Salad. You can easily make it you own Galena Corn Salad, or Calvert Street Corn Salad, or even Sawtooth Corn Salad, depending on what you have on hand. When I tested the recipe, I didn’t use red onions, because I am indulging in some sweet Vidalias right now, and I had lots of basil to spare, too. I also didn’t slice the cherry tomatoes, opting for the very satisfying tomato explosion when I crunched into each little crimson fruit.
I love the idea of using raw everything. Which can be convenient this summer, because it is too damn hot to light the gas! I can also make this early in the day, and let it steep in the fridge becoming all the more flavorful by the moment as we lope along toward dinner. No fuss, no muss. And it is something cool, using local produce, thus reducing my carbon footprint. Which means I have been virtuous enough for one day and now we can use the blender to whip up a few frozen cocktails before dinner.
Amagansett Corn Salad (https://www.food52.com/recipes/224_amagansett_corn_salad)
Serves 4
8 ears of white corn
2 quarts cherry tomatoes
3 tablespoons high-quality balsamic vinegar
1 medium red onion
(Optional) 1 quart sugar snap peas
(Optional) 1 handful rough-chopped basil or flat-leaf parsley
Salt, pepper
1. Strip raw corn from ears. Yes, raw. You can use a fancy corn stripper or just run your knife down the side of each ear about 8 times.
2. Slice all cherry tomatoes in half or quarters depending on your preference.
3. Chop the red onion into a large dice.
4. If using the sugar-snap peas (they can be hard to find when the corn and tomatoes are available — their seasons barely overlap, and even then you’re likely getting corn and tomatoes from the south and sugar snaps from the North.) Anyway, if using them, cut in half or thirds to make more bite-sized. If you’re not using them, and you want a little green for visual appeal, some rough chopped basil or flat-leaf parsley will do the trick.
5. Toss all vegetables in a bowl, along with the vinegar, salt and pepper.
Add a crusty loaf of warm peasant bread, with some fresh sweet butter and a nice cold, crisp, cheap white wine. It is a perfect, light summer meal. We used some leftover Chestertown Corn Salad tossed with elbow macaroni and oil and vinegar for lunch the next day. Two meals, one prep = perfection.
But we still love corn on the cob. It is summertime and while we can eat local corn, we should. Food52 has an alternative, labor-saving method for cooking the perfect corn on the cob. (The Gilbreth family would applaud the simple time-saving technique employed here.) Employing this foolproof method allows you the leisure of sitting on the back steps with the kids, shucking the corn and carefully plucking all the silk, together, as a family unit. There is plenty of time before you have to go back inside and confront the steaming caldron of boiling water. Have a glass of iced tea. Watch the birds. And hope you don’t find any scary worms in the next ear of corn.
https://www.food52.com/blog/3825_the_only_way_you_should_cook_corn_on_the_cob
And from our kitchen god, Mark Bittman – a groovy calculator for all you green market and CSA purchases:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/08/02/magazine/bittman-farmers-market-recipe-generator.html?src=me#/?id=strawberry-orange-soup_0-0-0
“I have no hostility to nature, but a child’s love of it. I expand and live in the warm day like corn and melons.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
..
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.