The farmers' markets are booming. This week, we managed to get most of our ingredients for dinners at the Union Square farmers' market. Fifteen dollars bought enough greens, orange cherry tomatoes, bi-color corn, and sheep's milk cheese to nourish our bellies two nights in a row. It was all local, and all organic.
The first night we had the salad warm (we admit, the AC was cranked a bit high), and the second night, we had a cool version of the same salad. They are both easy enough for late weeknight dinners at home, but elegant and fresh enough to feel spoiled and healthy.
Try the following recipes, or get adventurous and create your own salad using whatever jumps out at you when you are browsing at the market. This is the best time of year for it. Enjoy it while it lasts. skgr
Warm Corn and Cherry Tomato Salad
serves 2
Two handfuls mixed greens, washed and dried
3 cloves garlic, chopped very fine
1-2 tablespoon olive oil
1 ear corn, kernels stripped off the cob with a very sharp knife
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
Small piece of hard cheese such as parmesan, manchego, etc.
Place greens in a salad bowl.
In a small saut pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add half of the garlic and saut for a few seconds, stirring with a wooden spatula. Add the corn and saut for 3 minutes, or until corn begins to release its scent, and brightens in color. Set aside.
In the same pan, add another tablespoon of oil, if needed, bring up the flame to medium high, and saut the tomatoes for a few seconds. Add the vinegar and toss the tomatoes in the juices for a minute or so, until the tomatoes begin, just barely, to lose their shape. Add the corn again, just to warm it, and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Arrange cooked corn and tomatoes on top of greens. Toss just before serving. Serve with a few thin ribbons of shaved cheese laid across the top.
Cool Corn and Cherry Tomato Salad
serves 2
Two handfuls mixed greens, washed and dried
1 ear corn, kernels stripped off the cob with a very sharp knife
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 clove garlic, chopped very fine
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
Small piece of hard cheese such as parmesan, manchego, etc.
In the bottom of a salad bowl, combine garlic, vinegar, salt and pepper. Whisk in olive oil. Taste for seasoning. Add greens, corn and tomatoes in a salad bowl and toss very well. Serve with a few thin ribbons of shaved cheese laid across the top.
I've also been stocking up on Greenmarket corn and tomatoes. Two questions though: Does the corn need to be cooked before either (or both) of these menus? Also, is there a noticeable difference between the bicolor corn and the just yellow or white varieties? (I'm asking because one of the stands at Union Square had them all on one table, and I wasn't quite sure if it mattered what ended up in my shopping bag!)
AK - Each recipe says what to do with the corn - it is cooked in the first salad, and raw in the second. As for corn varieties, there are more than 200 varieties of corn available. Many are now genetically modified to be 'supersweet' or to have longer shelf lives. Flavor does not change significantly between varieties. Sometimes size of the cob, kernel, ripening time on the stalk, etc. are the only differences between varieties. Generally, buy what's local, unmodified, and organic if possible.
I'm glad AK asked that "cooked or uncooked" question about the corn, since I see recipes like this and they are never really clear on that point.
Cooking the corn a little - a very little - is usually a good idea. Corn starts to convert from sugar to starch from the moment it's picked, which is why it is sooo much better from a farm stand by the side of the corn field.
But there's no apartments near corn fields, so we go to the farmer's market. The nice thing about THAT is there's a fishmonger there. A brilliant variation on corn/tomato salad is . . .
Grilled scallops/corn/tomato salad
Make a salad with lime juice, olive oil, black pepper, basil, and tomato. Cilantro or other herbs optional. Grill the corn if you are feeling ambitious -- otherwise just steam or boil it for 5 minutes and cut it off the cob into the salad. Grill scallops. Toss and serve to adoring friends or family.