Corn recipes for the farmers market favourite

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This article was published 28/08/2019 (2232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Corn: It’s more than just a standard of measurement of elephants’ height. It’s also a most venerable vegetable.

What follows are five of my six favourite ways to eat corn, the sixth being on the cob.

I began with Corn Salad à la Mary Anne, which brings together all of the best flavours of summer in one well-mixed dish. Fresh corn and fresh tomatoes blended with a bit of sweet onion and topped with summery cilantro. It’s like a farmers market on a plate.

Tying the flavours together is the sparing use of a vinaigrette. I heartily recommend a bistro vinaigrette, which is the best I’ve ever made and maybe the best I’ve ever had.

For my second variation on a corn theme, I made a southern staple: corn pudding.

I lived in the south for nearly 30 years, and in that time I probably consumed a small ocean of corn pudding. Most of it was sweet but some was savoury, and I always preferred the savoury kind. So when I discovered a recipe for savoury corn pudding from Southern Living magazine, I knew that was the one I had to make.

This is the real deal corn pudding, made from kernels cut right off the ears, the way God and Robert E. Lee intended. It is made from wholesome ingredients, such as fresh eggs, heavy cream and butter.

I said it was wholesome, I didn’t say it was low cal. But it is also silky and satisfying and utterly magnificent.

My next effort was a corn salad based on a popular Indian street food. To be honest, it looked almost exactly like Corn Salad à la Mary Anne, but the flavours could not be more different.

The corn is first roasted and charred in a pan. The kernels are then tossed in a highly flavoured dressing that mixes a blend of traditional spices (cumin, cardamom and garam masala) with heat from cayenne pepper and the cooling citrus bite of fresh-squeezed lime juice.

It’s kind of an astonishing array of tastes, but it works because they all share a flavourful kinship to the corn.

Fritters were next — or as they are officially called, Zucchini Corn Cakes. But really: fritters.

The secret to making these is to squeeze all the moisture you possibly can out of the shredded zucchini, and then squeeze out some more. And then maybe a little more. The as-dry-as-you-can-make-it zucchini is then mixed with corn kernels and scallions, bound with eggs and flour, and flavoured with Parmesan, garlic, parsley and basil.

How could you beat fried patties of that mixture? One way, actually: by dipping them in a spicy sauce. The sauce is simple, just a lot of Greek yogurt mixed with a little sriracha, but it is a perfect accompaniment to the fritters.

One dish had to be last, and it happened to be Pappardelle With Corn. This one was so good, a taste tester asked how it managed to taste like it came from a restaurant.

“My spectacular cooking technique,” I said, but really it was the ingredients.

Pappardelle is a long, broad pasta; I went to an Italian market to find it, and I bought a particularly good quality noodle. So the pasta made an especially good base for a dish made from corn, cherry tomatoes, garlic, white wine, chicken broth, scallions and Parmesan, plus a lot of butter.

It’s a truly wonderful dish, just like all of the others. I can’t possibly pick a favourite.

You’ll just have to try them all.

Corn Salad à la Mary Anne

Yield: 4 servings

2 ears of corn

59 ml (1/4 cup) sweet onion, chopped

250 ml (1 cup) cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

80 ml (1/3 cup) chopped cilantro

30-45 ml (2 to 3 tbsp) your favourite vinaigrette or use bistro vinaigrette, see recipe

Salt and pepper

Bring a large pot of hot water to a boil and cook corn until just cooked, three to four minutes. Remove corn, allow to cool briefly and slice off kernels. Place kernels in a medium bowl with onion, tomatoes, cilantro and vinaigrette, and toss to mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Recipe by Mary Anne Pikrone.

Bistro Vinaigrette

Yield: About 160 ml (2/3 cup)

15 ml (1 tbsp) shallots, finely diced

2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) fine sea salt

30 ml (2 tbsp) red or white wine vinegar

15 ml (1 tbsp) Dijon mustard

90 ml (6 tbsp) neutral oil, such as grapeseed, sunflower or canola (not olive)

Black pepper

In a medium bowl, mix together shallots, salt and vinegar. Allow to rest for 10 minutes (this will take the edge off the shallots). Stir in one tablespoon of Dijon mustard. Very slowly, add oil in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Season generously with black pepper. Store in a refrigerator.

Recipe from Tasting Paris by Clotilde Dusoulier.

Savoury Corn Pudding

Yield: 12 servings

45 ml (3 tbsp) all-purpose flour

30 ml (2 tbsp) granulated sugar

10 ml (2 tsp) baking powder

10 ml (2 tsp) salt

6 large eggs

500 ml (2 cups) heavy cream

125 ml or 1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, melted and cooled

30 ml (2 tbsp) corn oil or canola oil

1.5 l (6 cups) fresh corn kernels (from 8 ears)

125 ml (1/2 cup) sweet onion, chopped

15 ml (1 tbsp) chopped fresh thyme

Preheat oven to 350 F. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a small bowl until blended. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cream and melted butter until blended.

Heat corn oil or canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add corn and onion and cook, stirring often, until onion is softened, about five minutes. Stir in thyme. Remove from heat and let cool slightly, about five minutes. Stir flour mixture and corn mixture into egg mixture. Spoon into a 13-by-nine-inch (three quart) baking dish, and bake until set and golden brown, about 40 minutes. Let stand five minutes before serving.

Can be made up to two days in advance: Bake as directed, let cool and cover with foil before refrigerating. Reheat covered with foil.

Recipe adapted from one by Karen Rankin in Southern Living.

Indian Street Corn Salad

Yield: 4 servings

3 large ears corn

Olive oil

60 ml (1/4 cup) freshly squeezed lime juice

1 ml (1/4 tsp) ground cumin

0.5 ml (1/8 tsp) or less cayenne pepper

Big pinch ground cardamom

Big pinch chaat masala or garam masala

Salt and pepper

250 ml (1 cup) halved cherry or sugarplum tomatoes

1 or 2 sprigs fresh mint, leaves thinly sliced

Small handful fresh cilantro, leaves rustically ripped into bite-size pieces

Place a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and heat until just beginning to smoke. Rub the corn with olive oil and carefully place in the pan. Cook until charred in patches all the way around and golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes, turning every five minutes. Remove and let cool.

For the dressing: Meanwhile, whisk together the lime juice, cumin, cayenne, cardamom, chaat or garam masala, salt and pepper to taste. Slice the kernels off the cobs and place in a large bowl. Add the tomatoes, mint and cilantro. Toss with the dressing, taste for seasoning and serve.

Recipe by Aarti Sequeira, via Food Network.

Zucchini Corn Cakes

Yield: 12 servings

1 ear of corn

900 g (1 lb) zucchini (about 2 large)

2 scallions, sliced thin

3 large eggs, beaten

1 ml (1/4 tsp) garlic powder

15 ml (1 tbsp) chopped parsley

15 ml (1 tbsp) basil, sliced thin

Salt and pepper

125 ml (1/2 cup) Parmesan cheese, grated

185 ml (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour

Vegetable oil

125 ml (1/2 cup) Greek yogurt

15 ml (1 tbsp) sriracha

Boil corn until just cooked, three to four minutes. Cut kernels from cob. Set aside.

Grate zucchini, using large holes of a box grater. Place in a colander or wrap in a towel and use your hands to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. In a large bowl, combine zucchini with corn kernels, scallions, eggs, garlic powder, parsley and basil. Season with salt and pepper, mix in Parmesan and flour.

Add oil to the depth of 1/4 to 1/3 inch in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is hot (bubbles will immediately start to form around a piece of corn dropped into it), cook fritters in batches. For each fritter, pour in 1/4 cup of batter, flatten to about 1/2 inch and cook until golden, two minutes per side. Add more oil between batches, as needed.

In a small bowl, mix Greek yogurt with sriracha. Serve fritters with sauce on the side.

Adapted from a recipe by Rian Handler, via delish.com.

Pappardelle With Corn

Yield: 4 servings

2 ears corn

75 ml (5 tbsp) unsalted butter, divided

750 ml (3 cups) grape tomatoes

Salt and pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

125 ml (1/2 cup) dry white wine

340 grams (12 oz pappardelle pasta, see note

125 ml (1/2 cup) chicken broth

1 small bunch scallions, thinly sliced

125 ml (1/2 cup) grated Parmesan, plus more for topping

Torn basil, for topping

Note: Pappardelle pasta is available in Italian and international markets.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the corn and cook until slightly tender, about three minutes. Remove with tongs, reserving the boiling water. Let the corn cool slightly, then cut off the kernels.

Melt two tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the tomatoes, one teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook until the tomatoes soften, about four minutes. Add the garlic and cook one more minute. Add the wine and cook until reduced by half, about five minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the pappardelle in the corn water as the label directs. Reserve one cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta. Add the chicken broth and corn kernels to the skillet and bring to a simmer.

Add the pasta to the skillet; add the scallions, Parmesan, the remaining three tablespoons of the butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Toss to combine, adding the reserved cooking water as needed. Season with salt and pepper. Top with more Parmesan and basil.

Recipe by the Food Network.

— St. Louis Post-Dispatch