Sweet corn and black bean salad

We got our first Colorado sweet corn a couple of days ago. I bought enough for us to steam for dinner and also to make this salad. It’s loosely based on Rachel Ray, but only loosely. Light and nutritious, it’s a quintessential summertime dish.

Sweet corn and black bean salad
3 ears corn, steamed and cooled
1 14.5 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
¼ medium red onion, finely diced
½ green (or other color) bell pepper, diced
2 tbsp chopped parsley or cilantro (or both)
1 tsp ground cumin
juice of ½ lime
splash of tabasco or sriracha (to taste)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

Cut kernels from ears of corn. Put into a bowl with beans and onion.

Microwave the bell pepper for 30 seconds with just a splash of water. This is an optional step. We prefer the pepper not to be totally raw.

Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Serve at room temperature.

Pork burgers with creamed corn

This combination of dishes was fun to make and came by way of a couple of inspired ideas (mine).

First, the pork: I had some bone-in pork loin chops which weighed a total of exactly 1 pound. After the bones and fat were removed the remains weighed 12 oz., an ideal amount for 2 burgers.

I got the idea to render the fat and bones in a sauté pan and use the fat to fry the sage leaves briefly and then sauté the onion for the creamed corn in the fat. If you happen to use boneless chops you could still trim the fat and use it as described.

As for the radishes, the use of them occurred to me while searching through our greens drawer in the fridge. I love sautéed radishes, having originally been turned on to them by Lydia Bastianich. And since pork burgers get cooked all the way through, the radishes suffused them with their own delicate flavor – all the pepperiness cooks out of the radishes.

You could use more onion for the creamed corn if you wish (maybe ½ an onion), but ¼ onion was what we had and seemed sufficient to me. Also, we had half-and-half but no heavy cream. Cream would indeed be preferable. One more thing: use a seeded jalapeno if you don’t have Hatch chiles.

Pork burgers
12 oz. ground pork
4 medium radishes
4 sage leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil

Trim 1 lb. bone-in pork loin chops of all bones and fat. Chop the meat in a food processor. Remove to a bowl and chop the radishes very fine. Add to the pork.

Use trimmings as below for creamed corn. After the fat has rendered, fry the sage leaves in it for 1 minute. Break up into the ground meat. Mix the sage and radishes into the pork with your hands. Form into 2 burgers. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a skillet and fry the burgers 4-5 minutes per side until cooked all the way through.

Creamed corn
Fat trimmings from pork chops or 1 slice bacon
¼ medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 lb. frozen corn kernels
1 chopped Hatch chile, skin and seeds removed
1/3 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup half-and-half or heavy cream

Render the pork fat (or bacon) and set the bits aside. Saute the onion and garlic over medium heat for 4-5 minutes until softened but not browned.

Deglaze the pan with chicken stock and add the corn and chile. Season with salt and white or black pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook covered for a few (3-4) minutes.
Add the half-and-half or cream and bring back to a simmer. Check for seasoning and adjust as necessary.

Stewed fresh corn and tomatoes

I didn’t expect to have anything to share today. However, we decided to do something a little different with our Colorado corn and tomatoes. On Monday I bought 5 ears of Olathe corn (the good stuff) at King Soopers for just $1.

I made a fun stewed corn and tomato mixture. We ate it at room temperature. There’s leftovers which I think I prefer to eat slightly warmed, perhaps tonight.

When I made rib eye steak the other day, we ended up with quite a quantity of leftovers. It’s been marinating since Sunday (3 days ago) in a mixture of black vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and sherry vinegar (roughly equal parts black vinegar and W. sauce and about ½ part sherry vinegar). The hope is that the steak will tenderize. It was pretty tough on Sunday, although very flavorful. We’re going to make tacos for dinner. I’m not going to write down a recipe. It will just include flour tortillas (heated on the stovetop grill), steak and cheese and some chopped cabbage.

Let’s face it, you can stick anything into a warm tortilla and eat it.

Today our foodie group, the FEDUPs (Foodies Eating Diverse, Unusual Platings), meets for lunch at Denver’s Buckhorn Exchange. This restaurant is known for its game, such as rattlesnake, Rocky Mountain oysters (if you don’t know what they are, don’t ask), buffalo burgers, ribs, moose, elk, etc. Would it amuse you to know that we have declared that anyone who withdraws from FEDUPs will be known as a FEDEX? We haven’t lost anyone yet.

When I began preparing the tomatoes for this dish I briefly debated boiling water to blanch and skin them. I decided not to and cored the stem ends. Then I changed my mind. Guess what – it’s not difficult to peel tomatoes without blanching them. It takes a little longer, but nowhere near the time consumed by waiting for a large pot of water to boil.

Stewed fresh corn and tomatoes

3 ears corn
2 medium tomatoes
basil leaves
1 large clove garlic, minced
lemon juice
parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chicken broth

Cut the kernels off the corn. Peel and chop the tomatoes. Chop the basil. Grate the cheese, using an amount to your taste. We used about 1/3 cup.

Heat the oil and butter in a skillet. When the foam subsides add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the corn, tomatoes, broth, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and heat to a simmer. Cook just until the corn is tender but still a little crunchy, 5-7 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in basil, cheese and lemon juice. Serve warm or at room temperature.