THIS WEEK YOUR BASKET CONTAINS: zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes and/or cherry tomatoes, corn, lettuce mix (lettuce & beet greens) or beans, red cabbage, sweet peppers, and basil

Our harvesting didn’t quite keep up with the ripening of the corn, so this week’s ears may be best cooked in a recipe such as the one below.  They are, of course, just fine for eating on the cob as well.

FRESH CORN CHOWDER

4 slices bacon

1 small onion, chopped

2 med celery stalks, diced

6 small ears of corn

4 1/2 Cups of milk

2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon ground white or black pepper

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

Place bacon in a soup pot and cook over med low heat until it releases all of its fat and is beginning to crisp, 10-15 min.  Leaving the bacon in the pan, spoon off all but 2 Tablespoons of the fat. Add onion and celery and cook, stirring, until tender and slightly browned, 10-15 min.  Remove the kernels from the corn.  Reserve the kernels and add the cobs to the soup pot along with the milk and potatoes.  Push the corn cobs into the milk to fully submerge them. Bring the milk to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the potatoes are tender, 10-15 minutes. Remove the cobs. Stir in the reserved corn kernels along with the salt and pepper.  Simmer gently until the corn is tender, about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove 1 1/2 cups solids from soup and puree until smooth. Return to the soup and add the butter.  Let stand until the butter is melted, then stir.  Serve!

We came across the recipe below a few years ago and fell in love with it.  In addition to being delicious, it is a great way to “hide” a bunch of veggies from any reluctant eater in your household.  In our recent travels, we learned a bit more about okonomiyaki.  It turns our that this recipe most resembles the style most common in Osaka.  In Hiroshima, on the other hand, they start with a crepe and pile various vegetable, noodles, and sometimes meat and eggs.  By frequent flipping on the griddle, all the toppings get crispy and delicious.  The result is a crepe-bottomed dish several inches thick.  The story we were told is that in the immediate aftermath of WWII, food was scares and wheat flour was imported for the first time, hence the initial making of crepes.  As other food became available, the cooks in Hiroshima simply piled them on and kept piling as each new ingredient came along.  Why they did it differently in Osaka was never explained.  In any case, there is a lot of debate and not a small rivalry between the two styles.  Personally, I think the Osaka style is easier, though I really enjoyed the Hiroshima style (crispy noodles are great!)  Play with the recipe adding anything that strikes your fancy and/or try your hand with Hiroshima style; it’s going to taste great either way.

VEGETARIAN OKONOMIYAKI

4 eggs

80 g plain flour (~ 1/2 cup)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp pureed ginger

Black pepper

120 g finely shredded cabbage (~ 2 cups)

1 small carrot, grated

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

1 tbsp oil

To serve:

Mayonnaise or salad cream

Sriracha

Chopped spring onions

Sesame seeds

Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl, and add the plain flour. Whisk together to form the pancake batter. Add the soy sauce, pureed ginger, and plenty of black pepper, then add the finely shredded cabbage, carrot and spring onions. Mix well to combine. Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan, and spoon in 1/4 of the pancake mixture. Cook over a medium-low heat for a few minutes, until the underside is golden brown, then carefully flip the pancake with a spatula, and cook for another couple of minutes, until fully cooked. Repeat with the remaining pancake mixture, to create four pancakes in total. Serve the vegetarian okonomiyaki with salad cream (or mayonnaise), sriracha, sliced spring onions and sesame seeds.  From EasyCheesyVegetarian.com