August and September are two beautiful months to live in Iowa. Admittedly, this wasn't my first choice of location to settle in for the long haul. But when harvest season rolls around I'm practically elated to be living in the heartland. There is so much bounty everywhere you look. The sweet corn and melons taste amazing, tomatoes are ripening daily, green beans are producing like weeds, cucumbers make a crisp and refreshing snack on a hot afternoon. I can't grow all of this in my city garden at this point, but being able to take a short walk and buy sweet corn and a melon straight from the farmer off the back of a truck is pretty awesome. The biggest problem this time of year and is making the most of the harvest. This is the time of year when my garden is producing more food than my family can eat and there is so much variety available at the farmer's market. So canning and freezing all this freshness become regular activities in my house. This week I worked on freezing as much sweet corn as I could handle.
I bought a bushel of a sweet corn off the back of a truck which amounted to 5 1/2 dozen since she threw in an extra ear per dozen roughly. I naively thought I would be able to get it all frozen in an afternoon by myself. HA! I do tend to work slowly and methodically, but I think even if I sped up the pace it still would have taken me one full 8 - 10 hour day, at the end of which I would have been pretty grumpy. When I put on some good music, work in batches and take breaks however, I find the whole process pretty enjoyable.
There are a couple of ways to freeze corn. This is the method I adopted.
I work in batches of six ears at a time because this is what my pot holds comfortably and this is also the amount that I need for my two favorite recipes. I shuck several bunches of six ears before I begin so that I'm not held up by the shucking later. I boil the whole ear for six minutes and then plunge them into ice cold water for at least 8 minutes, but it wouldn't hurt leave them in the ice water longer.
When I pull them out of the ice water I dry them off on a towel and begin removing the kernels. For some of the batches I freeze the kernels on a cookie sheet before I bag them up so that they are not all stuck together and it is easier to remove a small amount. Other times I remove the kernels straight into the bag and freeze it. This usually results in one solid, flat brick, but like I said, for some recipes I use all six ears.
I really like this method of freezing. When the kernels are removed after the blanching process I get to "milk" the cob by running the back of my tool up and down the cob and all of those juices and bits stay with the corn. When the kernels are removed before blanching you lose all of that yumminess in the boiling water and then some more in the cold water bath. I have had sweet corn that was frozen by the latter method, however, and it was still pretty darn tasty.
Here are my two favorite recipes using frozen sweet corn.
Summer Corn Chowder With Bacon
Adapted from the June 2004 Bon Appetit by Hannah Levitz
Make 6 servings
6 slices bacon, chopped
6 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from 6 to 8 ears)
1 1/2 cups chopped celery and onion
1 cup cubed russet potatoes
3 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1/2 cup almond milk or goat milk for the lactose intolerant, or whipping cream for the lactose tolerant
2 tbsp fresh herb of choice
Saute bacon in large pot over medium high heat until crisp and brown. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Add celery and onion and a dash of kosher salt to the drippings and sauté over low heat for until tender and translucent and the juices released by the salt have reduced, 10 - 30 minutes. Add corn and potatoes and sauté for about 5 minutes. Pour in 3 cups broth and simmer uncovered over medium heat until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Use and immersion blender to puree soup in pot or transfer to a blender. Stir in milk or cream and season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with bacon and herbs.
*If you don't want to use bacon, you can omit it all together and sauté the vegetables in oil and butter. For some crunch at the end try adding some chopped toasted walnuts.
Real Creamed Corn Pudding
Bon Appetit, Nov. 2009 by Amelia Saltsman
*I didn't make any adaptations to this recipe, it is perfectly delicious!
Makes 10 - 12 servings
12 ears of corn shucked and pureed in a food processor or blender
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, divided
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
2 1/2 tsp coarse kosher salt, divided
4 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup creme fraiche or sour cream (we use soy sour cream in our house)
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Preheat over to 425F. Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a 10 - 12 cup large cast iron or other skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions, celery and 1/2 tsp coarse salt. Saute until tender, but not brown and juices are reduced 10 - 30 minutes. Scrape mixture into bowl and wipe out skillet.
Whisk egg yolks in large bowl 2 minutes. Stir in corn mixture, onion mixture, creme fraiche OR sour cream, 1/8 tsp pepper and remaining 2 tsp coarse salt. Whisk egg whites in a medium bowl until stiff, but not dry; fold into corn batter in 2 additions.
Place remaining 2 tbsp butter in the 10 - 12 cup cast-iron skillet or baking dish. Transfer to oven and heat until butter begins to brown, about 4 minutes. Brush butter over inside of skillet. Add pudding.
Bake pudding 15 minutes. Reduce over temperature to 350F. Bake pudding until set and golden, about 30 minutes longer. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
This is my favorite side dish at Thanksgiving. It is magnificent!
Happy Harvest!
