Fresh Corn Cakes with Honey

These are delicious!  They're even good the next day reheated (or not!) if any are left over.  They make a great breakfast, but are also savory enough that they work well as an alternative to corn muffins, too.  If you have some ears of sweet corn that have been sitting in the fridge for a few extra days, then give these corn cakes a try. They're fairly easy and have some big corn flavor.  There isn't any honey in the batter (though you could add a tablespoon if you'd like).  And truth be told, you could eat them with maple syrup, or slathered with peanut butter--or just on their own.  Drizzled with honey, though--well, they're divine!  The recipe is adapted from Gene Opton's (2000) Honey:  A Connoisseur's Guide With Recipes (click on the link for my review). 

Fresh Corn Cakes with Honey

4 or 5 ears of fresh sweet corn
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk (or whole milk)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (if using buttermilk; skip if using whole milk)
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper

Cut the kernels from four corn cobs, place in a food processor and pulse four or five times until they're coarsely chopped with a bit of liquid.  Measure out 1 1/2 cups (adding another ear of coarsely ground kernels if needed).  In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, add the buttermilk (or milk) and butter and combine well.  In another bowl, whisk the flours, baking soda (if using buttermilk), salt and pepper.  Add to the egg/milk batter and stir just until combined.

Coat a skillet or griddle lightly with oil and heat over medium-high flame.  Measure about 1/4 cup of batter into heated pan, forming about 4 inch cakes.  Fry until golden, about 2-3 minutes.  Flip and fry on the other side until golden.  Serve with a drizzle of honey and--if you want to get fancy--creme fraiche and cilantro. Makes about 12 four-inch cakes.

Dairy-free Corn, Honey & Lime Ice "Cream"

Okay.  This recipe is admittedly a bit over the top, and I'm expecting a little good-natured ribbing from at least one of my two blog readers (thanks Mom & Dad!).

Mark Bittman's 7/7/12 op-ed in New York Times, "Got Milk? You Don't Need It?" finally convinced me to give dairy a break for a week.  I am an ardent ice cream fan (and have claimed to Robert, as I dish up a second scoop of Bruster's Dark Chocolate Ice Cream, that I can stop anytime I want).   What's an ice cream loving girl going dairy free to do?  Corn Honey & Lime Ice "Cream!"

We had a few ears of McConnell's Family Farm corn in our fridge left over from the weekend, and I came across a recipe for vegan Sweet Corn Ice Cream in Vegetarian Times.  Click on the link and it'll take you right there.  I, of course, swapped the agave syrup for honey, which calls into question whether this recipe is vegan now.   But this a blog about cooking with honey--and Corn & Lime Ice "Cream" is is a great dessert! It satisfies a confirmed ice cream lover's yearnings and it has the added bonus of being made with real food--not one goofy ingredient.  It's so good, I'd even recommend it to someone who isn't going dairy free!  After four hours in the freezer, it was the consistency of soft-serve ice cream.  A day later, it was very firm, yet still had a great mouth-feel.  This is NOT ice cream, so if you make it anticipating something exactly like ice cream, you may be disappointed.  But the flavor is wonderful and the texture is remarkably creamy given that there isn't a drop of cream in it.

Corn, Honey & Lime Ice "Cream"
4 cups cooked corn kernels (about four ears of corn)
1 cup cashews (I used roasted)
1/2  cup honey
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt (if needed)

In a food processor, puree 2 cups of corn with 1/2 cup cashews until finely ground.  Add one cup of water and process until relatively smooth.  Strain into a fine mesh sieve placed over a large bowl.  Process the other 2 cups of corn and 1/2 cup cashews as above.  Add another cup of water and process until smooth.  Pour in the sieve.  Press on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible and then discard the solids.  In a small bowl, combine the honey, lime zest, juice and vanilla extract and stir to combine well.  Add a few cups of the corn/cashew "juice" and blend well..  Whisk this into the rest of the corn/cashew mixture.  Taste and see if it needs salt.  Process the mixture in a ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.

Freeze for about four hours before serving.

Spicy Black Bean, Corn and Peach Salad (and Whole Wheat Flatbread!)

Ah, the peaches are in at McConnell's Family Farm! They truly (truly!) need no embellishment and never disappoint. These are the peaches that convinced me once and for all that it's worth waiting for local fruit to ripen:  I'll never buy another mealy grocery store peach as long as I live!  

While the best way to enjoy these peaches is simply on their own, they will ripen quickly.  We bought a box  about four days ago and a few are showing signs of heading south.  McConnell's corn on the cob is also in, so I decided to put together a kind of southwestern bean salad adding a few peaches to the melange. It's a bit spicy, which Robert likes, but you can play around with the ingredients and turn the heat up or down as you like. (Skip the ground chipotle pepper, for example, or only add half of the jalapeno).

I needed something to go with the salad and tried out Alice Waters's flat bread recipe posted on Carol Stabile's blog, Can't Handle the Heat?  Carol's a friend, colleague and mentor (in the academy and the kitchen).  I used the flatbreads to make a kind of black bean salad fajita (and tinkered with them only minimally--adding a tablespoon of honey; what can I say?).  Read on!

Spicy Black Bean, Corn & Peach Salad

2 cups cooked black beans (or 1 15 oz can, drained)

3 ears of corn, cooked and cut from the cob (or about 1 1/2 cups)

1 stalk celery, minced

1 jalapeno pepper,seeded and minced

1/4 cup red onion, minced

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon honey

2 peaches, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks

salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl, add the beans, corn, celery, jalapeno pepper and onion and gently toss to mix. Sprinkle the oil, ground chipotle pepper, salt and cayenne pepper over the mixture and gently toss again.

In a small to medium bowl, combine the juices and honey, stirring well to be sure the honey dissolves.  Add the cut, peeled peaches to the juice and honey mixture (the hope is that this will keep the peaches from turning brown too quickly).

Add the peaches/juices/honey mixture to the beans n'at (as we say Pittsburgh) in the large bowl and gently toss.  Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.  You can serve this salad right away or cover and refrigerate for up to four hours.  Serves 8 (easily).  Try them with flatbread!




Alice Waters's Whole Wheat Flatbread
(via Carol Stabile's Can't Stand the Heat? blog)

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon honey (optional!)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

In a bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together.  Stir in the water, olive oil and honey and knead to form a moist dough.  Cover with a towel and let sit for 30 minutes.

Heat a cast iron skillet.  Divide dough into 16 balls. (They will seem quite small, but this is a lovely, pliable dough that will roll out to a thin bread.) Roll each ball into a 6 by 3 inch oval. (Mine were more like raggedy circles.)   I lightly oiled the skillet and cooked one flatbread at a time, about two minutes on each side.  Carol notes they're "great with hummus or other bean dips.  Good with peanut butter and jam.  Better still with Nutella."  They're lovely with a bit of honey and cinnamon, too!

Honey and Infants (+ healthy salads for new parents!)

My niece and her husband just had their second child (a boy!) and I've been making some healthy meals to keep them well fed while they settle in with their new one.  Preparing food for the newly expanded family and an email exchange with our friend Jarrett (also a new papa and a big honey fan!) made me look more closely into the reasons that infants should not be fed honey.  My niece is breastfeeding and I wanted to be sure that  any honey I used in the meals I'm making wouldn't cause any trouble.  So, first things first: I'm not a doctor and I'm not dispensing medical advice here, but this WebMD page suggests that if eaten in "food amounts," then honey is fine for a breastfeeding mom to eat.

Why shouldn't infants (under 1 year old) have honey?  An in-depth 2002 article from American Family Physician offers a wonderful overview of this issue, which is worth a read if you're a new (or old!) parent  with questions.  The reason that raw unpateurized honey should not be fed to infants under 1 year old is that it may contain botulism spores that a baby's young intestines are not yet equipped to combat.  The American Family Physician article also includes this surprising information:  though infant botulism is rare worldwide, most diagnosed cases are in the U.S.  The article attributes this to more awareness in the US (not that there are more spores in the US).

Looking for less in-depth but reliable info about infant botulism and honey?  Here are two great sources:   the Mayo Clinic website and the U.S. National Library of Medicine's Pub-Med Health webpage.   If you want to do your own searching for more information about this, try "infant botulism and honey" as search terms.

Two Healthy Salads for New Parents (both with lovely lime dressing!)

Quinoa, Red Pepper & Black Bean Salad with Honey-Lime Vinaigrette
Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is a seed that growing in popularity primarily because it's a great source of protein and easy to make.  The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations compares the nutritional quality of quinoa to dried whole milk.  You can find it now in many grocery stores near the rice section.  Most of the quinoa we get in the US is grown in Bolivia.  As with just about every food option, the popularity of quinoa has advantages and disadvantages.  Want to read more?  Check out "The Paradoxes of Quinoa" from the Alpha Galileo Foundation.)

1 cup quinoa
2 cups cooked black beans (or 1 can, drained)
1 red bell pepper, diced in 1/4- inch dice
2 scallions, sliced in 1/8-inch circles (include some of the green part)
1-2 tablespoons honey
juice of one lime
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

Place quinoa in sauce pan with 2 cups water, cover and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for about 20 or until all the water is absorbed.  Cool.  Place cooled quinoa in a large bowl.  Add the peppers, beans and scallions.  In a small jar, combine the honey, lime juice, vinegar and vegetable oil and shake to emulsify.  Pour over salad and mix well.  Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

This delicious corn salad comes from Jarrett who claims they're making it at least twice a week!

Grilled Corn, Avocado and Tomato Salad with Honey-Lime Dressing
2 ears fresh sweet corn, grilled and scraped from cob (remove husks and grill over medium heat for about 10 minutes, turning--the corn should have some brown spots on it and be tender, but not mushy)
1 pint grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1 avocado, diced in
2 ears fresh corn
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
Gently toss all of the above in a bowl

Honey Lime Dressing
juice of one lime
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
dash of cayenne (optional--I'd leave this out if making for a new breastfeeding mom)
Place dressing ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously to combine.  Pour over salad and gently toss.  Let sit for 10-15 minutes so flavors meld and deepen.  Enjoy (and thanks, Jarrett!)

Honey Corn Chowder

A delicious, slightly sweet soup that makes good use of late summer corn.

6 ears of corn (or about 3 cups of frozen corn)

4-6 Yukon gold potatoes, 1/2 inch dice

1 green pepper, diced

1/2 hot red pepper (like cayenne) or 1/2 teaspoon dried cayenne flakes (optional)

1 small onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

2 cups water from cooking the corn

Water from cooking potatoes, if needed

1/2 cup half-and-half

3 tablespoons summer honey

salt and pepper to taste

If using corn on the cob, cut kernels from the cob over a 2 quart sauce pan and scrape to be sure you get all of the lovely corn milk.  Cover with water and bring to a boil,, then simmer for 5 minutes. Drain, reserving water.

Place potatoes in a large pot (this will be the soup pot) and cover with water.  Add about 1 teaspoon of salt.  Bring to a boil and simmer until potatoes are just done, about 10 minutes.  Drain, reserving potato water.

While potatoes are cooking, sauté pepper(s), onions and garlic until softened.  Add HALF of the corn and continue cooking until onions and corn begin to brown.  Puree this mixture in a food processor.

Add corn puree to the potatoes along with the vegetable broth and reserved corn.  Add reserved corn water and, if needed, potato water for a thinner soup.  You want it to be substantial, but still "soupy" (not like a stew).  Heat to just under a boil.  Stir in 1/2 cup half and half and the honey.  Slowly heat (but do not boil).  Check seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste.  This makes about 8 cups of soup.