I had resolved to blog at least once a week, but I did miss last week. I was on vacation. Sue me.
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I was feeling completely inadequate because my sister in law is a fabulous cook, better than me, if that is possible. She whips out food with panache and ease, often just making it up as she goes along. Most of the time it is out of this world. She did make some sub-par muffins on our last day, so I felt slightly vindicated., even though it was only partially her fault. I goaded her into making some muffins for our mother in law, who had just been released from the hospital. My sister in law lacked enough honey, buttermilk, and eggs to make them, but she soldiered on anyway. I guess I have to give her credit for at least making something edible, even if it wasn't up to her usual standards. We all have those days.
We are still in the midst of our annual corn orgy. We took a one week break while we were in DC, since they only have old corn (by old I mean not picked that day) available at Whole Foods. The day before yesterday, I made a corn chowder. Today we will have plain old corn on the cob with lime tarragon butter and a grilled balsamic marinated top sirloin with roasted tomatoes. Corn salsa is probably on the horizon for the weekend, and herbed corn cakes with cilantro-jalapeno hollandaise made an appearance a week or so ago. I did take the lazy way out with the hollandaise and used the blender method (hey, at least I didn't stoop to using a packet. I do recommend mastering real hollandaise, though. You'll never regret it. But since it is summer I gave myself a break. My family noticed, though.
Since the corn cakes were such a hit with my guests, that is the recipe I will leave you with. It is loosely based on one from Bon Appetit, but I have altered it a bit.
Herbed Corn Cakes
1 Cup flour
1 tsp baking pwd
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 T oil
1 c corn kernels. from about two ears
1/2 c cheddar cheese
1/3 cup shallots or green onions, diced
2 T fresh parsely, minced
2-3 dashes Tabasco
pinch cayenne
3 ounces bacon, cooked and crumbled, drippings reserved
Sift dry ingredients, whisk in milk, egg, and oil. Stir in rest of ingredients. Cook in bacon drippings like pancakes. Serve with your favorite not from a packet hollandaise to which you have stirred in minced jalapeno and 1/4 cup minced cilantro. I usually double the recipe and it still barely makes enough.
3 comments:
So. If I can only get corn fit to feed pigs, except that people do eat it here even though it tastes terrible, would this recipe turn it into something palatable or should I just wait until I am back in a land where they actually produce good corn? The boys do miss eating corn, so if you've a recipe that might salvage the nasty stuff we have here, I'd love to have it. I just know that plain on the cob with butter = disaster and nigh inedible. Suggestions?
You know Reader, there are two distinct types of corn: field corn (for pigs) and sweet corn (for humans). you can tell the difference by looking at the silks sticking out the top. Sweet corn has white/yellow silks, field corn has brown.
If you can't get sweet corn I would probably use canned (I'll bet you can't get that either) or frozen (not a chance, huh?) Well, I guess I'm not sure what to tell you! Go ahead and try it with pig corn if you want. At worst, it's inedible,a t best, you might like it!
I will have to check the silks next time; that's a good tip. I won't comment on your optimism about what I can get or not. I'll try the cakes and see what happens. Maybe they'll dress up the corn enough we won't care that the corn is for pigs.
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