Maize from Heaven

Corn on the cob has returned in full-force to the farmers markets, supermarkets and roadside stands around Baltimore. Yesterday, I saw a man selling it out of the back of his van for $2 a dozen. It's everywhere.

With inspiration from a dish at Woodberry Kitchen, which in my opinion is the best restaurant in the city, Other Blonde Girl and I have been gobbling up this summertime staple grilled with mayonnaise and feta cheese. It is so good you'll crave it every day.

No recipe to follow here. Just drop husked ears of corn directly onto your grill. Cook, turning every couple of minutes until the ears are slightly charred. Remove and slather immediately with your favor mayo and feta cheese crumbles.

Be warned, this corn is addictive! You will want to make meals of nothing but this corn. Plan on at least two ears each.

Strange Dreams

Last night I dreamed that Eric Ripert served me dinner.  I was eating alone (don't know why or where...)  I don't remember most of the food, however he served an amazing clam chowder.  The clams were still in their shells and it was the most delicious soup I remember ever eating. 

What does all this mean?  Well apparently (according to various web sources on the Internet) to see a chef in a dream represents transformation and changes.  Consider what is "cooking" in your life.  Eating alone signifies sadness or loneliness and the clams?  Well to eat them, foretells you will enjoy anothers prosperity.

Good and Quick

Tonight we had a simple and tasty combination. Sub Duck cooked lamb patties (vermont raised lamb with garlic,rosemary and lemon zest) on the grill. He also grilled Zuccini and corn on the cob which we mingled in a bowl to serve. Couscous provided the starch. Not at all complex but very tasty.We then had a salad entirely of greens from our garden including arugala, two kinds of lettuce, spinich, sorell, mint and sage. It is so great to be eating from the garden again. Good memorial day weekend to all !

Inspiration from the Market

We have now enjoyed 3 Sundays shopping at the Farmers' Market. There have been strawberries, green onions, lettuce, and asparagus. I think I could eat asparagus every day if I had an unlimited supply. Today the market inspired our menu planning. We came home with sorrel which became sorrel soup -- via the recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child - for our starter. Shrimp with Mango and Basil from Eating Well magazine followed the soup. The recipe called for a large amount of basil and scallions which we had bought at the market. Needless to say the mango and shrimp were not local. For dessert we ate stewed rhubarb topped with cut-up strawberries. Tomorrow night I will fix spinach salad - baby spinach -- another market inspiration.

As a side note, last week I made the Chinese noodle dish that several of Cooks to Spare have prepared. I used ground pork instead of turkey. It is easy to make and so delicious! We highly recommend it.

Fiddleheads !

Yesterday afternoon we saw a couple selling fiddleheads by the roadside. This is the top of fern plant, which, before it unrolls to open looks like the scroll t the top of a violin's neck. Only one or two varieties of fern produce a truly edible "head". We haven't seen the right type in our own woods so we stopped to buy these. This is truly a short time treat because the season is less than a month long. We boiled the ferns in plain water for ten minutes to remove any toxins. Though not deadly they can cause some distress eaten raw. We then sauteed them in olive oil with a bit of garlic. As you can see , they stay a lovely color green and the flavor was very nice. We had planned to have Salmon and Basmati Rice for supper and the fiddleheads went very well. This is a real sign of spring here in the northeast.

Our fist crop of salad greens is about a half inch tall and I just planted peas. Some of the local farms with greenhouses are offering spinach and soon will have lettuce as well. The whole "local" food scene is starting to get more interesting.

Corn Salsa

Life has been busy in April for us and from the look of our blog posts (or lack there of), for everyone else as well.  My husband's sister sent us a recipe for a simple corn salsa and we tried it this week.  We used it on steak and tortillas along with avocado as an added garnish.  It was delicious and very refreshing.  On lettuce the next day, it made a great vegetarian salad for me to take to work.

We did alter the recipe a bit by slightly cooking the red peppers with some garlic, and then adding the beans and the corn.  Here is the recipe.  I think it would go well with other meats or on it's own.

1 15oz caned black beans rinsed

1 c thawed or fresh corn, sweet is best

1/2 c each chopped red pepper and cilantro
3 TB lime juice
Red onion to taste
2 TB balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin

Pizza Night

So Fridays at our house are pizza night. There is pizza and sometimes a nature show on TV. This week we watched the Tivo'd episode of Life about birds. Sometimes it's good pizza, sometimes it's less than good (yes, Dominos, once, and no, don't believe the commercials, their pizza is still horrible). Depending on how the week went, sometimes it's made all or mostly by us.

This week, Blonde Girl's Son was on a school holiday, so there was some actual time for planning. Thanks to Trader Joe's for some pre-made dough (whole wheat and herb varieties) and also for the Thai Chicken Pizza recipe. I found a recipe for Cherry Tomato Pizza Margherita on Epicurious and we were ready for pizza night.

The Thai Chicken Pizza was good, forgoing the precooked chicken suggested, I marinated in satay sauce and cooked in a hot cast iron skillet. It made for the grilled texture and flavor you are supposed to have with satay chicken. We didn't have green onions, so substituted mandolined leeks. The mandoline also makes nice julienned carrots (thanks Other Blonde Girl, btw, great gift which sees tons of use).


The Cherry Tomato Pizza Margherita was also good. The whole wheat crust was surprisingly tasty. We didn't put pepper flakes in and put more garlic in than called for, also grated some Parmigiano-Reggiano on top after it came out of the oven.

On another (vaguely food related) note, there are theories that bad and good things, depending on what theory you prescribe to, happen in threes.

Our triumvirate appears to be brushes with somewhat famous people in restaurants. First it was Scott Simon commenting on Blonde Girl's Sons behavior (in a good way) in a Tucson restaurant. Then it was getting scanned by Janet Napolitano's security detail as she ate in our favorite French bistro. Tonight, it was giving up our table at the local sushi joint so Virginia Madsen could have a street view. Reminds of the old Letterman skit titled "Brushes with Greatness", when Dave would mock people for this very thing. Ah well, at least we got free gyoza and tempura out of the move to the sushi bar. And Blonde Girl's Son prefers the location, because he gets to watch the boats go by, that and some fish eggs and he's happy.