I love corn in all its forms: polenta, grits, cornbread, succotash—I’ll take it all. But the best corn is off the cob in high summer. And it’s even better with a little char from the grill or a ripping hot pan.
We’ve made a lot of corn relishes over the last few years, and they always involve whatever else was already in our fridge. It’s a super useful (and delicious!) way to use up veggies and herbs that you’re unsure of what to do with.
There are lots of combinations that will work; my favorite actually involves blueberries and celery, but this is what we had around this week. It came out GREAT. The corn is sweet and toasty, and it goes well with refreshing cucumber, tomato, basil and dill. The citrus and raw onion make it just the right amount of sharp. Put it on tacos, rice bowls, salad greens, etc. Just put it in your mouth.
The Recipe
2 ears of corn
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 Roma tomato, diced
1/4 cucumber, diced
Half a large shallot, diced
Half a large avocado
2 tsp basil, chopped
2 tsp dill, chopped
1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
Juice and zest of half a lemon
Juice and zest of half an orange
Dash of chili flake
Dash of paprika
Heat the vegetable oil in a pan to medium high. Remove the kernels from the two ears of corn. When the pan is hot, add the kernels to the pan with half the salt.
Sear the corn until it starts to brown, or about 4 minutes.
Transfer the corn to a mixing bowl and let it cool.
When the corn is cooled, add the rest of the ingredients and stir with the rest of the salt.
Notes and substitutions
You’ve probably noticed that I use shallots a lot. We use Imperfect Foods, and their shallots are a great deal. You can always sub other onion types for shallots, but remember that shallots are on the milder side. Here, I think red onion or green onions would be great.
You can also sub the citrus for whatever you have. I think like would be good here, but the orange did add another sweet note that I thought was good with the corn.
I can’t believe I didn’t put mint in this! I bet it would be delicious.
We ate this as part of elaborate carnitas rice bowls. It was the perfect counterpoint to the fatty pork, hearty sautéed greens, and the runny egg my husband insisted on putting on top.
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