Grilled Corn with Basil Butter

More summer grilling! This definitely spruces up your usual grilled corn.

I'm usually not too too much of a basil fan. The taste always has echoes of anise for me. Yuck!

But with the salt and butter and sweetness of the corn, it fits right in.

This recipe makes a bit of extra butter. The leftovers can be eaten on toast or other vegetables. 

So good!

"Blister in the Sun" Violent Femmes

From Food 52

Ingredients

8 ears of corn, shucked

Olive oil

Salt

For the butter:

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup basil, loosely packed

1 tablespoon sea salt

Directions

Preheat grill to medium hot. Roll corn in a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt. When grill is hot, add corn and close the lid. Rotate the corn a few times, until some of the kernels are blistered and the rest a bright and shiny yellow. This shouldn't take longer than 8 minutes. Be careful not to overcook, or the corn will be dry. 

Meanwhile, add the butter, basil, and salt to a food processer and let it rip. You may need to scrape down the sides once or twice. When the basil is finely chopped and the butter has a light green tint, it's done.

When the corn comes off the grill, slather it with the basil butter. Sprinkle with a little more salt if desired. Eat immediately. 

Note: basil butter can be made ahead and extra basil butter will keep for about a week or two in the fridge. You can roll it into a log with plastic wrap and slice it off as you need it.

Corn Fritters

 

My mom and sister love to go to this one Chinese place that has a lunch buffet. 

I often get dragged along (I agree to go because I've forgotten how bad it is).

The corn fritters make it worth it, and they're really the reason I agree to go.

This recipe comes close to the real thing, but I expect I'll still be going along with them to that Chinese place to get my fix.

"Eleanor Rigby" The Beatles

From Indochine Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 shallots
2 garlic cloves
2 candlenuts
1/2 tbsp whole white pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
4 corn, about 1,2 kg (net weight after grated and peeled is 500 g)
4 red chilies, sliced finely
4 Thai bird's eye chilies, sliced finely
10 kaffir lime leaves, sliced finely
1 spring onion, chopped
1 stalk Chinese celery, chopped
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tbsp tapioca starch
1 egg
1/2 cup cooking oil, for pan-frying

Directions:

Grind shallot, garlic, candlenuts, pepper, salt and sugar into fine paste.
Grate 3 cobs of corn using coarse grater. Peel the kernels off the remaining cob. Put everything in a big bowl.
Combine the rest of the ingredients into the corn. Mix well with a spoon.
Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Drop spoonfuls of batter into hot oil and fry for three minutes, till golden brown, both sides.
Serve warm with sweet chili sauce.

Corn Chowder

 I found this while looking for a mashed peas recipes. Kind of an odd combination, I know.

It's from Simply Recipes.

 

Since I had so many Cat Steven's songs in the recent posts, here's one of my favorites:

( if you really like Cat Stevens the next video link is a film trailer. The movie's soundtrack is all him)

 

 "Don't Be Shy" Cat Stevens

"Harold and Maude" a dark comedy

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 strip of bacon or 1 teaspoon of bacon fat (substitute 1/2 Tbsp of butter for vegetarian option)
• 1/2 large yellow onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 large carrot, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
• 1/2 celery stalk, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
• 3 ears of sweet corn, kernels removed from the cobs (about 2 cups), cobs reserved
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 1/2 cups milk, whole or low fat
• 1 medium Yukon Gold potato, or Russet, peeled and diced
• 1/4 red bell pepper, chopped (about 1/4 cup)
• Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Directions

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the bacon strip (skip this step for vegetarian option, just add more butter) and fry until the bacon renders its fat, but doesn't begin to brown, 3 or 4 minutes. Add the onion and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, until soft. Add the carrot and celery and cook for 4 or 5 more minutes.

Break the corn cobs in half and add them to the saucepan. Add the milk and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a bare simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 30 minutes. Make sure the heat is as low as can be and still maintain a gentle simmer (on our stove we had to use the "warm" setting) to prevent scalding the milk on the bottom of the pan.

Discard the cobs, the bacon strip, and the bay leaf. Raise the heat, add the potatoes, red pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt, fresh ground pepper to taste, bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are almost fork tender.

Raise the heat, add the corn kernels and the thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.

Tortilla Soup

I first heard this on a Pandora station for Regina Spektor.

New Soul by Yael Naim

 

This was so good. 

You know when a soups really thick?

Yeah. 

So warm. So good. So thick.

   

Inspired by Pioneer Woman's Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chopped carrots
• 8 oz. mixed beans (pinto, black, chili, kidney)
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• small onion
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 can (8 oz) diced tomatoes
• 3 cups canned tomato sauce
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Heat oil. Saute onion. Add two tablespoons of chili powder and 1 tsp. of garlic powder.
2. Add carrots and celery.
3. Once the veggies are cooked, add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, vegetable broth, frozen corn and beans.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes
5. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and tortilla chips.