Parmesan Corn

This month for Secret Recipe Club I had Jane's Adventures in Dinner. The blog is just beautiful and I pinned abut 700 (give or take a little) recipes from her site. But after a trip to Bud's Farm Market where we came home with a bunch of corn, I just had to go for this Parmesan Corn. And I'm so glad I did. Because it is DELICIOUS. The flavor combos were just perfect, although if you're averse to mayo (I know some people are--you crazy people, you), I think that this herb/flavor combination would be amazing mixed in with butter too.

Our corn itself was pretty perfect, but I think this would be an excellent way to redeem corn that was a little on the chewy or blah side (surely I'm not the only person who comes home sometimes with sub-par corn on the cob). Also, I think that even if you didn't have corn on the cob (hello coming winter season), this would be excellent mixed with any cooked corn (canned or frozen), and served as a side dish. It wouldn't match fresh corn on the cob, but I still think it would kick butt.

Parmesan Corn
adapted from Jane's Adventures in Dinner
Serves 4 (um, I think--a little trouble remembering here)
Prep and cook time: 10-15 minutes
Cost: $2.20
cheese: .50, lime: .35, cilantro: .10, mayo: .25, corn: 1.00

4 cobs corn, cooked
1/2 C shredded Parmesan
juice of a lime (about 1 Tbsp); you can add zest too if zest is your thing
1 Tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 C mayonnaise

Mix this all together. Then roll your corn in it.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Basil Butter Corn

This is simple, yet amazing. A-ma-zing. Also, it's a great use for ugly or imperfect corn. Would that we could all wind up with perfect, sweet, non-chewy corn from the farmer's market or, well, Aldi. But if not...I've got your back. The first time we made this, it was with some terrible corn that Kip wanted to throw away. This redeemed it considerably. And then when I made it again with good corn--oh my. It was incredible. I could eat it every day of my life.

Corn with Butter and Basil
Adapted from Cookaholic Wife
Serves 4
Prep and cook time: 10 minutes
Cost: $1.75-2.00
corn: 1.50, .25, and however much basil costs--mine comes from the garden and I haven't bought it in, like 8 years

4 ears corn
4 Tbsp butter
sprinkle of garlic powder (you can use a minced clove if you like it more garlicky, but I didn't want the garlic to take this over)
1/4 C basil leaves, chopped
salt and pepper

Remove the corn from the ears. I do this by standing my corn up and then using a nice, sharp knife down the side.

Heat butter in a skillet. Add garlic powder. Add corn kernels. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. It will begin to brown and make popping noises (exciting). When it's done, throw in the basil leaves and stir until they wilt. Add salt and pepper.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Corn and Kale Chowder

This is a good recipe for spring. It's still been pretty chilly around here and we're practically in the southern half of the U.S. It uses kale, which is coming on (ours is just starting to look alive again). But it also uses corn. You can use frozen and I did. (I bet you can even use canned.) But if you have this during the summer, you can roast ears of corn and potentially make yourself the most butt-kicking corn chowder ever.

Corn and Kale Chowder
adapted from Good Life Eats
Makes: 8-10 servings
Prep and cook time: 40 minutes
Cost: $4.35 (or about: $.50/serving)
butter: .25, onion: .10, garlic: .05, flour: .04, milk: .26, cream: .50, chicken broth: .30, potato: .10, corn: 2.00, kale: .25, sausage: 50

Note: You can sub 2 1/2 C whole milk for the milk and cream mentioned below
Note: I used 1 1/2 C chopped kale and desperately longed for more. The recipe below reflects that longing.
Note: 1 C chicken broth will make your chowder thick and chowdery. Add more if you want it soupier. (Ours was chowdery.)
Note: If it's summer and you want to roast your corn, here's how: Heat oven to 425. Grease cobs with olive oil or butter. Place on cooking sheet (lined with parchment if you want dish duty to be easier). Cook, turning frequently for 20-30 minutes or until cobs have some brownish spots on them. Remove from oven. Cool. Take off corn. You'll need 2 1/2 C or about 5 cobs worth of corn.

3-4 Tbsp butter
1 small onion, diced small (or a decent dose of onion powder for the onion haters--start with 1/2 tsp and then add more to taste at the end)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C flour
2 C milk
1/2 C cream
1-2 C chicken broth (or veggie broth for a vegetarian soup)
1 large potato, peeled and diced (we used red)
2 1/2 C frozen corn, dethawed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
dash cayenne pepper, optional
dash nutmeg, optional
3 C chopped kale
2 links sausage or a few strips bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional)

Melt butter. Add onions and cook for 5-8 minutes. Add garlic. Cook 1 minute. Add flour. Cook 1-2 minutes. Whisk in milk. Add cream and chicken broth.

Add diced potatoes and corn. Let this simmer for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. I cut my potatoes small so they cook faster and because I don't like a big ol' bite a potato in my soups.

While it simmers, cook your bacon or sausage if using. Once cooked, chop small.

Also, chop your kale and put it in a microwave-safe bowl with a bit of water (2-4 Tbsp). Cover this with plastic wrap and cook 2-3 minutes in the microwave. The kale will wilt. Drain off the water. Note: I do this because sometimes kale is bitterish. If you cook it and pour off the water, the bitter goes with that water (yes, with a few nutrients as well, but those nutrients won't get eaten if your soup turns out bitter). If you cook the kale in the soup and the kale happens to be bitter, some of that is going to come into your soup and it will not taste quite as good.

When the potatoes are tender, add kale and meat. If it's too thick for you, add more chicken broth. Then add salt, pepper, cayenne, and nutmeg. Taste and adjust seasonings (don't burn your mouth--I hate that).

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Sweet Potato Corn Chowder

Last year I went a little overboard during the holiday season. And not just with food. There were too many activities; there were too many presents; and, yes, there was too much food. It got to the point by the end of December where I'd see a dessert tray and think "Ug." But then I'd eat the desserts off the dessert tray, or at least sample them. Sampling usually works for me, but not when there are 10,000 things to sample, not when you're making cookies at home every other night, not when your kids are bringing candy home by the pocketful.

I gained 10 pounds from October to December. I rarely weigh myself and when I got on that scale after a couple months, I swear I thought it was broken. Nope; the one at the YMCA told me the same thing. I had never gained holiday weight before in my life and I wasn't so happy to be on the bandwagon. I believe there were many factors to that weight gain. I was blessed last year not to get sick, so there was never any kind of forced pause in my sugar plum eating. Foods that weren't normally around and don't normally tempt me were all over the place. I'm not a big candy eater, but if there's a bunch of candy around (think Halloween), I'll eat a piece or two each night--a piece or two I wouldn't have even thought about if it hadn't been there. I was attending too many food-laden activities. And I was making a bunch of sweet, wonderful food for this blog. I didn't think it would matter that much, yet it seemed to. Several months later, after I'd cut my sweets way back and lost my 10 pounds (or at least 9-ish of it), I made a treat. I noticed that before the treat was even in the oven, I'd already probably eaten a couple of servings in licking. That's not a big deal when treats are, well, a treat. But when you're making them constantly, it can kind of add up.

So--forgive me; I didn't mean for this to end up as a Holiday eating confessional--this year I wanted things to be different. I didn't want to look at my calendar or the presents under my tree or desserts on a tray and think "Ug" and then attend/unwrap/scarf them down anyway. I wanted to enjoy the season. I wanted to indulge infrequently enough that it actually felt like indulging.

So far this year, we've gotten sick 4 days after Halloween and I didn't host Thanksgiving, so we're on the right foot:). Tomorrow begins December and I hope to keep things on that right foot (minus the sickness if that's okay with you, universe).

To celebrate that, I give to you this super duper delicious and wonderfully healthy chowder. It's got a lot of good stuff going on. It's homey and warm and comfort-food-like. But without the two cups of cream (not that there's anything wrong with a little cream). It's veggie filled, yet inexpensive. It can be made with roasted summer vegetables in late summer, but here in the fall, it can be made well with canned foods. I got the recipe in the summer and was worried it wouldn't translate well to using canned foods, but it was delicious. In fact, it can be made almost entirely with canned foods if that's what you've got. Which means that it can also be a great pantry meal or the perfect thing to come home and whip up after a long day of shopping/sledding/serving/working.

Merry December.

Sweet Potato Corn Chowder
adapted from Gluten-free Goddess
Serves 10-12
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25-30 minutes
Cost: $6.90 or about .70/serving
garlic: .05, onion: .10, corn: 1.00, sweet potato: .25, tomatoes: 2.00, coconut milk: 1.50, broth: 1.00, chicken breast: 1.00,

Note: I didn't have a sweet potato. I swear my kids must have thrown my bag of them out of the cart because I distinctly remember standing in front of them at the store and planning to put them in my cart. Consequently, I used an acorn squash. (I bet a butternut squash would work too.) It was good, but sweet potato would be better. However, my point is that any chunks of winter squash will do.

Another note: I used home-canned tomatoes. They are ridiculously good and their juices did a lot for the flavor of this soup. If using store bought, I recommend an extra big squirt of lemon juice and possibly a few extra shakes of salt (but taste it first) to bring out the best in your tomatoes.

1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp curry
1/4-1/2 tsp chili powder
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped (or if you're onion-texture averse like my husband, grated in the small holes of your grater, so it's a pulp)
2 cans corn, drained
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
2 15-oz cans diced tomatoes with juices (plain or Italian. I used home canned tomatoes and I have to say they were completely more awesome than store bought, but store bought will do)
1 quart vegetable broth
1 14-oz can coconut milk
1 breast of chicken (optional; you can make this vegetarian if you wish)
salt and pepper to taste
a squeeze of lemon or lime if you wish

Chop your onion and garlic. Cube your sweet potato and chicken (you can used leftover cooked chicken to good effect, or you can cook your chicken here. It's up to you).

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add cumin, curry, and chili powder. Stir until fragrant (30-60 seconds. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes or so. Add garlic and cook another minute. Add chicken if it's raw and cook until it's browned on the sides.

Add corn (without juices), sweet potato, tomatoes (with juices). Stir it up. Add broth.

Cover and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and simmer gently until the sweet potatoes are tender and chicken is cooked through (about 20 minutes).

Add coconut milk and heat through. Taste and adjust seasonings. Add a squirt of lemon or lime if you wish.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Tomato Corn Pie

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats on $10/day.

Do you see this beautiful food?

 I kind of managed to ugly it up. (Apparently, I do this with pies.)

Additionally,  it has a name that isn't going to win me any awesomeness contests either.

But before your eyes shift to the ugly picture below (oh wait, they already did, didn't they--shift them back, okay), let me say that ugly or not, weird sounding or not, you should make this. Because it is ridiculously, obscenely, perhaps unrighteously good (for that, we'll blame the mayonnaise). Which is more or less what Deb, from smittenkitchen.com said when she posted it a year or two ago. I made it then because I had leftover ears of corn from the garden--the misshapen, the half-developed, the unloved. And I needed something to do with them. What better thing than to shave the kernels off the cob and use them in a pie. My husband could think of plenty of better things to do. Fortunately--for him and for me--he doesn't do the cooking around here. Oh--and yeah--even he likes it. Although I have a little confession about that later.

I made this homely little pie and I swore I would make it again every summer for the rest of my life. But only in the summer. Because it must have fresh corn and fresh tomatoes and, for a smile from heaven, fresh herbs as well. I'm afraid that if you made it in January with canned tomatoes and canned corn and dry herbs (though you might be able to get away with the herb part), this pie would not be the glory that it deserves to be--the glory that everything that is heaven hidden in a slightly homely shell deserves to be. Amen and amen.

I have left Deb's recipe completely unaltered, save one thing (here comes the confession): I only made half of the pie with the tomatoes. Kip hates tomatoes. I knew I couldn't get away with it. So his half contained only corn. As such, it wasn't half bad either, though if you're going to do a corn pie, I'd up the corn by another cup. Last summer I had some tomato sauce on hand (he loves tomato sauce; it's a texture issue I'm told) and I drizzled some on his corn half.

Tomato Corn Pie
from smittenkitchen
makes 1 pie
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Cost: $2.50
(flour: .20, butter: .25, milk: .10, mayo: .05?, tomatoes: mine were free, but I'm going to say 1.50, corn: .40, herbs: mine were free, but fresh will cost you at the store)

2 C all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt, divided
3/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes (reduce salt if using salted butter)
3/4 C milk
1/3 C mayonnaise
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 3/4 lb tomatoes (about 2 large)
1 1/2 C corn, removed from cob and coarsely chopped (2 cobs for us)
2 Tbsp basil, chopped
1 Tbsp chives, chopped
7 oz cheddar (about 1 3/4 C)

Note: This makes a sort of biscuit-like pie crust, which is awesome. However, if you'd like to use a pre-prepared pie crust, I will not judge you, and I think all will be well because the inside sings a pretty stunning song.

In food processor, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Pulse. Add butter and pulse until it resembles coarse meal. Turn to low and add milk just until it forms a ball of dough. If you haven't got a food processor, whisk together the dry ingredients, work the butter in with your fingers or with a pastry cutter (oh, the torture), then add the milk and shape it into a ball of dough without overworking it.

Divide dough in half. Roll out half and put it in your pie pan. Throw the other half in the fridge, while you do the fillings.

Whisk together mayo and lemon juice. Set it aside.

The tomatoes: I blanched them, meaning I threw them in boiling water for a minute and then into ice water for another minute so I could peel off the skins. It took about 5 minutes (get your water boiling while you whisk up your lemon/mayo sauce) and to me it was worth it because the skins didn't get in the way in the final product. However, I think it'd still be great with skins on and that does make it less fussy. Still I must say that the blanching really isn't as fussy and painful as it sounds.

Slice the tomato along the middle and scoop out most of the seeds.

Slice the corn from the cobs and give it a chop (again, sounds fussy--takes a minute).

Chop your herbs.

Grate your cheese. This can be done in the food processor you used to make your dough. (No, it's not a 30 minute meal, but it's worth every minute that it takes.)

Layer half the tomatoes, half the corn, half the herbs, and nearly half of the cheese. Repeat. Then pour your mayo/lemon sauce on, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and top with remaining cheese.

Roll out your other pie crust. Place it on top. Cut off overhanging edges and pinch the sides together. I kind of rolled mine together for what I like to tell myself is a rustic look. Oh, look, my pie pan has a sort of rustic (read: old) look too.

Cut a few steam vents into the top of the dough and if you wish drizzle a little melted butter over the top.

Bake at 400 for 25-35 minutes.

Note: It's best to cool this a bit. If you cut into it super hot like we did, it will run a bit (as all pies will), but we were hungry and we didn't care. Today when we had the leftovers, they sliced up beautifully.

PRINTABLE RECIPE