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Arts & Entertainment

The Farm Stand: Corn with Feta, Cilantro and Lime

With a few more weeks of summer left, make this corn before it's gone for good.

Quick, quick, make haste! Rush to the market this weekend and grab some corn—there’s still some left! We’ve a few precious summer weekends left and then—it’s autumn.

Sundresses will be replaced by sweaters; sandals—by boots. I’ve been eying some corduroy pants and scarves. Each year I plan on learning how to wear scarves in that carefree, insouciant manner that suggests that I have style, and this year, I just might do it. My iced tea will yield to hot cider and piping hot coffee. There will be lots of soups and stews on the stove top. I’ve got plans, people, and I mean to see them through.

At the market, things will change as well. Berries and stone fruit will make way for apples, pumpkin, and squash. There will be some late harvest tomatoes, which I’ll savor, and, eventually, root vegetables. And I’m excited for it all, but I know that there are a few summer dishes I am going to miss. And this corn—this corn I could eat every day.

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The best thing about eating around the seasons is that you learn how to properly miss a specific food. You savor it better, celebrate each time you find it at the farmer’s market, run back home with your loot, and lay it out on your kitchen counter. I make an exception for tomatoes. If they were in season year round, I would be in heaven. Part of the reason you don’t see many tomato recipes around here, is because they almost never make it into a cooked dish. I devour them whole, sprinkled with a little bit of salt, eaten with a rustic piece of bread.

But today is not about tomatoes—it’s about corn. Sweet, warm corn sautéed in a bit of cream, and tossed with some feta, cilantro, and mint, and then brightened with lime juice. It’s really, unbelievably good, and is delightfully unfussy. Which is sort of the best thing about produce at the peak of season. You need to do so little to make it shine.

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When I served this at one of the suppers last summer when we had a few visitors over: mu fiancé’s younger brother and friend from Chicago. The friend, after chewing a few forkfuls, proudly declared that this was the best corn he ever had, and then reached for a second helping. And he’s from the Midwest—where people know their corn. Frankly, I also thought it was pretty good. So good in fact, that it has remained my favorite summer way to eat corn, outside the traditional on-the-cob method.

I’m hoping to make it again this weekend as a sort of a last hurrah to summer and to corn, but Irene got in the way. Instead we were rummaging through our freezer trying to save whatever staples we had. Perhaps I’ll make it next weekend, after my weekend trip to the market.

I’ve a few more summer meals coming my way, and I will savor each and every bite.

 

Corn with Feta, Cilantro, and Lime

 

Ingredients:

12 ears corn, shucked, corn cut off the cob

6 ounces crumbled feta

3/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

1/2 cup finely chopped mint

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup heavy cream

Juice of 1 lime

1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

 

Preparation: 

1. Shuck the corn and cut off the kernels.

2. In a large salad bowl, stir together feta, cilantro and mint together in a large salad bowl, and set aside.

3. In a large skillet, over medium heat, melt the butter with olive oil in a large skillet and toss in corn. Stir to coat the corn in butter and oil, and cook, over medium to medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, or until some of the kernels begin to brown, but overall retain their firm, crisp texture. Stir in salt, and then pour in cream over the corn, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in feta and herbs, and lime juice. Taste, adjust salt, if necessary, and add a few turns of the peppermill. Serve warm.

Serves 8.

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