CORN-ucopia Salad

(image from Flickr)

For good energy I find it essential to team up proteins with carbs. And so nice to know that you don’t have to rely on animal proteins all the time – or even beans for that matter. The protein provider here is a grain: quinoa. If I haven’t mentioned it before, please keep quinoa in your freezer to ensure maximum freshness. It does have a high oil content so can certainly turn rancid.

With it being summer, corn is bountiful and beautiful so is showcased well in this salad with notes of sweet, citrus & heat. Great combo!

The recipe hails from that wonderful cookbook from the wonderful restaurant of the same name ‘Rebar’ (in Victoria, B.C.) with further direction from me regarding the type of salt to use.

Quinoa Corn Salad
1 cup quinoa
1-1/2 cups water
½ teaspoon unrefined sea salt
2-1/2 cups corn, removed from cob
1 small red onion, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
½ red pepper, finely diced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons lime juice
¼ cup chopped cilantro
3 scallions, minced
2 tablespoons finely minced chives
1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
½ teaspoon Tabasco sauce, or to taste

Place quinoa in a fine mesh sieve and rinse thoroughly with cold, running water (this will remove any bitterness). Bring water to boil in a small pot, add the quinoa and salt and bring to a boil again, Cover and reduce heat to low for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and keep the pot covered for an additional 5 minutes. Strain off any excess liquid (if any) and spread the quinoa out to cool on a cookie sheet while preparing the remaining ingredients.

Steam or lightly sauté the corn until just tender and then cool to room temperature. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and gently toss. Season with additional salt, pepper, or hot sauce to taste. Serve with fresh lime wedges

Resplendidly Rebar

Our turn to host my mum and dad for Sunday dinner. I was flipping through my Rebar cookbook and noticed I’m only 10 recipes away from making all 28 of their soup recipes. They’ve got a few with ingredients specific to summer’s bounty so I’ll definitely pick off another soup recipe to get me to single digits in my quest to cook my way through all their soups.

It’s hard to forget its summer when it’s this hot out, so I’ll go with a summer ingredient inspired main course also from Rebar. In typical Rebar fashion there is a lot of chopping involved – don’t expect to get a lot of other things accomplished if you’re making this for dinner.

I’m taking a little artistic license with the name of the entrée dish and swapped out an ingredient to make it work. I also used half and half instead of heavy cream as both recipes call for below partly because I put on 4 pounds during the 7 weeks I couldn’t run because of a broken toe, and partly because my husband is fat phobic and would have preferred I use skim milk all the way. I find the compromise of half and half is a happy medium. Check ‘my notes’ under each recipe for further advice.

Both are delicious and earned rave reviews at the dinner table tonight despite the fact my husband couldn’t believe I was serving a hot soup on the hottest day of the year.

(image from Flickr)

Summer Harvest Chowder
(recipe from Rebar cookbook)
8 cups vegetable stock
2 tablespoons olive oil, or butter 1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 teaspoons salt
6 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ cup chopped basil
4 small red potatoes, diced
3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
2 red peppers, diced
4 cups corn, fresh or frozen
1 cup heavy cream
3 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
¼ cup chopped cilantro
Fresh lime juice to taste

Heat the vegetable stock and keep it warm while preparing the soup. If using fresh corn in the soup (highly recommended!), add the stripped cobs to the stock and remove before using).

Heat olive oil or butter in a soup pot and sauté onion with 1 teaspoon salt, until soft and golden. Add garlic, black pepper, oregano and half of the basil; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in potatoes, jalapenos, red pepper, corn and remaining salt. Saute briefly, then add warm stock to cover and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender.

Stir in cream and return the soup to a light simmer. Add tomatoes, remaining basil and cilantro. Heat through, season to taste and serve.

My note: I use half and half instead of heavy cream (to save my marriage) and I think it’s imperative to use fresh corn. I find the best technique for removing corn from the cob is to repurpose a bundt pan and stand the ear of corn up so the point is in the middle (hole) of the bundt pan and you hold on to the stalk end. Then run your knife down the length of the cob and the kernels will fall into the pan instead of all over the countertop.

(Image from Flickr)

“Summer” Fettucine
(recipe from Rebar cookbook with slight modifications)
1 lb. green beans
2 tablespoons butter
2 leeks, mostly whites, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup vodka
1-12/ teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
1-12/ cups heavy cream
¼ lb. cold smoked salmon, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons capers
1 large bunch spinach, stemmed, and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons minced dill
2 tablespoons minced chives
1 lb. fettucine
Parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Cut the ends off the green beans and cut them into approximately 1-1/2” lengths. Salt the pasta water and use the boiling water to blanch the green beans for 1-2 minutes, or until bright green and just barely tender. Shock in ice water, drain and set aside.

Melt butter in a large heated skilled. Saute leeks and garlic until leeks are tender. Add vodka, lemon zest, salt and pepper and simmer until the vodka is reduced by half. Add cream and simmer until slightly thickened. Add asparagus, salmon, capers, spinach and half of the chopped herbs. Cook until the spinach wilts and everything else is heated through. Season to taste.

While the sauce simmers, cook the pasta, drain and toss lightly with olive oil. Serve immediately, topped or tossed with the sauce. Garnish with reserved herbs, cracked pepper and shaved or grated Parmesan.

My note: Again, half and half is the reduced-fat option in my house. I took the liberty of calling this “summer” fettucine instead of the “spring” fettucine referred to in the cookbook. The original “spring” recipe calls for asparagus and I’ve substituted with green beans for my “summer” adaptation. I’d also suggest using more than ¼ lb. of smoked salmon in this dish – I must say I felt slightly ripped off by the small portion of salmon on my plate.

Saturday Summer Supper

Well, part of tonight's dinner - the main course - you already know about. The salmon, potato salad, and corn all appeared in previous blogs (July 14 for the salmon and the potato salad, and July 18 for the corn). Tonight's first course was a no-cook soup made extra-easy with the assistance of the food processor, and goes like this:

Cucumber-Yogourt Soup with Avocado (serves 4)
(from Fine Cooking magazine, Issue #59, page 56)
1 large sweet white onion, peeled and quartered
1 pound of cucumbers, peeled, seeded and cut into big chunks
1 medium-size ripe avocado
1-1/2 cups plain yogurt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1-1/2 to 2 cups cold water
Freshly ground black pepper

Put the onion chunks in the food processor; pulse to chop finely. Scoop into a sieve, rinse under cold water; and set aside to drain. Put the cucumber chunks into the food processor; pulse to chop finely. Add the drained onion and pulse to combine. Set aside 3/4 cup of the cucumber-onion mix to stir into the soup at the end. Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Scoop out the pulp and drop it into the food processor with the remaining cucumber-onion mixture. Add the yogourt, olive oil, garlic, cumin, and salt. Puree until fairly smooth. Using a sharp knife, slice the basil and mint leaves into shreds and then stir them into the soup along with the lemon juice, 1 cup of cold water, and the reserved cucumber-onion mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours. Before serving, check for consistency, gradually adding another 1/2 to 1 cup of cold water to thin the soup, if necessary. Add more lemon juice and salt if needed and serve.

And for dessert.....

I realized I hadn't yet made any ice cream while writing this blog. And here we are in the middle of summer (how did that happen?). So here it is, from my foodie hero, Ina Garten, a rich and beautiful chocolate treat:

Deeply Chocolate Gelato

(2008, Ina Garten, with some modifications)

2-1/4 cups whole milk

1/3 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (recommended: Pernigotti*)

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (recommended: Bernard Callebaut)

4 extra-large egg yolks

2 tablespoons Kahlua (or other coffee liquer)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Large pinch kosher salt

*I can only find Pernigotti cocoa powder at the Williams-Sonoma store (at 15th & Granville) although I'm sure you must be able to find it down Commerical Drive although I've never looked for it there. The price tag isn't for the faint of heart. At $16 a tin it ain't cheap, but worth every penny. I promise you'll never go back to your grocery store cocoa powder.

Heat the milk, cream and 1/2 cup of sugar in a 2-quart saucepan, until the sugar dissolves and the milk starts to simmer. Add the cocoa powder (no need to sift) and the chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Pout into a heat-proof measuring cup (to make it easy to pour later).

Place the egg yolks and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and very thick (if you don't have an electric mixer, I would suggest beating vigoursly with a wooden spoon. You don't want to use an electric mixer as you would then beat air into the mixture which would have disastrous results in the freezer). With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour the hot chocolate mixture into the egg mixture (and I mean slow -- you don't want to end up with chocolate scrambled eggs!). Pour the egg and chocolate mixture back into the 2-quart saucepan and cook over medium-heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. A candy thermometer will register about 180 degrees Farenheit (don't allow the mixture to boil!).

Pour the mixture through a sieve into a bowl and stir in the Kahlua, vanilla extract, and salt. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the custard and put in the fridge to chill completely. (Or if you're short on time, place the bowl in an ice bath and stir to chill completely or at least to kick-start the chilling process and then put it in the fridge to completely chill).

Pour the chilled custard into the bowl of an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. Freeze in a covered container. Allow the gelato to thaw slightly before serving.

As a garnish, add a vanilla pizzelle wafer to make it feel molto Italiano (very Italian!).

Sensational Summertime

The local corn is SO good right now I needed to find a perfect vehicle for it and found it in a recipe of Risotto with Corn, Tomatoes & Basil. The recipe hails from Fine Cooking issue 59 (from September 2003). Excellent summertime fare. My only improvement is you need more than the 4 cups of chicken broth published in the original recipe, which is why I've noted it as 6 cups in the recipe below. I think you'd be sorely disappointed if you didn't warm up this amount. You may have a bit left over, but better that than not enough. As well, I use just 2 ears of corn (that's plenty, or else the recipe would need to be renamed "Corn with Risotto....") and not the 3 ears of corn as published in the original recipe. I have a special technique to cut the corn kernels off of the cob. If you're like me and have A LOT of kitchen stuff, you'll likely have a bundt pan - here's another purpose for it. Stand the corn on end using the middle/centre whole of the bundt pan to hold the corn in place (the tip of the corn) and hold the stalk end of the cob with your hand. Then run your chef's knife down the length of the cob and give the cob a quarter turn (or so) and repeat until all the kernels are off. As you slice the kernels off the cob the bundt pan catches the bounty. Cool, eh?

Before we get to the recipe, I thought it was also important to provide a lovely cocktail recipe as well. A girl's gotta have something to sip on while patiently stirring her risotto. This drink was written up in last month's issue of Bon Appetit and is called The Leland Palmer (one of the character's names from the long ago TV show Twin Peaks). It's quintessential summer - sunshine in a glass. So let me first introduce you to Leland Palmer and then we'll get down to the business of making risotto:

The Leland Palmer
Makes about 12 drinks (the recipe says makes 6, but don't believe them). The recipe can easily be halved.
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup hot water
3 cups freshly brewed jasmine tea, cooled
3/4 cup gin
3/4 cup limoncello
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh grapefruit juice
1 cup chilled club soda
Ice cubes
Lemon slices (for garnish)

Stir honey and hot water in a small bowl until honey dissolves. Cool completely. Combine all of the remaining ingredients (except ice and lemon slices) into a pitcher and stir to blend. Fill glasses with ice cubes and pour in mixture; top with a lemon slice.

And now for the Risotto. A fresh garden salad to follow, or served on the side, is a great pairing.

Risotto with Corn, Tomatoes & Basil
(Serves three as a main dish; six as a side dish)
6 cups low-salt chicken broth
2 ears corn, shucked and cleaned of any silk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil
1 shallot or small onion, minced
1 cup arborio rice
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 cup chopped plum or cherry tomatoes
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons torn fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Heat the broth in a pot or saucepan large enough to fit the corn over medium-low heat to just below a simmer. Simmer the corn in the broth for 4 minutes and transfer to a plate; reserve the broth and keep it hot. Using a chef’s knife, slice the corn kernels off the cob.

In a heavy-based deep skillet or wide saucepan, melt the butter (or heat the oil) over medium heat. Add the shallot or onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it’s translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and stir until the grains are well coated with butter or oil. Pour in the wine, stir, and cook until the wine is absorbed, about 1 minute.

Ladle in about 1-1/2 cups of the hot broth, and cook, stirring occasionally, until absorbed, 3 to 5 minutes. Continue adding broth in 1/2-cup increments, stirring and simmering until it’s absorbed each time, at intervals of about 3 to 5 minutes.

While the rice is simmering, combine the tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil, and 2 Tbs. of the basil in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

When the rice is just barely tender, after about 16 minutes, stir in the corn. Continue adding more stock and stirring until the rice is creamy but still firm to the tooth, 20 to 25 minutes total. Remove from the heat, fold in the Parmigiano and then the tomato-basil mixture. Top each serving with the remaining basil and serve immediately.

Sunday Chicken Dinner - Summer Style

For my parents coming over for dinner tonight, I decided to keep it simple - and by that I mean make a main course only (no starter) and purchase dessert. There were lots of tantalizing options for dessert at Granville Island Market this morning and I opted for an assortment of individual tarts from an independent stand in the market. Flavours included: lemon almond, tart cherry, chocolate caramel, and raspberry coconut.

I went with chicken as the main dish and prepared this as a paillard (flattened). Great technique for the barbeque as the chicken cooks evenly, which is sometimes hard to do with chicken breasts. Because they're pounded to 1/4 inch thickness, this also means they cook in record time - about 2-3 minutes per side. Start with skinless, boneless chicken breasts. Put one chicken breast in between two sheets of Saran Wrap and pound it evenly (to 1/4 inch thickness) using anything you have that's heavy e.g. rolling pin, skillet. Of course if you have one of the proper meat tenderizer mallets, this is the way to go. Once you've pounded out all the chicken breasts, place them on a large sheet pan and to each side of chicken sprinkle Kosher salt and pepper, chili flakes, freshly minced rosemary (or any fresh herb of your choosing), minced garlic, a drizzle of olive oil, and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Be generous with the seasoning and flavouring. There's nothing less desireable than an under-flavoured piece of cooked chicken.

To accompany the chicken, a quick salad of green beans (blanched) with red peppers in a dressing of red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard and salt and pepper. This was all mixed together and chilled in the fridge until ready to serve. And last, but certainly not least - corn on the cob. Who can resist the corn right now? This is a breeze to prepare. Just put the whole corn (still in the husk) directly on the barbeque and grill for about 10-15 minutes turning occasionally. You'll know when it's done when the husk begins to blacken and pull away from the corn. Then just rip off the corn husk, plate it, and it's ready for its blanket of butter.