Baby It's Cold Outside

Make some soup! We treated ourselves to a big pot of Corn Chowder the other night. Very tasty, filling and totally hit the spot on a chilly day. This is my vegetarian version of the recipe. Use vegetable broth! That's it. Otherwise, I don't generally add any meat or seafood, just broth and veggies.

Corn Chowder

Butter, Onions, Potatoes, Spices. The recipe calls for 2 tsp of Cayenne pepper. That can be too much. I used 1 tsp this time and it was just right, but that still might be to hot for some folks.

Add the corn and broth.

When the soup comes to a simmer, I add the peppers. I don't like to overcook them, so I add them about half way through the cooking. Once the potatoes are tender, you're good to add the milk and cream, warm it up and serve it up.

We each had a large bowl of soup and there were about three larger servings for leftovers.

Partial Fail/Partial Win

Looks tasty. It was easy. Great, fresh ingredients. What went wrong?

I over-cooked the pork chops on the grill. They were like leather. But the flavor was still good, even if they were dry and tough. They were brined in a salt-water/orange juice solution, then seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin and coriander. Maybe the acid in the OJ toughened them up???

The corn was fresh from the market, as were the peppers. The corn was roasted on the grill...great! The peppers and some shallots were sauted in butter, the corn was added to heat thru. A final whiz of lime juice was added at the end. The lime and this type of pepper didn't play well together...and combined with the corn, the flavor was off and strange.

Oh well...no biggie...mistakes happen...moving on....

Summer Lovin'

What I'm about to say has the potential to cause riots and break out in a civil wars. But I have to speak the truth.

Topic:
Wisconsin Beer Brats

How can Beer Brats be so incendiary? It's how you make them.

There are hard-core fanatics that go in one direction and those that go in the other direction.

To make Beer Brats you have to start with a Johnsonville Bratwurst. That's it. Other brands just don't work for me. As far as I'm concerned, Johnsonville is the only way to go for Beer Brats.

Here's where I think people see a difference...

I take the bratwursts out of the package and toss them on a hot grill. Get them good and charred. Smoky. Don't burn them and don't worry that they don't cook completely. They will continue cooking in a warm, steamy beer bath in a bit.

Once charred, take the bratwurst off the grill and submerge them in a mixture of beer, butter and onions. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Serve hot, on a bun with mustard and if you are a heathen like me, ketchup.

What's so bad about that??? There are folks who insist that you parboil the bratwurst in the beer before grilling begins. That's fine, but I don't think the beer flavor, which is the purpose of a Beer Brat, sticks around after you grill the wurst. By simmering & finishing the cooking in a beer bath, you will have a stronger beer flavor and a plump, juicy sausage. Perfect! And who doesn't love a plump, juicy sausage!???!!!

Wednesday night's dinner was bratwurst and fresh corn on the cob, both on the grill.

After the wurst get a nice sear on the outside, take them off the grill and...

...put them in a bath of beer, onions and butter. In this case, I had a medium-body, hoppy beer with onions I had grilled the night before. I used about 1/2 a stick of butter. Because butter is good for you.

Leave the corn on the grill until it because nice and charred as well. I think the most important step for grilling corn actually occurs before grilling starts. You need to soak the corn in water for at least an hour. This will trap some water between the kernels and the husks, creating additional steam to help cook the corn.

Beautiful. The corn, not being locally grown and just picked, was a little starchy, but still tasty. I kicked up the flavor some by making a chili-lime compound butter to put on the corn. Take one stick of butter, at room temperature, and mix with some chili powder (I used Chipotle & Cayenne powders), the zest of one lime and the juice of half a lime. Add some fresh black, cracked pepper. Mix together until well blended and spread on the hot corn. Hot and dripping in more butter. Yum.

Shivver Me Fritters!

The other day I linked to a recipe for Corn Fritters from The Houndstooth Gourmet. Well, we're still swimming in corn from the market, so might has well give this recipe a shot.

Note 1: There is frying involved. Which means spitting oil. Be careful please. Have your fire extinguisher handy, just in case, and keep the kiddies away. You don't want to burn yourself or others. If you have an exhaust fan, use it to help clear the air of any oily aroma that may permeate your home.

Note 2: The recipe at Houndstooth called for blitzing your initial ingredients in the food processor. I wasn't in the mood to clean that thing up, so I just finely chopped the peppers and onions. Worked great!

Get your peppers finally chopped. These were leftover from last week. Red, Green and Yellow.

Saute in a little oil with a wee bit of salt & pepper.

Add fresh corn from two cobs with some butter and spices...cumin, coriander, nutmeg. I would consider increasing the amounts of some of the spices and perhaps adding something a little hotter, perhaps some cayenne pepper or some other powdered chili. Later you will mix with flour, egg and baking powder.

Form and fry in oil. This is the messy part. When water hits hot oil is spits. All this fresh veg is full of moisture and there was some violent spitting.

With the recipe provide, I got 6 fritters. I was able to eat two. I would considering cutting the size of the fritters in half and serving these as an appetizer for a party. I served with some sour cream. Houndstooth recommends flavoring the sour cream with cumin or coriander and also having some basil oil. I think the basil oil would have been nice, or a cilantro-lime sour cream.

Overall, pretty good. Easy to make, but a bit messy with the oil. The fritter batter was a touch dry so I might try adding a little cream or milk in the future just to help it hold together just a little better.

Corny

If you've been wondering what else you can do with all your fresh corn on the cob you're getting from the Farmer's Market...here's a great idea!


Corn Fritters! The Houndstooth Gourmet, a local (Virginia) food blogger who enjoys her local market in Del Rey (great little neighborhood!), has shared this recipe and it looks good. I can't wait until our next market, so I can get MORE corn and do MORE fun stuff...including these fritters!

The Tale of Two Soups

There was yesterday's soup. And then there was last night's soup...

Let us begin...

There is fresh sweet corn!


Removed from the cobs.


Use the backside of your knife to scrape out extra bits from the cob, including some of the sweet corm milk.


Then begin the base of the soup. Butter. Good. Onions & Garlic. Great! A mild chili pepper (Anaheim in this case). Season with some Cumin and Coriander. And a wee bit of Chipotle chili powder (this will add barely a hint of smokiness and helps balance the sweetness of the corn, without bringing much heat.


Add the fresh corn and a splash of water, about a cup. Simmer until tender and fragrant.

Puree the whole thing in a blender or food processor until smooth.


Serve with a wedge of lime, green onions and some crushed corn tortilla chips.

Delicious. The corn flavor in this soup is out of this world. The creamy soup paired with the crisp, crunchy chips is a lot of fun! You don't have to have the chips, but you'll miss the excitment.

Creamy Corn Soup
inspired by the Everday Food recipe. The Everyday Food recipe really focuses on the corn as the sole flavor, which is nice, but I wanted a little extra depth of flavor with my soup, so I added the onion, garlic, chili and spices. I'm very happy I did. If I added extra of the chili and spices I could probably change the name to Spicy Creamy Corn Soup, but this dish is very mild, yet rich and full of great flavor...so I'm keeping the same name as the recipe that started this adventure.


Serves 2 for dinner

6 ears of corn, kernels removed
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 mild chili pepper, diced
4 TB butter
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp chipotle chili pepper
Salt/Pepper to taste
Tortilla chips (optional)
Lime wedges (optional)
Scallions (optional)

Clean the corn by removing the husks and silk, then cut the kernels off the cob into a large bowl.

Melt the butter in a large pot and add the onions, garlic and chili. When they are soft, add the cumin, coriander, chipotle, salt and pepper. Allow the spices to become fragrant before adding the corn kernels. Add one cup of water and simmer for 10 minutes, until the corn is tender.

Working in batches, process the soup until smooth and creamy in a blender or food processor.

Return to the pot and simmer over low heat until ready to serve. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

Serve with crushed corn tortilla chips, lime wedge and scallions if you like. Enjoy.

Living My Life Like It's Golden, Golden!

Oh sweet heaven. Cornbread is a beautiful thing.

Especially when warm out of the oven with a little butter, maybe some honey. Mmmmm.

Corn Saute

Last night was a fast dinner. I took some chicken, chopped it up and seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, oregano and a pinch of a grilling spice. I sauted in some olive oil. When done I set the chicken aside on a plate and moved on to the corn.

Start with three fresh ears of corn. Remove the kernels.

Chop 1/2 an onion. Add the onion to the pan the chicken was cooked in. When soft and starting to brown add 2 heaping spoons of roasted garlic. Stir to incorporate. Then add the corn. Stir.

Season with salt, pepper, cumin, pinch of hot pepper. Add a pat of butter. Saute for 3-5 minutes. Add a bit of chopped parsley. Stir in 2-3 tablespoons of heavy cream. Heat until warm. Serve immediately.

This was very delicious and totally satisfying. The chicken was a little lackluster. I might have overcooked it. But once you add the creamy corn, you don't notice the chicken. We had this with a fresh flour tortilla from the market. I'd say, if you want a burrito without rice, you could use the corn saute as the bulk of this burrito! It was very nice. This recipe was a slight variation of this recipe.

Corn on the Pancakes

On Saturday night we were sitting around playing a game and I had an AH-HA! moment. I would make pancakes in the morning with fresh corn added in. It wasn't that bad. A flavor/texture I wasn't really expecting, but I cleaned my plate and really enjoyed them. I know what I'll change next time. First. Start with this recipe!

Cut the kernels off the corn cob. Scrape the corn juice off the cob as well.

Add the kernels to the final batter.

Great with just butter.

Very nice with some fresh fruit jam.

Very nice with maple syrup!

*My note for next time. I think I used extra cornmeal in this batch, which created a very fragile pancake. They almost broke when I flipped them. The flour hadn't had a chance to develop enough glutton to hold the pancakes together and the cornmeal didn't help.

Grilled Corn

Fresh grilled corn from the Market.


Perhaps one of the best ways to have fresh corn. Grilled Corn on the Cob! So beautiful. Touch of a smoke. Touch of char on the kernels. Perfect. I've always soaked my fresh corn in a sink full of water for one hour. This always extra water to get into the corn husks creating extra steam when on a hot grill. Cook over hot coals for about 14 minutes, 7 minutes, then flip. Enjoy.

If you are without a grill, you can roast your corn in the oven. Preheat your oven to 450. Soak the corn in water first, then place right on the oven rack. Give the corn about twenty minutes. The husks should be drying out. Hard for me describe when the corn is done. Open the husk a little an give a kernel a prick. If it's still really tough, close it back up and go another ten minutes. If the kernel is just tender, it's done.

Grillin' stories

so I got the charcoal chimney thingy...I think it worked...

I made some fabulous grilled chicken. I marinated the chicken for a few hours in a blend of peppers, garlic, cilantro and lime juice. Very nice.

And we had some corn. Grilled of course. Served with some chili lime butter.

And while we ate, the little squirrel decided to snack on a tulip. Devil! He tried to go for another, but we scared him off.

I think Mr. Squirrel is unhappy because we're tricking him out of some fresh bird seed. I read that you can add a TB of ground red pepper to a bag of seeds, shake it up, mix it up and it's enough to keep the squirrels off the goods...so far it seems to be working. Yippee. The cardinals and bluejays will be happy to have their dinner back.

A few of my favorite things

Grilled Corn On The Cob

Peel off a few of the outer layers of the husk and soak your fresh cobs in a container of cool water for an hour or so. When you're ready to get started on dinner, place the cobs on a hot grill (or for us grill impaired apartment dwellers, a grill pan.) Rotate as they cook. About 4-5 minutes per side, for a total of approximately 20 minutes.

My Cobs were served with a little compound butter I made. Fresh butter, lime zest & juice of 1/2 the lime, ancho chile powder, pinch of salt and a grind of pepper. Mix together and refrigerate. Peel the husks off the corn and spread over the hot corn! Perfect!

Fresh Strawberries and Cream with Granola

The strawberries were quartered and then some lightly whipped cream was spooned over the top. Sprinkle with your favorite granola. Divine!

Delicious Side

Again, bacon rocks the free world.

Yesterday I received the latest issue of Fine Cooking. The first recipe that really popped out for me was a corn saute. Sauteed aromatics, corn and fresh herbs. This recipe is closely based on the recipe provided for Corn and Mushroom Saute with Leeks and Pancetta. Of course mushrooms are not allowed in our house, so I've made some simple changes. It is super easy, fast and tastes like more. Use fresh corn on the cob if you can. If you want this out of season, frozen corn will work just as good.

Sauteed Corn with Leeks and Bacon
serves 2 as a large side

3 ears of corn, kernels removed
6 slices of bacon, diced
2 leeks, sliced (white and pale green parts)
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely diced
1 TB butter
Small handful of fresh herbs, chopped: thyme, oregano and parsley
Salt/Pepper
Juice from half a lemon

Cook bacon over medium heat until crispy and the fat is rendered out. Remove bacon to a small bowl. Toss the leeks into the fat. Stir. Add the jalapeno, allow to cook for 2-3 minutes, until the leeks are tender.

Add the corn. Season with salt and pepper. Add butter. Stir to coat. Saute for about 5 minutes, until corn is heated through. Remove from heat and stir in fresh herbs. Stir in lemon juice. Serve hot.

Friday Night Light

Tonight's dinner was on the healthy side! Some olive oil and some good natural fats and veggies and fish! I'm still not good with the fish...it was fine, but looked messed up. It didn't fry right, I should have broiled it like I originally intended.

The side for the dinner was based on this chopped salad recipe I started making last year. I lightly folded together two avocados, two ears of grilled corn on the cob and one diced tomato. The mix was dressed with a nearly identical dressing as the one on the chopped salad. 1 TB Orange Juice, Juice from two limes, Salt, pepper, 1 shallot; diced, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/4 cup olive oil. Whisk together, taste and adjust seasoning. It looks a mess, but was really tasty!

Creamy Corn and Avocado Salad

The fish was tilapia, tossed on the griddle side of the grill pan with olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper and cumin. Once cooked, it was drizzled with lime juice. The taste was fine, but I didn't have enough oil on the pan and the fish STUCK! Oops. Will try that again in the future.


The fish only takes a few short minutes to cook. The item that took the longest was the grilled corn on the cob. That said, this took less than 30 minutes. And it's healthy and full of good for you stuff.