Monday, August 8, 2011

Corn, Zucchini and vision of summer

CORN in week 5 of my CSA!!! Living in the mid-west, there is nothing better than summer corn. We look forward to the corn season. This is not “da kine” we get in Hawai’i. The kernels are plump and juicy. They burst in your mouth in each bite. My sister Kawanlani loves roasted corn. I love posting pictures of it to tease her. I am very lucky that I have a roasted corn master at home. I must say Mr. Wonderful made some “killer” roasted corn on the grill

There is also zucchini and chives in the basket. My sister sent me a Italian zucchini and corn salad recipe. I am inspired to come up with my version.

Corn and zucchini salad with key lime honey dressing

2 ears of corn. or you can use 3/4 cup off frozen roasted corn from Trader Joe.
1 med Zucchini, washed cut lengthwise in half.
1 cup of pea pods, clean, remove the stems and the ends. Pull the string off. (You may not find any string, depending on the variety.
2 shallots, brush off the soil, lightly wipe the outer peel
¼ cups of chopped chives
3 key lime
2 tablespoon of honey
6 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Toss pea pod with 2 tablespoon of olive oil, season with salt and pepper
Brush the zucchini with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Prepare the grill to med high heat till hot. 

Place whole shallots on the grill for a few seconds, turn the heat down to med low. Cover and cook for about 5-8 mins. Turn once. Leave on the cooler part of the grill when you prepare the rest of the vegetable.
If you are grilling the corn. I would suggest putting the corn in at the same time with the shallot. Fresh corn does not take long to cook.
Place the pea pod on a piece of tin foil and lightly grilled till turn bright green. Be careful not to over cook, we would like to keep the crunch
Grill the zucchini lightly about a min on each side to have grill marks.
Remove all the vegetable from the grill

Cut the kernels off the cob.
Cut the zucchini into small 1/2” cubes
Remove the outer peel from the shallot. If you put a small slit in the bulb, you can easily push the peel off and remove the roasted shallot. Chopped coarsely

Cut up the pea pods in bite size.
In a large bowl, toss together corn, zucchini, chopped shallots and chives
In a small bowl, squeeze the juice from the 3 key limes, add 2 tablespoon of honey. Slowly whisk in the remaining 4-tablespoon of olive oil then the vinaigrette comes together.

 Season with salt and pepper.
Slowly drizzle the dressing over the vegetable. Toss, cover and chill in the fridge for about ½ hour till cold.
Serve cold. Garnish with a few chives
Serve 4 as a side

Enjoy!!
Aloha!

2 comments:

  1. Great job! I was just telling my hubby I miss my big George Foreman grill I had before moving. I didn't have to heat up the grill if I was just making a few things and we don't have the propane type I had back home. Onolicious!

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  2. I had a Foreman grill too. It worked well for small things such as grilled vegetable. I was not too crazy with fish or meat. My all time favorite is still my good ole charcoal weber. I still use it for some smoking. "Da gas grill" was my brother-in-law's. I bought it from him when they moved to the Islands. It's a bit big, but nice to have for parties and with our crazy hot summer, I really enjoy cooking outside.

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