Seasonal Summer Cooking: Sweet Corn!

It's finally here.  Iowa Sweet Corn!  A few ears may be found early in the summer, but a sure sign that sweet corn is in its prime are the appearance of roadside stands and mountains of the beautiful ears in supermarkets.  Sweet corn is an Iowa icon... and from now until the end of sweet corn season, it will be eaten several times a week.  You better believe that when I get a good chunk of time, I'll buy an embarrassingly large quantity of corn to stash in the freezer!

A delicious, local summer traditional treat!! 

But what will I do with this mountain of corn?

While corn is great on its own as a side or a main dish ( and if its really good and fresh it doesn't even need butter or salt!) last night I used corn to dress up pasta dish.

1/2 box whole wheat spaghetti
2 cups corn kernels
2 or 3 strips of bacon
1-2 cloves of garlic
2 Tablespoons fresh basil pesto
parmesan cheese

bring a large pot of water to boil.
meanwhile, cut the kernels off corncobs. (2 or 3 should make 2 cups)
cook the bacon in a skillet until brown, set aside on paper towels to drain.
wipe most of the bacon grease from the skillet, saving a very small amount in the pan for cooking in the next step.
hopefully your water will be boiling at this time.  add pasta.
while pasta cooks, grate or mince the garlic.
heat the skillet to medium and add corn and garlic.
chop the bacon into small pieces.
when pasta is finished, drain and bring pack to pot.
add corn and garlic mixture, bacon and the pesto.  mix well.
serve with generous amount of grated parmesan cheeese.

if you have extra corn, throw some in your side salad with fresh summer tomatoes!

Dinner tonight: Cara's kale and walnut pesto

 kale and my beloved food processor 

 kale, garlic and walnuts. i like how you can still get a sense of the texture.

it looks a lot different with the olive oil and lemon juice.

 yum!

 

Dinner.  Kale with veggie pasta and a salad!

Kale & Walnut Pesto

I do love eating foods that are in season to my area, New England has such wonderful fresh produce spring, summer and fall. But by this time of year I've just about had it with root vegetables, squashes and oatmeal. I want something fresh-picked, tasty and local! It doesn't help that only a few weeks ago I was in India munching on ripe papayas and fresh tomatoes. Allison, do you remember last year when we started called this month 'Blaaarch' because we were feeling Blah? The birds are chirping, the clocks have changed, yesterday I went out without a jacket, but still, spring is teasing us! Because I know its still well over a month away, and I won't be springing around the kitchen with fresh asparagus and baby lettuce any time soon.

In the meantime, I'm craving something green. I read somewhere an idea for kale pesto bruschetta. Kale is a cool-season crop, an excellent cooking green and I always keep a bunch on hand in the crisper drawer for adding to winter soups and stews, or whipping up in a green juice.

Let's talk about Kale!

Over the weekend, I thought I'd try mixing up my own version of kale pesto using walnuts (pesto traditionally calls for pine nuts, but I rarely ever keep these in my pantry.) I served the kale pesto with fusilli pasta and freshly grated parmesan cheese over top and it was wonderful. The pesto had a really nice, earthy flavor and kept well in the fridge for several days after. Here's the recipe I came up with:

Kale and Walnut Pesto

1 bunch kale, thick stems removed, leaves roughly chopped

1/3 cup walnuts, toasted

1 clove garlic, roughly chopped

2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp lemon juice

In a food processor, pulse kale, walnuts and garlic until finely chopped. With motor running, drizzle in olive oil and lemon juice. 

Serve with:

Whole wheat Fusilli style pasta (the pesto sticks well to this corkscrew shape, but any pasta will do in a pinch.)

Freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Salt and freshly ground pepper.

An extra drizzle of olive oil if you like!

Kale and Walnut Pesto

Weekly Menu Jan. 22-28

Ryan's Chili with Martha Stewart's Buttermilk Cornbread.  Ryan's chili is made with turkey, a lot of beans, our homemade canned stewed tomatoes(!!!) and always while he drinks a beer. We ate this last night.  The leftovers just get better throughout the week.

Homemade pizza with olives and peppers

Cara's sweet potato and black bean burrito

Salmon with lentil salad a new recipe from a book I got for Christmas

Pasta with rosemary and sage sauce

Risotto with rosemary and white wine sauce

I hope I have time for these 2 new recipes From a book by Marcella Hazan that Ryan and I were given this summer but haven't cracked yet...

Have a great week everyone!
Allison