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.

Blueberries + Beer

I can hardly believe it’s the middle of July already. Strawberries, raspberries, cherries, and peas have already come and gone and the days are so hot, we’re left in a blurry delirium by the end of the day. It seems we’re all learning more and more how fleeting moments are and how completely necessary it is to be fully present in each of them, even if that means eating so many berries you get a stomach ache. It’s (usually) worth it.

While all these good things wither away after just a few weeks (black raspberries giving their all for just ten days before completely calling it quits) until next year, new delicious things begin to glow and ripen on the branches and we’re so overwhelmed with excitement and anticipation, we forget how depressing life looked without another night of strawberry shortcake. 

We’ve been selling blueberries from Greig Farm for a long time now and the screams never quiet from year to year when we get our first phone call from Norm that they’re ready for us. While I absolutely love a good peach and a ripe fig will actually bring me to my knees, blueberries are something I just love so much, I don’t really know how to express it appropriately. In the same way you might have a favorite full bodied beer you like to sit, sip, and really enjoy (like a peach or fig), blueberries are like the go-to beer that’s just always good and has a drinkability that doesn’t really see an end. Every trip I take into the walk-in cooler at work involves me scooping handfuls of cold blueberries into my mouth.  Noelle and I like to stand over a flat and pick out the fattest berries one by one to eat when they come in (they’re the sweetest). I think I’m disclosing too much information, so I’ll end it there. 

Anyway, I asked Marissa what she thought would be the first best thing to do with blueberries. Like most questions I go to her for when stumped, she gave an i-don’t-mess-around answer, “float them in a good wheat beer”.  Duh.

 Since it’s too hot to be in the kitchen this week and since I know you’re all hanging out by your pool or your friend’s drinking  beer and eating salted cucumbers after work, I’m just going to keep it simple and tell you to get a good cold wheat beer and let some blueberries float around in it. 

A Pea Inspired Kitchen Sink Salad

Nigel Slater, the author of Tender and Ripe refers to sweet peas as “the smarties of vegetables”.  He couldn’t be more right. Some people consider shelling peas to be too much work while others call it therapeutic. The latter enjoy sitting by their pool watching the kids play while mindlessly pulling the thread from the pod and popping out the plump peas; a summertime smile imprinted on their face. We write on our chalk board at the market “They’re worth it!” I really wanted to post some amazing recipes using peas at the beginning of their season, but we've been so busy at the farm I haven't been able to find the time. Instead, I'll share this kitchen sink salad showcasing peas as they wrap up their season (earlier than expected thanks to the heat).

This salad was early summer incarnate. Who says you need to use shelling peas OR sugar snaps? I used both. In the past, I’ve finely chopped fresh mint  and sauteed the peas in a skillet of butter but this time I tried something new; adding mint leaves and salt to boiling water and then throwing in the peas for all of 1 minute. The result is a minty flavor that’s subtle and agreeable with other flavors. Like most vegetables have a pairing, peas have pre-conceived soul mates; prosciutto, pecorino, lemon, mint, and/or bacon. With this in mind, I threw together:

Mixed greens

Shelling peas and sugar snap peas (boiled in mint water for 5 minutes and strained)

Crumbled bacon

An egg over easy

Avocado (optional)

Tomato (optional)

Mushrooms (optional)

Shaved pecorino cheese

Juice from half a lemon

TRY IT.