End of Summer Creamy Corn Chowder

Sex is good, but not as good as fresh, sweet corn. -~Garrison Keillor

Sweet, fresh corn is at its peak at the farmers markets.  Don’t miss this opportunity to create a creamy and flavorful corn chowder. 4 servings

Ingredients

1 T butter

1 oz. bacon (preferably a thick sliced chunk)

½ cup chopped carrot

½ cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped onion

3 ears of corn

4 cups milk

1 Turkish bay leaf

1 medium Yukon Gold potato cut into a small dice

1 t salt

1/8 t freshly ground black pepper

½ t chopped fresh thyme

1 plum tomato, seeds and pulp removed, cut in a small dice

1/4 cup water mixed with 3 T masa harina or corn meal

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add bacon. Fry about 4  minutes but don’t brown.

2. Add carrots, celery and onions.

3. Cut the kernels off the corn and put aside.  Cut the cobs in half and add to saucepan.

4. Add milk and bay leaf.  Bring to a simmer, cover pot and continue to cook at a bare simmer for 30 minutes.  Be careful not to scald milk in the bottom of the saucepan.

5. Discard cobs, bacon and bay leaf.

7. Add  potatoes, salt and pepper and simmer about 15 minutes until potatoes are tender.

8. Add corn kernels, thyme and tomato.  If chowder needs thickening, stir in a slurry of masa harina and water.

9. Simmer 5 minutes and serve.

Photographer Bill Brady http://bit.ly/9wFYxm

Eat Lobster Now: Supply Exceeds Demand

To heck with hot dogs and hamburgers, eat a lobster!   According to an Associated Press report of July 2, 2012, a glut has driven down lobster prices in Maine–bringing cheer to lobster-loving consumers, though sadly, gloom among lobstermen.

Retailers have been selling small soft-shell lobsters in the Portland area for an unusually low $3.79 to $4.99 a pound. At those prices, lobsters have been selling for less than the per-pound price of bologna at many supermarket deli counters.  If you’re one of those lobster–lovers, check out the prices at your seafood market.

Why not make your own lobster roll?  To me a good lobster roll has to be at least 90% lobster. I like to add a small amount of celery, onion, parsley and lemon juice for complexity, but not enough to detract from the sweet delicate flavor of the lobster.

Ingredients:

2   1 ¼–1 ½ lb. lobsters

2 T finely chopped celery (from inner leaves)

1 T finely chopped red onion.

1 T finely chopped flat leaf parsley

1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Good quality mayonnaise

Lettuce leaves

4 split ciabatta rolls or hot dog rolls

Procedure:

The easiest method is to buy lobster meat already picked from their shells from a seafood market. Otherwise, steam or cook the lobsters for 10 to 12 minutes or until the tail section reaches 175 degrees F.  Plunge into cold water for a few minutes to stop the cooking and bring to room temperature. Use a cleaver to crack and remove the meat from the claws, knuckles and tails.  Cut the meat into bite size chunks. Add celery, onion, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Toss lightly with a fork and add just enough mayonnaise to hold the mixture together.  Lightly butter and toast the ciabatta or hot dog rolls.  Add lettuce and lobster mixture. Savor every bite.  Serves 4

Photographer Bill Brady

Skewered Fresh Fruit with Celery Seed Dressing

Department store eateries, whether the humble lunch counters at Woolworths or the elegant dining rooms of upscale stores like Lord and Taylor or Saks Fifth Avenue, had a definite place in our culture in the 1950s and 1960s; many of the fancier ones became destinations apart from the shopping experience because the food was often that good.

In the 1950s my mother worked as a waitress in a restaurant called The Coin Room in Rike’s Department Store in Dayton, Ohio. The restaurant featured light, well prepared meals for 99 cents plus the 3 cents sales tax bringing the total for a wonderful cooked from scratch luncheon to $1.02. It was great for shoppers who wanted a quick, inexpensive and tasty meal.

My mother brought home The Coin Room recipe for Celery Seed Dressing which was a big hit there and in our home. It was a dressing for a fruit salad.  It tasted great on grapefruit, pears, apples– just about any fruit, as well as greens, nuts and other fruit salad accompaniments.  However, somewhere along the line it got lost.  Rike’s was sold to a conglomerate, The Coin Room disappeared and then, in 1986, my mother died. Then, just this year, tucked in an old cookbook left to me by my mother, there it was.  I couldn’t wait to prepare it again and relive those lovely times.

I submitted this recipe for America’s Best Lost Recipes published in 2007 by America’s Test Kitchen.  The test kitchen “loved the sweet and sour flavors of this dressing and tasted it on everything from apples to greens (we especially loved it on Bibb lettuce) to a cucumber and radish salad.  The taste gets better as it sits, so be sure to allow it the full hour (or days) to develop all of its potential flavor.  Also, be sure to use celery seeds, not celery salt, for this recipe.”

Here it is as a refreshing side for your backyard picnic.  Serve it chilled alongside skewered cubes of fresh fruit of your choice.  Try any combination of kiwi, cantaloupe, watermelon, mango, papaya, honeydew, strawberries, apples, pears, grapefruit or peaches.  Just make sure the fruit is ripe.

Celery Seed Dressing (Makes about 1 cup)

Ingredients:

¼ cup sugar

½ t dry mustard

½ t salt

½ t celery seed

2 T grated yellow onion

2 ½T white vinegar

½ cup peanut or canola oil

Procedure:

Stir the sugar, mustard, salt and celery seed together in a medium bowl.  Add the onion and the vinegar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Slowly whisk in the oil until well blended.  Cover and refrigerate until the flavors meld, about 1 hour.  (The dressing can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.  Whisk before serving.)

Photographer Bill Brady http://bit.ly/9wFYxm

Food Stylist Brian Preston Campbell

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  • lauren // July 2, 2010 at 7:55 am | Reply

  very fresh… must try this

• Michelle // July 2, 2010 at 10:05 pm | Reply

  Wow! Stunning photo! Very artistic and beautiful. Loved the story, also.

• Aleza // July 3, 2010 at 8:13 am | Reply

  Wow, Boy do I remember the Coin Room and there are many recipes I wish I had from Rikes.
  Thank you so much for sharing…I lost my Mother this year and just thinking about Rikes and eating at all of the great restaurants in the Downtown location brought back great memories of eating there with her.
  Aleza