Crazy for Fresh Corn

It's the season...here are some treasured recipes!

Jacques Pepin made a fresh corn polenta that stole my heart a long time ago. I am sharing his recipe here with you. It tastes like summer. It looks like summer. And it’s a great way to use up the fresh local corn at our farmers’ markets now. He garnished his with purple chive flowers, but you can snip chives over the top and it will work. It’s super easy and takes only minutes to make.

Jacques Pepin’s Fresh Corn Polenta

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 ears fresh corn

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

4-6 cracks freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Slice the kernels off the 4 ears of corn and toss them into a blender. He recommends using a blender, not a food processor, as the blender will do a better job at liquifying the raw corn. Blend the corn until pureed.

Melt the butter in a large skillet, add the corn puree from the blender. Add the salt and pepper. Over medium heat, or if needed medium high heat, whisk while it cooks to almost a boil for a few minutes until you see it thicken. When thick, scoop into a serving bowl and enjoy.

In my cookbook, The Hamptons Kitchen, I offered a recipe that I created specifically to also use fresh local corn in season. I added some lobster to jazz it up but you don’t need to for a delicious fresh corn chowder. Try it!

Lobster and Corn Chowder

Serves 4

Instead of using cream to make this chowder, I make a quick corn milk then thicken a bit with some flour.

Have the location where you buy your lobsters to steam them for you, then take them home and remove all the meat, keeping as much of any liquid coming from the lobster to add into the soup later. Also, keep the claw meat whole, so you have 4 claws to use as garnish on the four bowls of chowder.

Ingredients:

For the corn milk:

6 cups water

6 ears fresh corn

For the soup:

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 medium shallots, finely diced

5 tablespoons flour

2 ears of corn

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon paprika

2 large potatoes, cooked, sliced in chunks

1 medium orange bell pepper, finely diced

2 1-1/2 pound lobsters, cooked

3/4 cup fresh parsley, minced

Directions:

Shave the raw corn kernels off 3 ears of corn into a food processor. Add 3 cups water and process until milky. It will still have texture from the corn kernels. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining 3 ears of corn and 3 cups water. Add to the bowl as well.

Remove the claws from the lobsters and reserve. Remove the lobster tail meat and slice each tail in half vertically, so that you have 4 slices of lobster tail, one for each bowl. Reserve. Take any other meat or lobster juice out of the lobsters and reserve. Throw away the shells.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the shallots and cook for 5 minutes, or until they are soft. Sift in the flour evenly over the top and stir until well coated. Add the corn milk, bring to a boil, and simmer while whisking until the soup thickens. Add the corn kernels, salt and turmeric and stir to blend. Add the chunks of cooked potato, bell pepper, and 1/2 cup parsley. Add any reserved lobster liquid and all lobster meat except the 4 claws. Stir to combine.

To serve, divide the chowder between the four bowls. Add one claw to the center of each bowl. Garnish each bowl with the remaining minced parsley and serve.

I have this thing for raw corn. I like it better than cooked. It could come from a memory from when I was a teenager visiting a friend during the summer, and in the late afternoon we would wade into a row in a corn field and “steal” an ear of corn, and eat it then and there. Those ears were so sweet and fragrant.

When I make any salad in the summer with corn, I use it raw.

So I read a recipe recently on the Food52 website from Whitney Wright for Sweet Corn Butter. Yes!!!!! It’s a winner. You have to try it. Slathered on anything you will be happy. Here you go!

Whitney Wright’s Sweet Corn Butter

8 ears of fresh corn

butter and flaky salt if desired for garnish

“Use a chef's knife to cut the kernels from each ear. To wrangle the kernels, arrange towels around the cutting board and cut the corn in the center of the circle. Or balance the ear in the center of a Bundt pan and cut. Or lay the ear on its side and slice the kernels off with a sturdy chef’s knife. 8 ears of corn will yield 4 to 5 cups of kernels. If you’re a go-getter, you can also scrape the back of your knife along the cob to get the juice.”

“Blend (or juice): Your best move is to juice the kernels. But if you don’t have a juicer, put the kernels in a blender or food processor and buzz them up like crazy—let the blender run on the highest speed (I’m talking the “liquefy” setting) for about 2 minutes. Once the kernels are blended into a smooth puree, pass the puree through a strainer with a rubber spatula. Ta-da! Corn juice.”

“Whisk and cook: Here’s where the magic happens. Pour the juice into a medium saucepan. Heat the juice over medium heat, whisking constantly. Continue whisking until the mixture begins to thicken and the frothy bubbles begin to disappear, about 4 minutes. When the mixture is thick and bubbling, whisk and cook for about 30 seconds more. Remove from the heat.”

“Season (optional): Taste it—and look for sweet, smooth, earthy, and buttery. If you want, add a few pinches of salt and pats of butter. The corn butter will keep for about 3 to 5 days in the fridge.”

What do you think? Let me know if you try it?