how fresh corn can save your life

If only  every summer were just a long strand of hot, sunshiny days filled with watermelon, tomatoes and butterflies. Certainly, some summers are. I've been lucky enough to stockpile a number of seemingly endless, easy summers. This has not been that summer. This has been the summer of the persistant chest cold, reoccurring strep throat, serious emotional growing pains from my three and a half year old (who has taken to standing outside the bathroom door while I shower banging endlessly and shouting like a tiny Stanley Kowalski "Mamaaaa Maaaaaaaamaaaaa!") Admittedly, this is a pregnancy summer and while it is wonderful quietly waiting, watching this new baby grow, a lot of time that could have been better spent hiking, swimming in the river and eating on the porch has been devoted to resting a puny Mama. Blue skied, beach tripping, golden Summer has unspooled without me. So it was a gift, a blessing in the purest form when silky, green husked ears of sweet golden and silver queen corn started arriving in our weekly CSA share. Even with my immune system on vacation I would not miss the opportunity to sit on the porch and shuck ear after perfectly squeaking fresh ear of corn with my little one while my husband mows the grass. I tried to soak up every minute of it. And when all that corn was shucked and brushed clean of its silk I carried it inside and roasted it. Spread the rows of blistered kernels with fresh goat cheese, squeezed over the juice of a lime and sprinkled it all with a dusting of spicy, smokey cayenne pepper. Summer had found me at last.  

the goodness of greens

It has been an eventful week in our kitchen processing all of that beautiful food that is flowing in from the garden and our CSA share. With temperatures as high as they have been it has gotten a bit hot over the stove and I caught myself letting go of a bit of a sigh of relief when those bags of lovely heart shaped leaves started turing up. For me sweet potato greens are on of the first signs of fall coming on. Will I miss summer? I always do but I welcome Autumn with a happy heart and a pot full of sweet potato greens.
Sweet potato greens are mild and tender. I think I've heard Trisha describe them as summer spinach which is a good way to think about them. They are packed with nutrition and especially good raw in smoothies or in salads with a sharp citrusy dressing. That actually sounds good right now. Tossed in at the very end of cooking a pot of rice or couscous makes a nice quick side dish. But as light and delicate as sweet potato greens are they stand up beautifully in a braise with say  caramelized onion and garlic, pork chops and sliced sweet apples. A flavorful one pot meal to welcome Autumn, just not right away.

brace yourself for cutting celery

I had my first encounter with cutting celery only about two years ago during my tenure as a cook in Innisfree's community kitchen. Trisha brought us, picture this, wheelbarrow load after wheelbarrow load of this delicate leafy celery. The harvest was astounding and as a gathering of extended community members approached, we cooks wracked our brain about how to best showcase our abundance of cutting celery. A cream of celery soup was decided upon which sounded, admittedly, kind of bland. Good thing we were wrong. The soup was a huge hit and is always in the back of my mind when the cutting celery begins turning up in my weekly share. All you need to know is that this in not your grocery store celery. The flavor is pungent, fresh and bracing and it stands up beautifully to a long, slow simmer in a bath of rich flavors. Make some for a rainy day and save some for your freezer. One night in December you will come home damp, chilled to the bone and pleased to find a comforting meal ready to warm on the stove without any added effort.
Wash and roughly chop a large head of celery, including the leaves, a large sweet onion, three cloves of garlic and the tender parts of two leeks. Brown the veggies in three tablespoons of butter over a low flame in a heavy bottomed pot. Add a large pinch of salt to help the aromatics render and deglaze the bottom of the pot with about two cups of dry white wine.
When the celery and onion mixture is tender and slightly browned add two quarts of flavorful stock to the pot along with six gold potatoes, peeled and quartered. Bring the pot to a gentle boil and cooking the potatoes through and reducing the stock by about a quarter.
Remove the soup pot from the heat. Using either an immersion blender or a potato masher blend the potatoes into the soup until thickened. Add to this crushed red and black pepper to taste, a handful of fresh chopped parsley and a  heaped teaspoon of finely tarragon, a generous slosh of heavy whipping cream (do yourself a favor and do not skip the cream it is absolutely worth it) and a couple handfuls of grated parmesan. This recipe is as good as it sounds and begs only for a loaf of rustic, grainy bread and a tableful of hungry people to enjoy it together. My freezer will be full of it before the first snowflakes fall.