Shucking Up to Corn
July 24, 2008

With food prices spiking it’s more important than ever to choose peak nutritious produce that doesn’t allow for waste. Last week I paid $6.79 for a dozen ears of corn at a farm stand in the Northeast Kingdom. In my checkbook that makes corn a freshly minted luxury. Egregiously overpriced? I thought so. Wasteful? Not on my watch.

After peeling the ears–and taking a bit more time to coo, relish, and fawn over the noble stalks– I coated the VIPs (very important produce) lightly in canola oil and grilled them on a hot gas grill. This is the best way to cook corn on the cob, turning each ear until lightly browned as the corn sugar begins to caramelize. This takes only a few minutes. Then I wrapped the ears lovingly in the cook’s equivalent of the Green Room (heavy-duty aluminum foil) to rest until mealtime.

Leftovers yielded two ears, so I gently shucked the cobs; I also scavenged all other knobs of cobs where eaters had done a poor job, letting nary a precious kernel go astray. I ended up with 4 cups of corn. Next, I put all of the cobs in a large pot of cold water and simmered them for 20 minutes creating a nice starchy vegetable broth for future corn chowder that would feature 3 cups of the jewels.

In constant pursuit of transforming the plain into the sublime, the fourth cup of corn is where I really hit my stride. I combined some cooked orzo with the corn and a few other savories to make one of the easiest and most delicious risotto-style dishes ever. I used mascarpone, which I recommend not only for it’s truly epic flavor, but also for the consistency it delivers to the dish and the fact that a very small amount makes for an incredibly creamy, dreamy forkful. I think of mascarpone like an expensive perfume– a small amount goes so far, and there really is no substitute for the finest of products.

So, this summer let the humble kernel rule. Give our newly precocious, always precious, corn the unstinting adulation and devotion it deserves.

Orzcorpone
Cook 1 cup of orzo pasta according to directions. Drain and rinse in cold water. Finely slice 2 garlic cloves and one shallot. In a sauté pan melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat and add the garlic and shallot. Sauté for 5 minutes, but do not allow the ingredients to color. Add 1 cup of reserved corn, the orzo, and one-third cup of vegetable stock. Let it simmer 5 minutes, stirring gently. Stir in 1 heaping tablespoon of mascarpone. Taste, then season with kosher salt and fresh pepper. Serve with a sprinkle of fresh Parmesan cheese and a chiffonade of fresh basil. Serves 2-4.

Kim Dannies is a graduate of La Varenne Cooking School in France. She lives in Williston, VT with her husband, Jeff, and three college–aged daughters who come and go. ©2008