TAKING CORN INTO FALL
Last night, I made corn chowder and I felt as though I should serve it for dessert.
I'd bought the corn early in the afternoon at Twin Pond Farm in Freehold Township, and started thinking about what to do with it as I drove home. It's not that gnawing a cob isn't fun; it's just that it's September, and it's time to shimmy into new cooking modes.
So I cooked down some carrots and scallions and some mighty pretty rose-colored fingerling potatoes, all diced. I added some stock and dispatched my pal "Sue" out to the back deck to grated the corn. "Sue" is my sous chef Don Callahan; we call him "Sue" -- short for sous chef. Yup, he's got a great sense of humor, our boy named Sue.
Anyway, Sue grated and grated and grated, then returned to the kitchen with a bowl of corn and corn juice. Nibs of corn speckled his face like freckles. But there was no time for primping: Into the pot went the corn, along with a couple jiggers of half-and-half. A little seasoning (salt, pepper, chives), a dab of butter, and we had a mighty fine chowder on our hands. (If you'd like, puree a bit of it, either in a food processor or with a hand-held blender, to thicken the chowder even more.)
As I tasted the chowder, though, I worried that it actually was too sweet. I mean, no one in the world would think that but me, but I was worrying I should serve it for dessert. As Sue fried up some bacon to top the chopped heirloom tomato salad we'd also made, I whispered to him, "Put a little bacon on the corn chowder." Smoke, I figured, might tame that sweet fire.
But, boy, that chowder sure was tasty.
What are you going to do with the last of the 2007 corn?
cheers,
Andy
9.11.07
I'd bought the corn early in the afternoon at Twin Pond Farm in Freehold Township, and started thinking about what to do with it as I drove home. It's not that gnawing a cob isn't fun; it's just that it's September, and it's time to shimmy into new cooking modes.
So I cooked down some carrots and scallions and some mighty pretty rose-colored fingerling potatoes, all diced. I added some stock and dispatched my pal "Sue" out to the back deck to grated the corn. "Sue" is my sous chef Don Callahan; we call him "Sue" -- short for sous chef. Yup, he's got a great sense of humor, our boy named Sue.
Anyway, Sue grated and grated and grated, then returned to the kitchen with a bowl of corn and corn juice. Nibs of corn speckled his face like freckles. But there was no time for primping: Into the pot went the corn, along with a couple jiggers of half-and-half. A little seasoning (salt, pepper, chives), a dab of butter, and we had a mighty fine chowder on our hands. (If you'd like, puree a bit of it, either in a food processor or with a hand-held blender, to thicken the chowder even more.)
As I tasted the chowder, though, I worried that it actually was too sweet. I mean, no one in the world would think that but me, but I was worrying I should serve it for dessert. As Sue fried up some bacon to top the chopped heirloom tomato salad we'd also made, I whispered to him, "Put a little bacon on the corn chowder." Smoke, I figured, might tame that sweet fire.
But, boy, that chowder sure was tasty.
What are you going to do with the last of the 2007 corn?
cheers,
Andy
9.11.07
posted by Andrea Clurfeld at 11:16 AM
3 Comments:
I was amazed at this posting. On Sunday, I made three different batches of soup using the end of the bounty. Froze almost all of it. Not as good as freshly made, but in November, I am really appreciating it for lunch at work.
One of the batches was for a Missouri corn chowder recipe that didn't use potatoes -- essential if freezing is on your list. Anyway, I had left out enough of that soup to enjoy at work today for lunch.
My corn was not quite as fresh as yours -- from the Foodtown in Oakhurst. Day old, but I had had a cob the night before and it was really good. Guess what? At lunch today, my only complaint was that it was too sweet. While it had red and green peppers in it, it really needed jalapeno to give it an edge. Still yummy. Must have been the weather!
I froze my corn and will certainly think of using that recipe...
It's surprising that the Editorial in yesterday's Press made reference to Jersey Freeze (tied in with Donovan's) in the potential loss of local landmarks department...how did you get that to happen before you mentioned it in the paper (I know you've addressed it in the blog but not in the paper).
Anyhoo, off to Philly via 537 so lots of farmers markets west of Jackson to hit up...
To Anonymous No. 2 Poster:
Oh, goodness, you give me far, far too much credit. I had nothing to do with the editorial in yesterday's paper. We opinion types try very hard not to tell each other what to opine.
To Anonymous No. 1 Poster:
How coincidental is that! It's all making me very hungry.
cheers,
Andy
9.12.07
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