Time for Corn

I started eating this season's corn in June and by July I was corned out. Now it's August, and everywhere I look, I see corn recipes. Every cooking magazine is filled to the brim with variations on roasted corn and corn chowder and skillet fried corn and caramel corn. I've been completely disinterested.

Instead, I've focused on ice cream festivals and savory bread pudding and pizza with mozarella cream sauce and Italian sausage. I've focused on the green peppers and basil and oregano that overflowed a co-worker's garden and arrived clean and bright in my cube. I focused on firing up my lopsided little grill on my balcony and grilling chicken drumsticks and mushrooms and trout with lemon slices.

There hasn't been time for corn in this busy cooking life of mine.

But finally one of those devilish corn recipes caught my eye because it was disguised as something I love: pesto. And it had bacon in it.

Corn pesto is similar to basil pesto - it's blended with garlic, salt, pine nuts and Parmesan. A good glug of oil is added, and it's tossed with pasta. But the corn is cooked in bacon fat, and when blended it turns creamy like a carbonara. Add a little pasta cooking water and season with more salt, and you'll find it more satisfying than a cream sauce. People are always looking to eat light things in the summer but I'm not. Bring on the heavy, hearty food all year round!



Tagliatelle with Fresh Corn Pesto (from Bon Appetit)

• 4 bacon slices, cut lengthwise in half, then crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
• 4 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from about 6 large ears)
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving
• 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 8 ounces tagliatelle or fettuccine
• 3/4 cup coarsely torn fresh basil leaves, divided

Cook bacon in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp and brown, stirring often. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon drippings from skillet. Add corn, garlic, 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper to drippings in skillet. Sauté over medium-high heat until corn is just tender but not brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer 1 1/2 cups corn kernels to small bowl and reserve. Scrape remaining corn mixture into processor. Add 1/2 cup Parmesan and pine nuts. With machine running, add olive oil through feed tube and blend until pesto is almost smooth. Set pesto aside.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 1/2 cups pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot. Add corn pesto, reserved corn kernels, and 1/2 cup basil leaves. Toss pasta mixture over medium heat until warmed through, adding reserved pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to thin to desired consistency, 2 to 3 minutes. Season pasta to taste with salt and pepper.

Transfer pasta to large shallow bowl. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup basil leaves and reserved bacon. Serve pasta, passing additional grated Parmesan alongside.

Pennsylvania

Until recently, I knew very little about Pennsylvania (including whether or not I could spell it correctly).  You may remember I am currently stuck in Philadelphia, waiting for those damn movers.  I've spent the last couple of days walking, walking and walking.  There isn't much I haven't seen (including the Museum of Art, thanks Dick).  But I found my nirvana when I visited the Reading Terminal Market.

Oh, what a place!  You want it?  They got it.  Anything from local produce to seafood to locally raised poultry.  We won't even talk about the pork options.  Lamb ribs?  Veal ribs?  No prob.  Cookbooks, jams and jellies, local dairy products, raw milk, farm fresh eggs - and a million other options if you want to sit down and eat right then and there.  And it was punctuated with the resounding sounds of  two local opera singers.  It bears repeating - oh, what a place!

I may be visiting Eric more often than he might wish...
http://www.readingterminalmarket.org/

What really started this Pennsylvania interest was a visit we made to Pittsburgh several weeks ago for a wedding.  At the rehearsal dinner, much was made by the bride's mother (whom we had not met before) about how she and a group of family and friends had spent the afternoon traying cookies.  "Traying cookies?" I wondered silently.  "Huh?  Is that a new baking method I don't know about?"

Well, no.  Turns out it was exactly as stated.  Traying cookies.  As in putting them on trays.  DUH.

And that, my friends, is where the story begins.  It is apparently unthinkable to have a wedding in Pittsburgh without setting out multiple trays of cookies, baked or procured by family, neighbors and friends.  It is a long-standing tradition that has its roots in the Depression, when people couldn't afford a big wedding cake. 

I was captivated by this information.  It's the Pittsburgh equivalent of southern hospitality.  Is there anything better than family, friends and neighbors coming together to bake for a wedding?

Even the New York Times saw fit to write about it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/dining/16cookies.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2

Post wedding, I emailed the bride's mom to ask a few more questions.  She was beyond gracious in giving me information and shared the fact that 200 dozen cookies had been baked for this event.

200 DOZEN COOKIES  =  2,400!!!  Yikes!  No wonder they spent an entire day "traying cookies."

I asked her if there were specific kinds of cookies that were required.  "No," she replied casually, "but I hope you didn't miss the Lady Locks."

I hadn't.  But I did not know the back story behind them.  They are sometimes referred to as "Cream Horns."  More interestingly, they are also known as "Closepin Cookies."   That's because in Depression days, the dough was rolled around closepins - not the spring-loaded version we know today, but the wooden ones with the straight sides and the "pin head."  Unfortunately (sigh), I am old enough to remember them.

I couldn't stand it.  I had to try my hand at making them.  I cheated by using frozen puff pastry and I recoiled at the use of shortening and marshmallow creme, but I persevered anyway.  They were gorgeous.  They were delicious.  I would make them again.

I also didn't have any straight-sided closepins on hand.  Well, who would?  So it meant a trip to the hardware store to buy a wooden dowel, which Henry graciously hacked into 3-inch lengths for me.

The dowel - striaght from the hardware store - lengths courtesy of Henry

LADY LOCKS

1 pkg. frozen puff pastry

3-inch dowel lengths or cornet molds
1 egg, beaten with 1 T. milk or half-and-half
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup shortening, room temperature
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup half-and-half
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (or vanilla paste)
6 tablespoons marshmallow creme

Defrost pastry in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375-degrees.

Wrap dowel sticks in non-stick foil (or spray each one with cooking spray).  Unwrap 1 section of the pastry and cut width-wise into 3/4-inch strips.  Roll each strip around a prepared stick, then brush with egg wash and place on baking sheet.  Continue with second pastry sheet.

Bake until just golden brown, about 15 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes, then carefullly remove pastry from dowel sticks.  Place on a baking rack to cool completely.

Beat butter and shortening.  Add confectioner's sugar and milk.  Beat in vanilla and marshmallow creme.

Place filling in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.  Pipe into cooled pastry shells, filling from both ends.

Yield:  about 3 dozen

I love the history and the tradition that is interlocked in this recipe.  Everything old becomes new again, right?

Weekend fun with friends!!

This past weekend we had some very good friends visit us! Sarah over @ Sarah's Heart's Home and I have been friends in real life since we were about 13 years old! We have made it a point to stay in touch over the phone often and visit each other 1-2 times a year. She is married to Mike and has two adorable little kids with #3 on the way in 3 weeks!! She was a very brave momma to be traveling the 5-6 hours to our house! We had a fun packed weekend, and I thought the best way to show you would be with pictures!

 On Sabbath (Saturday) we went to church and enjoyed a very fun Sabbath School and church service. Here are Sarah, Nathan and Hannah listening to the Pastor's children story!

We enjoyed lots of yummy food! When this particular picture was taken we were enjoying burritos with rice, taco tofu, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, and you guessed it, sour cream!! :)

 Then we went to the park and enjoyed a nice hike through the woods!

On Sunday we took the kids to the zoo. Here are us girls at the entrance next to the beautiful flowers!

 The kids enjoyed daddy pushing them around to see all the different animals!

 It ended up being quite a hot day and by the time we went on the train ride, 3 hours later the sleepies had hit!

  After the train ride, Mike carried little Nate around while he slept. We got lots of comments from people walking by. He slept like that for quite a while!

Meanwhile, Hannah enjoyed petting all the farm animals in the kiddo petting zoo area.

Overall, the whole weekend was fun and it was great to visit with good friends!

~ Heather

Recipe of the Week

It's time to share my recipe of the week! If you want to participate on your blog, be sure to link up below! Also be sure to grab my "Recipe of the Week" banner and link it back to my site!

I know I said that I planned on doing this on Sunday's, however we had some good friends visiting this weekend and spent yesterday at the zoo! However, I still wanted to make sure and share a yummy recipe! So here is this weeks. We actually had this on Sabbath (Saturday) morning before church. It is quick and simple to make!

Creamy Museli 

Dextrinize (toast) on baking sheet 2-1/2 cups rolled or quick oats for 10 minutes at 300.

Meanwhile, whiz together:  3 cups pineapple, orange or apple juice

                                        1/2 tsp salt

                                         2 bananas

                                         1 tsp vanilla

                                         1/4 tsp maple flavoring

Combine dextrinized oats, fruit juice mixture and 1/2 cup raisins. Refrigerate overnight in covered container. When ready to serve, add 2-3 fruits of your choice (diced apples, cut seedless grapes, or any other fresh fruit). Wait until serving time to cut fruits, as most of them will lose their Vitamin C quickly after being cut. Can sprinkle withnuts. You can also wait to add the raisins when you serve if you prefer. 

My mom use to make this a lot when I was little, especially on Sabbath  morning before church. This past weekend I used strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries, all fresh from the store and left the raisins out. 

Enjoy! 

~ Heather

Menu Plan Monday

Wow, this past week went by so fast! We had some good friends visit us over the weekend and lots of left overs to eat now! So my menu for this week is going to be pretty simple. My main goal this week is to limit how much I actually buy at the store and use up what is in the pantry for meals. Also, be sure to check out my recipe of the week which I will be posting today too! Maybe you can add it to one of your future menu plans! :)

So here we go for this week!

Monday - Leftover Buffet!! :)
Tuesday - Eating out with a friend, Italian! 
Wednesday - Lentils and Rice
Thursday - Stir Fry
Friday - ? Depends on if we go to David's parents for supper or if they come here, still don't know yet!
Saturday - Church potluck / Italian Baked Potatoes
Sunday - Manwich sandwiches with veggie meat

Happy Menu Planning! 

~ Heather