Fresh Corn Sauté with Ginger and Cilantro

I don't know about you, but I have been getting some wonderful fresh corn for the past few weeks; sweet, tender and so delicious! Ever since I found this Fresh Corn and Ginger Sauté recipe several years ago in Fine Cooking, I get excited when I begin seeing the big, heaping bins of corn at local markets.  I remember being amazed the first time I prepared this simple sauté. 

The combination of the sweet corn, flavorful ginger, garlic, jalapeno and cilantro, quickly sauteed in a bit of butter and olive oil is fantastic!  Topped off with a squeeze of fresh lime juice - now that is my idea of a great summer side dish! I served it over the weekend with an Asian Grilled Flat Iron Steak* and some No-Knead Yeast Rolls with Fresh Herbs and Garlic.* It seems to go well with just about any grilled meat: steaks, pork, chicken or even shrimp!

*Check back tomorrow and Wednesday for Asian Grilled Flat Iron Steak and No-Knead Yeast Rolls with Fresh Herbs and Garlic*  - a great summer meal combination!

Fresh Corn Sauté with Ginger and Cilantro

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

¾ cup thinly sliced scallions 

1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste

3 cups fresh corn kernels (from 6 medium ears)

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

2 to 3 tsp. minced garlic

scant 1 teaspoon minced jalapeno

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 of a medium lime

freshly ground black pepper

1. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a 10-inch straight-sided sauté pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the scallions and 1/2 tsp. of the salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the scallions are soft and lightly browned, about 3 min.

2. Add the corn, ginger, garlic, serrano, and the remaining 1/2 tsp. salt. Cook, stirring frequently until the corn is tender, about 3 minutes.

3. Remove the pan from the heat, add all but about 1/2 Tbs. of the cilantro, a squeeze of the lime, and a few generous grinds of pepper. Stir, let sit 2 min., and stir again. Season to taste with more salt, pepper, or lime. Serve warm, sprinkled with the remaining cilantro.

Adapted from Fine Cooking

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An Upside-Down Cupcake Party & Vanilla Poppy Seed Cupcakes with Caramel-Coffee Icing

I did something crazy last weekend. We were planning to have a casual dessert party this week so I sent out a fun e-vite to about 50 people - but wait, that's not the crazy part!  I love cupcakes when entertaining a crowd because they're so easy to serve: I can make a variety of different flavors, being sure to please everyone. So, I decided that it would be a cupcake party.

Well...I couldn't leave well enough alone and have a regular cupcake party,  oh no..............., I decided it had to be something festive and unique........ I invited everyone to an upside-down cupcake party. What does this mean, you might ask. I didn't know myself, I had a vague idea and it sounded like fun - once I pushed the send button on the computer it was too late to turn back! What was I thinking......? I knew I had better figure it out - QUICK! - and start baking ....... PRONTO! Am I loose as a goose, or what?

I had a few "flub-ups" (disasters) but I think the end results are something I'll do again so I'm going to share one of the recipes as well as the technique with you. Actually, it was easier than those fancy-dancy swirly cupcakes and you don't need any special tools, just a plastic squeeze bottle. I explain below in more detail but the basic process is this; bake cupcakes without paper liners. After baking, turn them out onto a cooling rack and leave them upside down. When cool, frost with a fairly thin icing in a squeeze bottle. Let the icing dry a bit and then repeat the process. Finish off with a decorative drizzle of the same icing.

The cupcake recipe that I am sharing is awesome!  It is from Cooks Illustrated and it is by far the easiest and the best vanilla cake recipe that I've ever made. You simply throw the dry ingredients in your mixer bowl, add the butter, sour cream and eggs and then beat for 30 seconds, yes 30 seconds! Give it quick mix by hand and your ready to go; it is, honestly, as easy as a cake mix! I did add poppy-seeds to mine as we enjoy them when combined with the caramel icing.

The caramel frosting is an old stand-by that I have adapted to work for this method. It needs to be fairly thin to be able to easily cover the cupcakes so I just added more milk. I wanted a deep caramel color so I made one other change to the original recipe and added a bit of espresso. There is a hint coffee flavor which, in my opinion, makes the frosting even tastier!

P.S. The pictures below, for the icing technique, are from my chocolate cream cheese cupcakes but the method is the same for any Upside-Down Cupcake.

Vanilla Poppy Seed Upside-Down Cupcakes with Caramel-Coffee Icing

1 ½ cups (7 1/2 oz) all-purpose flour

1 cup (7 oz) sugar

1/4 cup poppy seeds

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup sour cream

1 large egg, room temperature

2 large egg yolks, room temperature

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray muffin pans with baking spray such as Baker's Joy. (Baking spray has shortening and flour to keep the baked goods from sticking.) Spray the individual cups once and with paper towel, rub each cup to coat, then spray lightly one more time. Prepare 18 of the individual cups in this manner.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder and salt. Beat on low just to combine. Add the butter, sour cream, egg and egg yolks, and vanilla; beat at medium speed until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and mix by hand until the batter is smooth and no flour pockets remain.

3. Divide the batter evenly among the 18 prepared muffins cups, about 1/2 full. Bake until the cupcake tops are pale gold and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes. Wait 2 minutes after removing from oven, then turn pan onto a cooling rack and give a slight shake. Remove pan and leave cupcakes upside down. If any of the cupcakes stick to the pan, take a thin, sharp knife and run blade along the sides of the pan, then remove cupcake.

4. Make frosting as directed below and place in a squeeze bottle. (I use a small funnel to transfer from the bowl to the bottle.) If frosting has cooled off and becomes too thick, place squeeze bottle in microwave for 15-20 seconds or until easy to drizzle. Starting in the center, squeeze frosting over first cupcake, moving in a concentric circle towards edge of cupcake (see pictures). Continue moving bottle in a circle around edge of cupcake until frosting has covered the sides. Don't worry if there are small areas that are not covered as you will be repeating this process and can catch these areas on the next go around.

5. Allow this layer of frosting to dry 30-45 minutes then repeat process (make sure to re-warm frosting in the microwave), this time covering any areas that were missed. Let second layer dry 30-45 minutes, then drizzle icing back and forth to make a decorative pattern, if desired. You can do this last step with your squeeze bottle or with a small 

whisk. If you are running out of frosting, scrape up the drippings

under the cooling rack warm slightly in the microwave, and use to finish up.

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Makes 18 upside-down cupcakes

Caramel-Coffee Icing

1 stick butter

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup milk (I use skim)

1 tablespoon espresso powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water

1 one pound box powdered sugar, you may need a bit more

2 teaspoons vanilla

½ teaspoon almond extract

1. Place butter in 2 quart microwaveable bowl. Melt butter in microwave for 1 minute on high. Add brown sugar and milk and espresso mixture and whisk until brown sugar lumps are dissolved. Place in microwave and cook for 2 minutes on high. Mixture will boil furiously.

2. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time and whisk, until well mixed, after each addition. Mixture should be thin enough to drizzle over the cupcakes but thick enough to coat them. You made need to add just a bit more powdered sugar. Add vanilla and almond extract and frost according to directions above.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Salad with Fresh Peaches, Drunken Craisins, Gorgonzola, Sweet Roasted Pistachios, with Fig & White Balsamic Vinaigrette

Summer has officially been heralded in! Well, maybe not on the calendar but in my book it's here! I was at Whole Foods a few days ago and they had peaches from Georgia on sale. I bought just a few, thinking that they were some kind of "trick" peaches - I mean really, authentic southern peaches in May? Everyone knows that peach season doesn't start until June. Was someone trying to pull my leg? Well I brought them home, not expecting much, let them ripen for a few days and............... WOW, are they fantastic! I guess the warm spring that we've had here in the southeast has sped things up a bit. They are juicy, sweet and amazingly delicious! I decided to focus our dinner around these tasty delights and came up with this salad.

For the dressing I wanted something unique; it didn't take me long to find a partial jar of fig preserves hanging out in my fridge (left over from the Fig and Applewood Bacon Tartines). I used these tasty preserves in place of the honey in my Honey and White Balsamic Dressing recipe. That part was easy but I had to decide what else to include in the salad. I found some shelled pistachios in the freezer and I roasted them with a bit of agave nectar, a touch of both butter and olive oil and a pinch of sea salt and cinnamon. They

came out sweet, salty, crunchy and delicious; a match made in heaven for the wonderful Georgia peaches. I added fresh greens, thinly sliced ribbons of red onion, some drunken cranberries and a bit of crumbled bleu cheese, the result; a summery, flavorful salad. I served it with a Pita Pizza but it would also be fabulous with grilled chicken or shrimp.

Salad with Fresh Peaches, Drunken Craisins, Gorgonzola, Sweet Roasted Pistachios, with Fig & White Balsamic Vinaigrette

6 cups salad greens, your favorite or whatever looks freshest at the market

Fig & White Balsamic Vinaigrette, recipe below

2 medium ripe peaches

1/2 cup drunken dried cranberries*

1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion

1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola or bleu cheese

Roasted Sweet Pistachios, recipe below

Arrange salad greens, fresh peaches, cranberries and onions on plates. Drizzle with vinaigrette. Sprinkle salads with crumbled bleu cheese and pistachios. Pass extra dressing at the table.

Serves 4 as a side salad. 

Fig & White Balsamic Vinaigrette

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small shallot, minced

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

2 tablespoons fig preserves

½ teaspoon sriracha chili sauce

¼ cup white balsamic vinegar

¼ cup canola oil

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients in a glass jar. Shake well.

Notes

*For drunken cranberries - place 1/2 cup dried cranberries in a measuring cup. Add a tablespoons of white or red wine, Limoncello or rum . (I have also used ruby port or marsala - whatever I have around for cooking) Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 30 seconds. Let sit for a few minutes to cool. These will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator, just warm in microwave for 20 seconds before using the next time.

Roasted Sweet Pistachios 

1 cup shelled pistachios

1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon agave syrup (or honey)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 325.  Place all ingredients in a cake pan or similar size pan. Roast for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown, stirring every 5 minutes. Turn out onto foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray to prevent sticking. Cool, nuts will become crunchy as they cool.

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Vietnamese Noodle and Meatball Salad with Peanut-Ginger Vinaigrette

Please keep this between us: I may have broken international law...You see, I am featuring a classic Vietnamese Noodle Salad with a Thai Peanut Dressing, oops! Well, honestly, it could've been worse; I mean I could have mixed sauerkraut or kielbasa or something a bit more paradoxical than a peanut dressing with the Vietnamese salad - so please, don't be too hard on me...at least I stayed in the same continent! Seriously though, this salad is delightful - it's vibrant, refreshing and full of flavor!

I was intrigued by this article in Bon Appetit last year and parked it somewhere in the "culinary" section of my brain. When I saw this recipe a few months ago while perusing Not Without Salt, one of my many favorite recipe blogs, I decided that it was time to give this interesting recipe for Vietnamese Meatball Sandwiches a try. I combined the two recipes and adapted the result just a bit. I've made them several times now, always to rave reviews. The sandwich is a meal on its own with the gingery pork meatballs, fresh veggies and a lovely ciabatta roll on which it is served. The delicious Asian flavours seem to just explode in your mouth!

This time I decided to change-up the recipe a bit and make it into a salad. It needed a yummy dressing to tie it all together and since we love Thai-style peanut sauces, I came up with a Peanut-Ginger Vinaigrette. The dressing is delicious and not only complements this salad beautifully, it would be equally wonderful on other salads, drizzled on an Asian style wrap or just as a dipping sauce for fresh veggies.

I served this fantastic salad buffet-style with the meatballs and other ingredients arranged on a large platter. Guests made up their own plates according to individual taste. It made a beautiful presentation with all the vivid colors of the fresh veggies yet was a simple way to serve a crowd.

P.S. I had a few left-over meatballs and I used them to make a Thai pita pizza. It was delicious with a peanut sauce base, roasted red peppers, red onion, Vietnamese Meatballs, a combination of Gouda and fresh Mozzarella (I had a little of each of these in my fridge) and a sprinkle of cilantro and chopped peanuts. I declared it "quite yummy" and my husband agreed! 

Vietnamese Noodle and Meatball Salad with Peanut-Ginger Vinaigrette

Vietnamese Meatballs, see recipe

Peanut Ginger Vinaigrette, see recipe

10 ounces rice noodles *, prepared accordig to package directios and drained

2 bunches Romaine or Leaf lettuce , washed, dried and coarsely torn

1 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped

1 cup fresh basil, coarsely chopped

½ cup fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped

5 ounces carrots, shredded, I buy the pre-shredded bagged carrots and used half of the bag

1 medium daikon radish, julienned

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 cups cucumber, peeled and julienned

(Feel free to add any other fresh veggie you'd like, I had some beautiful fresh corn so I used that but bean sprouts sugar snap peas, snow peas or zuchinni, julienned would also be great options.)

1 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

1. Put the carrots and daikon in a strainer. Sprinkle with the sugar, the vinegar, and 1/4 tsp. kosher salt and mix well with your hands. Allow the veggies to drain for 10 minutes and then gently squeeze in a paper towel to get rid of the liquid.

2. Combine fresh herbs together.

3. Arrange all ingredients attractively on a large platter with meatballs piled in the center. Sprinkle meatballs with peanuts. Pass extra peanuts and the Peanut Ginger Vinaigrette at the table.

Serves 8-10

A few notes:

*Rice noodles are a traditional Thai syle pasta. If you can't find them, substitute the same amount of linguini pasta, cooked according to package directions.

I get my rice noodles at Trader Jo's or at an Oriental Market but many larger grocery stores are now carrying them.

If you can't find Daikon radishes, substitute jicama or just leave them out.

This salad is usually served at room temperature but if you would like the meatballs and pasta warm it will also be delicious!

PRINTABLE RECIPE

 Vietnamese Meatballs 

2 pounds ground pork
1 bunch green onion, finely sliced
6 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely minced
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Sriracha
1 rounded tablespoon cornstarch
¼ cup fresh basil, finely chopped
¼ cup cilantro, finely chopped
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix together with your hands or a large sturdy spoon.

2. Preheat oven to 400. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil. Drizzle olive oil over foil and rub to coat foil. Form the meat mixture into small balls, about 1 tablespoon each and place on foil lined pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, gently shaking pan 2-3 times during baking to ensure that meatballs are browning on all sides.

3. Remove from oven and use for salad or sandwiches. These can be made ahead and warmed on medium setting in microwave for several minutes or until warmed through.

Serves 6-8 in Vietnamese Meatball Salad

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Peanut-Ginger Vinaigrette 

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoon brown sugar

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely minced

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 teaspoon Sriracha

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/3 cup peanut oil

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Place peanut butter, soy sauce and honey in a medium size glass jar. Microwave, uncovered for 30 seconds. Mix with a small whisk or a fork until smooth.

2. Add remaining ingredients, place cover on jar and shake very well.

Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

PRINTABLE RECIPE