Grilled Corn Salad with Lime Vinaigrette

I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of our first corn of the season.  So, I was delighted to see three beautiful ears of white corn in today's box.  Corn is best eaten as soon as it's picked.  The sweet sugar begins to turn to blander starch almost immediately after the ear is plucked from the stalk, so always buy the freshest corn you can get and eat it right away.

I've been thinking about corn salads for weeks.  When I came home this afternoon, I turned on the grill, pulled the husks and silk off the corn, rubbed the ears with a little olive oil, and put the corn on the hot grill for about 10 minutes, rotating the ears two or three times during cooking.  Then I took the corn off the grill and let it cool.

In the meantime, I finely chopped a little red onion, pasilla pepper, and fresh chives.  Pasilla peppers can be hot, but the hotness is in the seeds, so use as much or as little of the seeds as you like.  If you prefer something completely mild, you can substitute red or green bell pepper.

I also chopped up some cilantro.  If you don't care for cilantro, you can substitute fresh Italian parsley or basil.

Then I mixed up a simple lime vinaigrette using just 2 T of extra virgin olive oil and 2 T fresh-squeezed lime juice.

When the corn was cool enough to handle, I cut the kernels off the ears into a bowl and mixed in the finely chopped red onion, pasilla pepper, chives, and cilantro.  I poured the vinaigrette over the corn salad and seasoned it with salt and pepper.  And that's it!

Here are the amounts that I used:

3 ears fresh white corn
2 T finely chopped red onion
2 T finely chopped pasilla pepper
2 T finely chopped green chives
2 T chopped cilantro, or to taste
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T fresh-squeezed lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Follow the directions above and use these amounts to make four side servings.

I nibbled a little corn when I took it off the grill and it was bursting with juicy sweetness.  This corn is so delicious, you don't need to do anything to it.  So, if corn salad is more work than you want for a mid-summer weekend, just cook the corn on a grill or in a pot of water and sprinkle it with a little sea salt, or decadently slather it with butter while it's hot, or squeeze some lime juice and sprinkle some finely-ground hot pepper over the warm ears, or try a little grated parmesan cheese on the hot ears.  It's all good.

Today's bounty included:

From Jaime Farms:  Romaine, chives, basil, white corn, and eggplant;

From JR Organics:  Tomatoes and green beans;

From Sage Mountain Farm:  Patty pan squash, rainbow carrots, arugula, purple scallions, and yellow candy onions;

From Silver Lake Farms:  Basil or squash seedlings;

From Sweet Tree Farms:  White nectarines and flavor king pluots; and

From Weiser Family Farms:  Melons.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Drying Persimmons

Six different farms provided produce for this week's CSA box!



Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark provided:
Butternut squash
Carrots
Pomegranates
Fuyu Persimmons
Fuji apples
Napa cabbage
Red leaf lettuce
Spinach
Tomatoes


Rancho Santa Cecilia provided:
Hass Avocados
Satsuma tangerines
Limes


Tierra Miguel Foundation, a biodynamic grower, provided:
Beets
Chard
Cucumbers
Cilantro
Dill
Horehound mint


Weiser Farms provided carrots and Russian Banana potatoes.


Winnetka Farms provided Italian salad greens.


And Silver Lake Farms provided microgreens: pea shoot, radish shoots, and arugula shoots.



Fuyu and Hachiya are the two most common varieties of persimmons. Fuyus are firm when ripe, while Hachiyas are best when soft. Hachiyas are great for things like persimmon pudding, bread and cake because the pulp can be easily mashed (think banana bread). You can make baked goods from Fuyus, too. However, because they're firm, they're usually peeled and chopped and they remain discreet bits in your baked goods.


Fuyus are perfect for drying. They're quite beautiful when dried and can be eaten like any other dried fruit: plain as a snack, mixed into oatmeal or granola, even chopped and added to savory dishes like rice pilaf or stewed chicken. I like them in salads, too.


It's unbelievably easy to dry persimmons. Simply wash and dry the fruit and slice them crosswise (horizontally) into 1-4 to 1/8 inch slices. A little lemon or lime juice will prevent them from turning brown and enhance their flavor. Then use the drying method or your choice.


I like to dry fruit in my oven. You'll need an oven thermometer to ensure that the temperature stays around 150 degrees F. Place the slices on cookie sheets lined with racks so that air can circulate. Turn the slices every 2-3 hours. They'll take about 10-12 hours to dry, depending on the thickness of your slices and the temperature of your oven. Convection ovens might be a little quicker because of the circulating air. You want them to be deep orange in color and not sticky. Let the dried persimmons cool before storing them. Well-dried persimmons can be stored in a can or a jar and do not need refrigeration.


If you have a solar dehydrator, you can use that instead. Erik Knutzen and Kelly Coyne discuss solar dehydrators in their wonderful book, The Urban Homestead.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Zen's Spicy Green Rice Recipe

Hi Tara

Thank you for all the wonderful goodies today.
Here is a recipe that we used your cilantro for.

Thank you!
z & b

Spicy Green Rice

Makes 6 servings

6 cups — cooked warm Jasmine Rice ( 2 1/2 cups uncooked)
1 cup — finely chopped cilantro
1 1/2 cups — chopped green onions
1/4 cup — finely chopped jalapenos (less or more depending on how spicy you like it)
1 cup — cooked and drained green peas
3 tbsp — olive oil
1 tbsp — sesame oil
2 tsp — salt
Black pepper to taste
Juice from 1 or 2 limes depending on size and juiciness


Place cooked rice in a large bowl and add ingredients and gently mix!

So easy! Thank you Zen! Tara