SWEET SUMMER CORN

Around July 4^th, everybody starts hitting farmers markets for sweet corn. I guess corn on the cob goes hand in hand with BBQ which is attached to everything summer-related. In an ideal world, corn would be ready for this holiday, but nope, corn season in the Hudson Valley typically begins the second week of July. While the weather lately has felt ungodly to us, the corn has been happy since it favors very fertile, moist, warm soil. 

Corn is always delicious boiled before bathed in some quality butter with salt and fresh-cracked pepper, grilled in its outer husks once the inside ones and silk have been removed, or cut raw from the cob and added to a salad for lunch from some sweet snap (good corn should not be an issue with digestion). I vow this summer to experiment more fully with corn and share my findings. So far, I’ve made a delicious honey sage cornbread which involves packaged cornmeal and not fresh corn but that’s ok, as well as a summer corn soup that was delicious but screamed crab meat in the end (both recipes from Bon Appetit).

SUMMER CORN SOUP RECIPE

Sage and Honey Skillet Cornbread

Ingredients

• 1 cup cornmeal (preferably whole grain, medium grind)
• 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage plus 12 whole fresh sage leaves
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat heavy 10-inch-diameter ovenproof skillet (preferably cast-iron) in oven 10 minutes.
• Whisk first 4 ingredients and 2 teaspoons chopped sage in large bowl to blend. Whisk milk, honey, and egg in medium bowl to blend.
• Remove skillet from oven; add 1/2 cup butter. Swirl until butter is melted. Pour all except 2 tablespoons butter into egg mixture. Add whole sage leaves to butter in skillet; toss to coat. Arrange leaves over bottom of skillet, spacing apart.
• Add egg mixture to cornmeal mixture; stir until just combined (do not overmix; batter will be wet and runny). Pour batter over sage leaves in skillet. Bake until browned around edges and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 22 minutes. Cool in skillet 10 minutes. Invert onto platter. If necessary, reposition sage leaves atop cornbread.