Corn part II Corn stock

When corn is in abundance like it is right now I strongly encourage you to make this stock.  You can later add shrimp or lobster and potatoes for a great chowder or use it for the base of a good chilled corn soup. I blistered the poblano chilis and grilled the corn before starting the recipe.  The poblano adds a kick to the base.  The author also suggests adding cumin or coriander seeds.  My cilantro is just now going to seed so I'll try that next batch.  I'll add pics later but here is the recipe modified from "From the Earth to the Table" by John Ash.
Use the largest stock pot that you have.  This will produce about 4 quarts of stock from using a 12 quart stockpot.  I have a brand new stockpot from Williams-Sonoma that I love.

Ingredients:
16 ears of corn, shucked, and roasted on the grill
    I used a basting brush to add some olive oil before placing the corn on the grill
2 Tbs Olive oil
6 cups chopped onions
4 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped celery
2 TBS chopped garlic
2 cups dry white wine
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
2 poblano chilis, blistered, pealed and seeded, and chopped

Method:
After roasting or grilling the corn remove the kernels from the cobs and reserve both.
Put the olive oil in the stockpot along with the onions, carrots, celery and the garlic and cook over moderate heat until the vegetables are just beginning to brown.
Break the corn cobs into 2 or 3 pieces each and add to the pot along with the wine, bay leaves, peppercorns, and enough water to cover all by at least 3 inches.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
Strain the stock, pressing on the vegetables and cobs to extract all liquid.
Return to the stockpot and add the reserved corn kernels and poblano chilis
Simmer for an additional 25-30 minutes.
Strain, puree the corn and chilis in a blender or food processor and strain again to catch the big remnants or rough blend and add the corn and chilis back to the stock.

Can be stored 5 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.



Bon Appetit

We'll start with CORN part I roasted corn vinaigrette

roasted corn vinaigrette ready to dress your salad

taken with some variation from John Ash's "From the Earth to the Table".  This is a fabulous cookbook originally published in 1995.  It contains wonderful recipes from the wine country cuisine in Northern California -    I just looked on Amazon and this book is offered at over $500.  I guess I won't be giving my copy to Goodwill.  There is another updated paperback version

 Recipe:

1 cup fresh raw corn kernels ( about 2 large ears),  cobs reserved

2 Tbs olive oil

salt and pepper

3/4 cup rich chicken stock

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 1/2 Tbs shallots, minced

2 Tbs sherry vinegar

1 tsp serrano chile seeded and minced, red pepper flakes will do too

Roast the corn:  Toss the corn with 1 Tbs olive oil.  Salt and pepper

Roast on a baking sheet in one layer at 375 deg for 12-15 minutes until the corn gets a little color.

Cool.

Reduce the sauce: Combine the stock and the wine.  Break the cobs and add to the liquid.  Bring the liquid to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and reduce by half.  Strain the liquid and discard the cobs. Let the liquid cool.

Combine:  In a large bowl whisk the reduced stock, shallots, sherry vinegar, chili and the remaining 1 Tbs of olive oil.  Stir in the roasted corn.  Season with salt and pepper

Note: In the end I wanted more liquid so I added olive oil and sherry vinegar in a 2/1 ratio.  So considering halving the corn or doubling the liquids.

Bon appetit

mise en place

I like bone broth.  It's richer and has more body than the chicken broth

vinaigrette without corn

corn cobs in pot with wine and chicken stock

roasted corn kernels

These could have used a little more color but were delicious

Abundance, a one week diary of a mad woman

Abundance:  Isn't it what we hope for when we plant our tiny little seeds in the earth in spring or in Colorado really late spring and early summer.  I'm always hopeful and impractical to think that I can plant as early as I do and then I find myself covering my seedlings many nights so they don't freeze.
This year we had at least a dozen of these nights including 6 inches of snow at times. So I am extremely grateful that I have any harvest at all much less an abundance of one.

root vegetables

At the end of one manic week I have 4 pint jars of peach jam

4 pint jars of lavender jelly

 a pint of lavender syrup

a goat cheese ricotta lemon thyme and lavender tart

a 3 pound wheel of cheddar cheese
1 quart of S'mores goat milk ice cream

4 pints of zucchini pickles

2 country loaves of butternut squash bread

4 quarts of corn stock

4 stuffed zucchini with roasted corn vinaigrette

6 pints of corn salsa  

and

lots of zucchini and tomatoes

one week later

My cheesemaking friends decided we'd get together again to make peach jam.  The peaches from the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, called the Palisades grows the state's best peaches.  With that inspiration I decided to make a trial run batch to prepare for our "jamming" day.  I use a great little cookbook called Food in Jars for my basic recipes.  This batch has a peach pie flavor with added cinnamon and nutmeg but next week we will do just pure Colorado Palisades peaches and sugar:

peach jam mise en place

California and Colorado peaches

peaches cut and in the pan

with the sugar, spices and now ready for the jars

Since my canning book was open and I had some zucchini on the counter I flipped through the pages to find my zucchini pickle recipe and continued to process four more pints.

On that same day I was in a hunt for a cookbook that I wanted to use and while in my kitchen library ran into great old favorite: From the Earth to the Table Well my first thought was that with the internet who needs a cookbook anymore but as I thumbed through this book I went a little mad - truly I think I've lost my mind.  But for those who know me I absolutely LOVE to cook.  This little recipe jumped out at me called "Winter squash bread".  Since I had a butternut squash in my cold room (from last year's harvest) I had to make this the next day:

two boules ready for the oven

out of the oven

pretty right?

From the Earth to the Table- my inspiration

goat cheese ricotta with lemon thyme and lavender tart

Well then the recipe: Ricotta tart with lemon thyme caught my eye.  I had some goat cheese ricotta in the fridge since my last batch of cheesemaking and thought adding lavender to the tart would be a fabulous idea.

OK  Now that I had picked one branch of lavender and I had plenty ready to harvest in the garden I decided to make a good lavender tea infusion and try my hand at lavender jelly.  Brad has a vendor in his Seattle Farmer's Market that sells this little taste of heaven.   His girls and I are going to make some when I visit next time but why not do a trial run? Today?  I had a little lavender syrup left so I plopped that in the giant canning pot too:

lavender syrup and jelly

OK  Back to John Ash's book.  Well I have tons of zucchini and have used my favorite recipe several times now so yes there is a fabulous stuffed zucchini recipe in this book too:

I started with the vinaigrette - roasted corn

Roasted corn vinaigrette, mise en place

everything but the roasted corn

roasted corn vinaigrette

stuffed zucchini, mise en place

zucchini boats

eggplant and tomatoes ready to roast

stuffing ingredients

zucchini stuffed and ready for the broiler

stuffed zucchini with green salad and roasted corn vinaigrette

So now I was ready to put the book back on the shelf until I remembered that the Western Slopes Olathe corn was so delicious and also in abundance.  I went back to the book and found a recipe for corn stock - 16 ears of corn added to sautéed onions, celery, carrots and some chili.  So I bought 24 ears of corn, used 16 for the stock and decided to go back to my Food in Jars book and find a good tried and true corn salsa recipe.  Besides I just picked my first tomatoes.  I grilled the last 8 ears of corn along with some poblano chilies in preparation for one more day of food prep and canning

Roasted corn salsa:

corn salsa ingredients

OK now the book IS back on the shelf.  All the stockpots and knives are washed and put away but look there are another 10 pounds of tomatoes and all of these:

miles to go before I rest 

All of this and I managed to get in 40 miles of walking and 20 hours of work

I HAVE lost my mind

Chilled corn soup

chilled corn soup with shrimp salad, originally uploaded by cabanagirl.

with shrimp salad
Cold soups are interesting. I always think of soups as a warming dish on a cold day but this summer the opposite works too. Last week I made gazpacho from my garden harvest....excellent burst of flavors.
I found this recipe in the Bon Appetit magazine August and thought I'd try it. The recipe called for lobster but I couldn't find it in Denver..certainly not live so I substituted Key West wild shrimp.
Although the soup looks really creamy it is dairy free. All of the flavors are extremely subtle and for a guest to try to detect the ingredients is a mystery to the senses. Try this with your summer corn. It is worth it:

Chilled corn soup with shrimp salad:
corn soup:
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
6 cups of corn kernels (6 ears)
2 sprigs thyme
salt, pepper

Shrimp Salad:
2 cups gently cooked shrimp, cut bite size
1/2 small shallot, finely chopped
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp good olive oil plus more for drizzling
fresh ground pepper
3 Tbsp celery LEAVES, coarsely chopped plus more for garnish
1 Tbsp fresh tarragon, coarsely chopped plus more for garnish
Sea salt

Saute onions and garlic in butter and oil until soft, about 5 minutes
Add corn and season with salt and pepper, cook until soft and almost brown, about 8 minutes
Add thyme sprigs and 5 cups of water, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until corn is very soft (6-8 mins).
Discard thyme sprigs
Transfer to blender and work in batches until all pureed
Force through sieve or strainer, separating the solids.
Chill liquid for 2 hours

Salad:

Whisk shallot, lemon juice and mustard in a bowl,
Whisk in olive oil
Season with salt and pepper
Add shrimp, celery leaves and tarragon
Chill for 2 hours

Assemble:
Pour soup into bowls
Add salad to soup
Sprinkle with celery leaves and tarragon
Drizzle with olive oil
Season with salt and pepper

Bon Appetit Froid!

Early morning at the farm

corn, originally uploaded by cabanagirl.

I get up fairly early. Don't ask me what time. I have the alarm set but it never goes off. The chickens are my alarm. One hen (she must have rooster envy) cackles at the break of dawn, That's what chicken do. So I must get up and take care of the animals. I go out to the barnyard where the girls (all 11 of them) are happy to see me. The goats tails are wagging. The chickens are calmly clucking .....all waiting for their breakfast. I grab a bowl of goat oats and cracked corn plus any kitchen scraps from the night before. I throw the corn for the chickens and take the goats their breakfast on the bench. Then I wander around the garden to pick some fresh greens for my girls. Won't you walk around with me?
The morning glories are open! The sunflowers are standing attention! The squash are hiding under their broad leaves. There are grapes starting to turn purple and sweet and there are other treasures.
I think I'll just sit a while and watch the corn grow: