Coconut Corn Salad

Here's another fresh corn recipe to get in before it's all gone! This one comes from 101 cookbooks, which is one of my favorite blogs. We adapted it slightly, and it turned out lovely! I'm trying to get in as much summer cuisine as possible before it's undeniably fall. I love fall cooking, but I want to savor as much summer flavor as possible before then! This quick salad fits the bill with tropical flavors and sweet, fresh corn.

Coconut Corn Salad
from 101 Cookbooks

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups of corn kernels from 4 ears of corn

Kosher salt (1 teaspoon or so)

3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

1 1/2 oz (1 cup) big coconut flakes

3 oz (1 cup) sliced almonds

3 tablespoons chopped red onions

2 to 3 tablespoons lime juice

If you're like me, and don't like a really intense red onion flavor, soak the chopped onions in a bowl of cold water while you're prepping the rest of the salad. Drain them before adding to the rest of the ingredients.  

Toast the almonds in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, or doing the saute snap. After,the almonds are done, set them aside in a small bowl and toast the coconut flakes. After setting the coconut flakes aside in a small bowl, melt the butter in the skillet. Add the corn, salt to taste, and cook for two to three minutes until it's somewhat soft. 

Put the corn in a medium bowl. Mix in the basil, red onions, and lime juice. Serve topped with almonds and coconut.

Fresh Corn Risotto

We had a good friend over for dinner last week and made this. She requested the recipe, so I figured I'd share it with all of you too! My version is pretty similar to the original, but I adopted it to include more corn because that was my favorite part. Also, I used the Cooks Illustrated technique, because it involves less stirring. You'll have to hurry with this before fresh corn goes totally out of season, but I promise it's worth it!

Fresh Corn Risotto

adapted from Food and Wine

technique from Cooks Illustrated

6 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock, divided

1 bay leaf

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, very finely chopped

12 ounces (1 1/2 cups) cups arborio rice 

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 cups white corn kernels (from 4 ears)

3 ounces (1 cup) freshly grated Parmesan

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Keep the stock warm in a medium saucepan with the bay leaf while you're working on the rest of the risotto. 

In a heavy pot, heat the olive oil over medium to medium high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook for about 3 minutes, until opaque.  Add the white wine vinegar and 1/2 cup vegetable stock. Stir until absorbed. Add another 3 cups of stock and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce to a simmer and stir occasionally until it is mostly absorbed. 

Stir in the corn. Add the remaining stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring pretty well constantly until each addition is absorbed.  The rice is done when it's creamy, but still has some chew in the center. If you run out of stock and the rice isn't done, add some water. 

When the rice is cooked, stir in the Parmesan and butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove the bay leaf before serving. 

Happy National Zucchini Day!

In honor of this national celebration of the giant green squash, I decided to share with you some ways we've been enjoying the bounty of our garden. Even if you don't have a garden, zucchini are really cheap this time of year, so I hope you can use one of the following recipes to take advantage of the savings!

The pasta pictured above is Farfalle with Zucchini and Gorgonzola from Serious Eats. We halved the cheese because we like a milder blue cheese flavor, but besides that we stuck to the recipe. This was Kyle's favorite way we've prepped zucchini so far (besides cake). 

Above is a Zucchini Potato Frittata from the kitchn. We omitted to bacon to make it slightly healthier, and it was still very good! We made it twice in two weeks, which for our ever-changing menu is a big deal. This and the next preparation have been my favorite so far. 

This is adapted from a grilled zucchini salad from the kitchn. We don't have a grill, so we used a different technique for the zucchini. We made it twice. Once, pairing the zucchini with uncooked cherry tomatoes as in the original recipe, and the second with cooked full size tomatoes. The amounts are very flexible, but here's a basic outline of the recipe:

Zucchini and Tomato Salad

2 medium zucchini

1 to 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved or 3 to 4 regular tomatoes, diced

1 ounce Parmesan cheese, shredded or shaved

2 tablespoons basil, chopped or chiffonaded

1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Heat up a cast iron pan. Cut the zucchini into quarters. Add olive oil to the cast iron pan and cook the zucchini on all sides until charred, about 1-2 minutes per side. Remove the zucchini and dice. If using good tomatoes, combine everything together and you're done. If you're tomatoes aren't amazing and they need a little help to be more flavorful, char them as well in the cast iron pan for a few minutes. Either way, this is a really easy summer side dish to throw together! Add some beans and grain and you've got a whole meal.

Cauliflower Steaks with Tomato Sauce and Olive Relish

This was a fun experimental meal. I'd never heard of roasting whole slices of cauliflower before, but the technique was a hit! I didn't love the relish, so I'd skip that next time since it took the most work. I found out later that our sundried tomatoes weren't that good, so maybe that was the problem. If you want to give it a go, the relish might be better for you with good tomatoes. I'd probably use this cooking technique and the tomato sauce again since we really enjoyed those components. We made this as a main, but I think it would be a better side. You can find the recipe on Bon Appetit. 

Maple Cornbread

Real maple syrup makes most anything better. Especially cornbread. We made this for an evening snack, but it would also be delicious with dinner. Serve warm topped with butter and more maple syrup and everyone who eats it will be happy!

Maple Cornbread

From King Arthur Flour

via Dixie Caviar

1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) All-Purpose Flour

1 cup (4 3/4 ounces) yellow cornmeal

1 tablespoon (3/8 ounce) baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (8 ounces) milk

1/4 cup (2 1/2 ounces) maple syrup

1/4 cup (2 ounces) melted butter

2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 425. Grease an 8x8" or a 9" round pan. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk together the wet ingredients and then stir into the dry ingredients until just moistened. Pour the batter into the pan and bake until lightly browned, 20-25 minutes. A cake tester inserted into the middle should come out clean.

Apple, Spinach and Feta Salad

So where have I been? Well, I was enjoying relaxing during the holidays and didn't feel like blogging much. Then the new semester of school started and it's been a crazy whirlwind of TA prep, starting class and trying to get research done, but I'm back now!

Since January is the time of eating healthy, I thought I'd share this awesome salad I've found recently. The recipe is over at Annie's Eats. We've made it twice in one week! One time was on it's own and the other time topped with grilled chicken breast. It was delicious both ways! The only thing we changed is halving the feta since I don't like a ton. This salad has a spinach base topped with sliced apples, buttered almonds, and feta. Although that all sounds good, my favorite part was actually the dressing. It has sesame seed, sweet onion, and apple cider and white wine vinegar awesomeness going for it. I think I'll make it for other salads in the future. 

How are your eating resolutions coming? I didn't actually make any because the thing I need to change most is not having as much dessert and you know how much a fan of that I am.

Ultra Crispy Roast Potatoes

I love Serious Eats, especially their food lab with Kenji! He develops delicious and amazing recipes like these ultra crispy roast potatoes and then explains why they work so well! These potatoes turn out extra crispy because you build up a layer of gelatinized starch by par-boiling them in acidic water first and then increasing their surface area by tossing them in a bowl with a metal spoon. Talk about cool! (And nerdy, but hey, I'm a chemist!) Then you roast them with fat, salt, pepper and thyme. These definitely were the most crispy roast potatoes I've ever had. I didn't have the recommended duck fat, so I went with bacon fat instead, which worked well. Next time I'll probably try olive oil to be nicer to my heart. 

Roasted Cherry Tomato Risotto

These cherry tomatoes from the farmer's market were intended for bruschetta, until I saw this awesome roasted cherry tomato recipe on Leite's Culinaria from Heidi Swanson's cookbook and I knew their destiny was changed. I decided to add them to a risotto because it would let the tomatoes shine.

For the tomatoes, you stem and cut in half about a pint of cherry tomatoes. Then you mix a cup of olive oil, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt together. You pour that over the tomatoes, toss and arrange them cut side up on a baking sheet. Roast at 350 F for 45 min to an hour. Pretty simple, and darn delicious.

I cheated on the risotto and used my rice cooker because I didn't feel like stirring over a hot stove. I cooked a cup of rice along with a can of chicken broth and enough water for a total of 2 cups liquid. During the last bit of the rice cooking, I sauteed a chopped onion in a saucepan for about 8 minutes and then added 2 cloves of minced garlic for another minute. I turned off the heat and added the rice once it was done. A 1/2 cup of mozzarella and some peppercorn melange finished the dish. Funny thing, I didn't realize my peppercorn melange was anything different from a variety of peppercorns until I tasted it. It was good, but not what I expected. The ingredients also listed allspice, so if you season with pepper and allspice that should have a similar flavor. Or you can use whatever spice rocks your boat.

We stuck the tomatoes on top of the risotto and ate! We both really enjoyed it that night on it's own and as leftovers the next with some grilled chicken. I'd definitely make it again, but I might use less sugar since the tomatoes were quite sweet. If I was feeling healthy I'd use less cheese, but we'll see.

If you want to make real risotto, you can find some great instructions here.