Summer mainstays:

Corn, tomato dishes merit a second look

by Dan Kennedy

In July, I offered three simple recipes for using local ripe tomatoes to great advantage. I also invited your recipe ideas for this August column.

As I thought about it, corn is also a mainstay of the summer table. So I reached out to a local chef for a novel twist, which appears below. What's more, he'll serve grilled corn Panzanella salad at his restaurant one night so you have a benchmark for excellence, should you wish to try it. It's best done when you're barbecuing.

Fans of eggplant, melons and peppers, I apologize. I typically choose a different vegetable to feature in every column. But corn and tomatoes are still quite good, have broader constituencies and deserve a double-take.

So here are a few more ways to take advantage of fresh tomatoes. None require cooking. Part of our mission with 'Field to Fork,' after all, is to serve people with little or no cooking skills (or time, or both) who want to join the ranks of those buying and enjoying local, fresh produce.

- Dan Kennedy, a Davis resident, has a long history with the bounty of gardens and small farms. Reach him at kennedynow@yahoo.com

Grilled Corn Panzanella Salad

Bored with corn on the cob? Executive ChefCullen Newhoff of Seasons restaurant in Davis suggests the following recipe to accompany grilled fish, chicken or steak on a summer evening.

Seasons will serve this corn salad on its menu Thursday for one evening only, so you can enjoy a professional's version with the finest ingredients, such as golden balsamic vinegar, Brentwood corn and organic honey. But it's a wonderful home recipe with local ingredients in season.

Ingredients:

2 ears yellow corn

1 English cucumber, peeled and julienned (sliced like matchsticks)

1/2 cup fresh basil, sliced

Pint of heirloom cherry tomatoes

Half a baguette (a French bread, preferably day-old)

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons honey

Salt and pepper to taste

Putting it together:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice bread thinly, toss with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a bowl, add salt and pepper, bake until golden brown. Allow bread to cool.

Brush stripped ears of corn lightly with oil, char on medium grill, i.e., some kernels are blackened. Allow to cool; slice kernels from cob.

In separate bowl, mix honey and vinegar. Whisk constantly while slowly adding remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. If cherry tomatoes are large, halve them.

Mix corn, bread, cucumber, tomatoes, basil and generous amount of dressing. Toss gently. Let sit 5 to 10 minutes for bread to soak up dressing, then serve.

Option: top with more basil.

Bruschetta with Tomatoes (for two)

Reader Adele Mitchell contributes this simple recipe.

Ingredients:

1 large tomato

2 tablespoons fresh basil

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

Olive oil

Red vinegar

Rustic Italian bread

Putting it together:

Chop tomatoes into quarter-inch chunks. Put in bowl, add chopped basil, a few drops of red vinegar, perhaps a quarter-teaspoon of dried oregano. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, mix, let sit at room temperature. (Taste, adjust incrementally; perhaps add a pinch of salt.)

Lightly toast half-inch slices of rustic, crusty Italian bread. Garlic fans can rub each toasted slice with the cut edge of a raw garlic clove. Spoon the tomato mixture on top and enjoy immediately.

* Linda DuBois, who edits this column at The Enterprise, works long days. For dinner, she likes to chop up a large red tomato from her garden, splash it with extra-virgin olive oil, and mix in dried basil (fresh basil if she's been shopping). This is even simpler than the bruschetta recipe and works as a fast tomato salad.

Gazpacho

Gazpacho is cold, piquant tomato soup of Spanish origin. Adele's version, below, includes the basics. Other recipes use basil, chopped raw onion, jalapeños, or other ingredients.

Ingredients:

4 large tomatoes

1 medium cucumber

1 large green pepper

2 large cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

Red vinegar

Putting it together:

Cut tomatoes into eighths, and the cucumber into chunks. Chop pepper roughly, after discarding seeds and membrane. Process in a food processor; put in a bowl. Now add a tablespoon or less of minced fresh garlic. (Not a garlic lover? Add a bit of chopped raw onion and perhaps chopped jalapeno pepper, to add piquancy.) Mix in the olive oil and a quarter-teaspoon of red vinegar. Taste, adjust. Delicious right away; better if it sits in the refrigerator (covered) overnight.

* Each summer we visit a retired couple from Davis who have a summer cottage in Cape Cod. We bring 20 pounds of our garden tomatoes; they serve up lobsters. They use some of the riper tomatoes to make a gazpacho incorporating Spicy Hot V8 Juice, and I must say, a tip of the hat on that one.

 

Kennedy, Dan. "Summer mainstays: Corn, tomato dishes merit a second look." The Davis Enterprise. 26 Aug. 2009.