Simple Corn Soup

Do you buy your corn from the farmers' market?  If not, you should.  The difference in flavor and texture is amazing when the corn is picked fresh rather than shipped for days and lingering in a pile at the supermarket.

I get my corn from Stillman's Farms.  Since they pick it *the very same morning* as the farmers market, it is amazingly tender, juicy, and sweet, despite the fact that they don't grow the super-sweet varieties usually seen at the grocery store.

When it's this good, I often eat it raw straight off the cob.  Or I put it in everyone's favorite corn and black bean salad.  But, with summer at its end, I realized I had yet to make corn soup!  Not only had I promised myself I would this summer, but it's also a great way to preserve that corny freshness well into winter.

Okay, ready for the recipe?

- 8 ears of corn (about five cups of kernels cut from the cobs)
- 5 c. water
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- a dash of black pepper

- Put everything in a big pot, (even the shorn cobs!), and simmer for at least 30 minutes.
- Carefully pour it into a blender and... blend it... until soupy.

Voila!  Seriously, this is a no-fuss dish.

However!  This is really only the beginning.  While you can certainly enjoy it like this, I like to enhance the flavor a bit.  In the photo at the top, I simmered the corn with a few tablespoons of minced chives and stirred in just a touch of butter at the end.  I topped it with a drizzle of basil pesto to serve.

In another batch that I made for freezing, I roasted a red pepper and added that to the blender, (be careful not to add to much or it can overpower the corn).  I froze individual portions that I will be able to easily thaw and even add to the flavor a bit more.  I'm thinking some roughly chopped cilantro and a dollop of greek yogurt one night.  Maybe some sauteed leeks or onions and another trip to the blender another night?

If you want to make a particularly elegant soup, you may want to strain it.  I didn't.  After I made it the first time I gave it a try and wasn't bothered at all by the little bits of 'corn kernel skin', as they were very tender , (another bonus of local corn: it hasn't been bred to be tough to hold up during travel), and finely blended.  But there are certainly times when you might not want that, so strain away!

Enjoy!

Fresh and Simple Pasta Sauce

While there are many people who slave away in the kitchen for hours over a hot stove to perfect their Italian grandmother's tomato sauce, and while it may very well be quite delicious, I prefer a more casual approach to my summertime pasta.  This one comes together in about 20 minutes, (depending on your speediness with a knife).  It's a light, chunky sauce that lets you know exactly which vegetables you're eating.

Ingredients (for two servings):

- 3 tbsp olive oil

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 2 sprigs fresh oregano (or 1/4 tsp. dried)

- 3/4 c. onion, minced

- 3/4 c. yellow bell pepper, diced

- 1 1/2 c. tomato, diced

- 1/4 tsp. brown sugar

- handful of basil leaves, roughly chopped.

Directions:

- Add the olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium high.

- Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and oregano and saute for about a minute.

- Add the onion and saute until just translucent, about 3 minutes.

- Add the bell pepper, tomato, and brown sugar.

- Continue to cook, stirring occasionally and lightly mashing the tomatoes with a wooden spoon for about 8 minutes until all of the vegetables are tender.

- If you would like a slightly thicker sauce, add about 1 tbsp tomato paste.

- Taste for seasoning, adjusting salt and brown sugar, (sparingly), as needed.

- Just before serving, add the fresh basil and toss another minute.

- Add your pasta to the pan and toss to coat.

I used whole wheat spaghetti as I really like the slightly nutty taste with the freshness of the vegetables. Optionally top you pasta with some good parmesan cheese for serving.  As a side I prepared some fresh romano green beans by boiling them in the pasta water for about 2-3 minutes, then tossing them with good quality extra virgin olive oil, salt, and black pepper.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Basil Popsicles

Nothing is quite so disappointing as bringing home a beautiful pint of strawberries, taking a bite, and finding them just a bit too sour.  While jams or pies are certainly good options for these unfortunate berries, they don't exactly showcase the freshness of the fruit.  Using them for popsicles, on the other hand, allows you to sweeten them up and keep them bright, cool, and refreshing.

Ingredients:

- 1 pint strawberries

- 8 fresh basil leaves

- 1/2 c. sugar

- 1 c. water

Directions:

- Combine the sugar and water in a small pot and simmer until the sugar is dissolved.

- Hull the strawberries and combine them with basil leaves and simple syrup in a blender.

- Blend until liquified.

- Pour the mixture into popsicle moulds.  You can strain it if you want, but I like the slight texture of the little bits of pulp, leaves, and seeds.

- Freeze until solid.

Oh, and pardon the dirty fingernails.  I'd just come in from the garden: the best time to have a popsicle, indeed.

Enjoy!

Easy, Versatile Buttermilk Cake

Summer tends to be a time for simple desserts.  With all of the glorious fresh fruit available that hardly needs fussing with, the elaborate desserts of winter are easily forgotten.  Besides, who wants to hang around a hot stove or deal with melty doughs?

But, while fresh fruit is delicious on its own, sometimes you want something a little more special.  This basic buttermilk cake goes with everything that summer has to offer.  Fluffy, tender, and softly sweet it is always a crowd-pleaser.  It's quick and easy to throw together and with it's fast cook-time your kitchen will hardly heat up.  What I especially like is that the recipe is great to tinker with.  Add flavor with zests, add fruit to the top, (like the original recipe calls for), or the bottom as an upside-down cake.  Cut it in half and spread some jam in the middle or make a giant strawberry shortcake.  Make a buttermilk or citrus glaze to drizzle over the top.  The possibilities are endless.

Ingredients:
- 1 c. flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 c. sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 egg
- 1/2 c. buttermilk
- 2 tbsp brown sugar or demerara sugar (for more crunch)

Directions:
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest.  Mix with your fingers to release the oils of the zest until the sugar is moist, clumpy, and fragrant.
- Add the softened butter to the sugar and beat until fluffy.
- Add the egg and beat until combined.
- Add the flour in three batches and the buttermilk in two batches, alternating between them, gently mixing until it is just combined.
- Pour the batter into a buttered 8" pan.  A tart pan is the perfect size and created a pretty edge, but if you're adding fruit you'll need something deeper.  A 9" cake pan can be used, but the cake ends up a little thinner than I prefer.
- Sprinkle the top of the dough with the brown sugar.
- Bake in a 400 degree oven about 20 minutes.  If fruit has been added, it may take a little longer.

Serve at room temperature with fresh fruit and perhaps some creme fraiche if you're feeling fancy.  Covered tightly with plastic wrap, the cake will last 2-3 days.

Enjoy!

Pickled Radishes

This is certainly not my prettiest photo ever, but these little guys sure are tasty!  Pickled radishes are a fun snack or great to toss on top of salads.  They add a wonderful pop of color and are full of flavor.

For one quart jar:
- 3 bunches radishes (I recommend the round varieties, like 'Easter Egg', over French Breakfast radishes)
- 1 c. white wine vinegar
- 2 c. water
- 4 tbsp sea salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp fennel seed
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 shallot

- Trim the tops off of the radishes.  You can leave a little nub of stem, but they can be a little tough.
- Wash and slice the radishes, quarters or halves depending on size.
- Add them to a jar with the shallot, quartered.
- Combine all other ingredients in a pot and simmer until the salt and sugar are dissolved.
- Add liquid to the jar and refrigerate one week (okay, you can taste them after two days but they really get better after a week).

Yep, that's it!  These keep several weeks in the refrigerator, but just try to keep them around that long.

Enjoy!

A Ballad of Salad

First, a moment to brag.  See that lettuce right there?  That delicious, organic, heirloom lettuce?  That is the direct result of my sweat, dirty fingernails, and sunburns.  Yes, I grew that... from seed!  And that's just a small first picking.  As my high horse is getting tired, I'll move on...

Warm weather is here and with it comes a cascade of salads.  I love salad and this time of year it becomes my go-to for lunch or dinner... and sometimes both.  Salads are fun and easy meals: you can quickly throw together all kinds of creative combinations.  Pretty much anything that sounds good together will be good.  I often top my salads with some cheese to give them a bit more heft, but this could be left off for vegans, (perhaps substituted with some legumes?), or meat-lovers could top them with some pieces of grilled meat or a fuller meal.  Chicken or scallops work with just about anything and flank steak, salmon, or shrimp can be great with many flavors, too.

A few salad tips:
- After washing your lettuce, ideally spread it out to air dry.  Even a salad spinner doesn't quite achieve the same result.  Truly dry leaves allow the dressing to cling better and let the taste and texture of the lettuce shine through.  If you're pressed for time towel off as much moisture as you can instead.
- Season your lettuce.  Sprinkling the naked lettuce with a bit of salt and pepper before adding other toppings goes a long way for flavor.  It also helps you use less dressing.
- An oldie but a goodie: tear your lettuce, don't chop it!
- Make sure to top lettuce with contrasting but complimentary flavors: sweet and tangy, spicy and creamy, fresh and earthy, etc.

Don't toss those radish greens!  Eat them in a salad instead.  Since they can be a little on the tough side, (similar in texture to mint leaves), toss them with some tender butterhead.  Top with sliced radishes, aged goat cheese, and a spicy mint vinaigrette, (olive oil, lemon juice, minced mint, chopped capers, red pepper flakes, cayenne, thyme, salt).

Tomatoes aren't the only salad-friendly fruit.  Here mixed greens are topped with blackberries, pickled radishes, and sheep's milk feta with a balsamic vinaigrette.

A true classic: apples and goat cheese atop butterhead lettuce with a fresh dill vinaigrette.

Almost too pretty to eat: arugula and mixed lettuces topped with thinly slice chioggia beets, minced shallots, and feta cheese with a blackberry balsamic vinaigrette.

And, of course, there will be many more to come.

Enjoy!

Staving Off the Hungries: Radish and Butter Sandwich

Sometimes when I'm on a cooking spree-- perhaps making ribs, potato salad, and rhubarb tarts-- I get a little too caught up in the task at hand and I forget to eat.  With all of those food smells wafting around the kitchen and the occasional taste to check for seasoning, it feels like I've had a meal when, in fact, I'm running on empty.  Then I might find myself starting to lean against the counter a bit.  Perhaps stirring a little more slowly?  Suddenly the pot feels heavier, the knife feels duller, and the cat is much more likely to get stepped on.  Yes, I've come down with a case of The Hungries.

The Hungries can be the downfall of many a cook.  Other symptoms include snappishness towards kitchen helpers, (cats included), careless measuring, forgetting to set timers, and loud crashes followed by louder cursing.

The only solution to The Hungries is a quick, light snack.  Yes, putting together another dish sounds like a terrible idea at the time, but making the small effort to create a quality snack instead of reaching for a bag of salty mc'crispins will pay off when you aren't filled up on junk food and you can enjoy the fruits of your day-long labor later on.

A delightful spring snack, radish and butter sandwiches can make an excellent cure for The Hungries.  For this open-faced version I topped a slice of good bread with a smear of butter, some arugula fresh from the balcony, sliced French breakfast radishes, and a sprinkle of sea salt.  The whole thing took maybe four minutes to put together.  Making myself take a pause and sit down to mindfully eat this snack was certainly worth the slight delay in my prep work.

Enjoy!

Eat this now! A Tender Spring Salad

Yesterday was the first hot day of the year that really felt like summer was just around the corner.  It was a day that left you stunned and thirsty from being in the sun too long.  It was a day that turned cats into puddles on the floor.  It was the perfect day for a good salad.

I came home from the farmers market with one of the most beautiful heads of tender butterhead lettuce I'd ever seen.  While I was browsing, a little package of chive blossoms at the Siena Farms booth caught my eye.  With chive flowers blooming in my garden at home, I had never considered eating them.  Tonight I would put them in my salad.

Though it seems simple, this salad was very satisfying.  The tender lettuce is perfect for showcasing the bright lemon, earthy goat cheese, and pungent chive flowers.  The side of asparagus is icing on the cake.

- Start by thoroughly washing your lettuce leaves.  Pat them dry as well as you can and let the air do the rest.
- Trim the ends of your asparagus.
- Rub the stalks with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
- Heat up a grill pan and add the asparagus.  Cook for about six minutes, turning over once.
- While allowing the asparagus to cool, tear up your lettuce.
- Top the salad with a few slivers of boucheron or the goat cheese of your choice, (a full-flavored aged cheese is great here).
- Pull the chive flowers apart (they're actually a bunch of small blossoms held together at the bottom).  I used three for my single large salad.
- Combine the flowers with equal parts olive oil & lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and a dash of pepper.
- Add the asparagus to the salad.
- Pour the vinaigrette over everything.

Enjoy!

Seared Scallop Salad

I remember very specifically the first time I really tried scallops.  I was taken out for a fancy night on the town in San Francisco by a new beau.  All dressed up, we went to a wonderful restaurant before heading to the symphony.  Both relative novices to fancy dining, we went with a prix fixe menu of several courses.  After some grilled calamari with particularly large suckers, a plate of sauteed scallops was delivered to our table.  He immediately dove in to take a bite, I hesitated.  But, not wanting to dampen the evening, I ventured to give them a try with the determination not to show any adverse reaction.  As usual, my fretting was for naught: the scallops were delicious.  Sweet, creamy, and fresh, they were easily my favorite part of the meal.

Later I bought some at a farmers' market to try making them myself.  With such easy success, they are now one of my favorite meals to make as a treat.  I like serving them over salad to keep the flavors light. Look for nicely large, fresh scallops for the best flavor and texture.

- Start by preparing your salad.  You want everything else ready before you cook the scallops.  I used a combination of mache and spring greens.  I topped the greens with some red onion and avocado.  Some grapefruit would also be delicious.  Make sure you season your salad with a dash of salt-- you'll use less dressing this way.
- Mix a light vinaigrette of lemon juice, whit wine vinegar, olive oil, and pepper.  Set aside.
- Wash your scallops and pat dry.  Cut off the tough little tab of connective tissue on the side if it hasn't been already done.  Lightly sprinkle the scallops with sea salt.
- Heat a stainless steel pan to medium-high.  I do not recommend using non-stick as you won't get a proper sear.
- When the pan is hot, add a small pat of butter.
- Right after the butter melts, add the scallops.  They should sizzle.
- Turn the scallops once after about 60 seconds.  They should release easily.  You're not looking to cook them through so much as just sear the outside.  Overcooked scallops will become tough.
- After another 60 seconds, remove the scallops from the heat.  Place them on their salad bed and drizzle the vinaigrette evenly over everything.

Enjoy!

Baked Cod with Capers

In the past several years I have made a conscious effort to expand the role of fish in my diet.  It has forced me to challenge both my tastes and my initial fear of cooking fish.  It has not always been easy, (a particularly nausea-inducing meal of white fish in white sauce over white rice served to me by my French hostess comes to mind), but it hasn't always been bad either, (the surprising sweetness of the scallop that I nervously tried when taken to a fancy restaurant on a date).  I've had successes and failures in the kitchen, (I should really get a fish spatula), but I've had fun all along the way.  There was even a time when stopping into the fish market in the early hours of the morning on my way to work was the highlight of my day.

While my fish cooking isn't too adventurous yet, (I still leave that to the restaurants), I have few tricks up my sleeves.  This simple dish featuring cod, new potatoes, and green beans makes a lovely, quick meal.

- Start by adding a light drizzle of oil to an oven safe pan.
- Add the new potatoes and roll them a round to coat them with oil.  Sprinkle with salt.
- Bake in the oven at 400 for about ten minutes, depending on size.
- Sprinkle the cod fillet lightly with salt and black pepper.  Spread 1 tsp whole grain mustard over the fillet.  Top with a dozen or so drained capers.
- Prepare and trim your green beans.
- Add the green beans and cod fillet to the pan, (the green beans can be prepared separately on the stove top, but I chose not dirty another pan when cooking for myself).  Top the cod fillet with a small pat of butter.
- Bake for about 6 minutes.
- Serve hot from the oven with any remaining juices.

Enjoy!

Mango Yogurt Smoothie

I picked up some delicious mangoes on sale recently.  These were 'Champagne' mangoes, different from the variety I normally get.  They were slightly smaller, very sweet, juicy, and not stringy at all.

While I usually prefer to eat my fruit whole, I couldn't resist turning one of these into a smoothie, reminiscent of lassi.  To add a little interest beyond the clean fruitiness, I added a dash a cinnamon.  This provided a richer, more rounded flavor that was unusual and very nice.

- Cut up one mango to get about 1 cup of fruit chunks
- In a blender combine the mango, 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1 tsp honey, 1 dash cinnamon, and a pinch of salt.
- Blend until smooth.
- Add 1/2 cup ice.  Depending on your blender you may want to crush it a bit first.  Blend until the ice is crushed.

I garnished mine with a little basil leaf... and next time I'm going to try a mango basil smoothie.

Enjoy!