Two Cooks of the Corn

We spilled the beans on our restaurant idea. Some responses, in no particular order:

“When?  In fifty years?”

“Not to crush your dreams, but…”

“You should open a food cart instead.”

“Don’t you need some credentials for that?”

We’re not worried, though.  And we won’t try to change any minds. We will just shower them with food love. And we have…

This brings us to the 4^th of July.  We offered to bring a vegetarian side dish since the meat was being taken care of, but after offering, we realized we had no idea what to make.  We often get asked to bring our hummus, because it’s pretty killer. But we also want our friends to know that we’re not a couple of one-trick ponies.  After going back and forth with a few uninspired options, we decided to bring one of our newer dishes — and while it is only our second time making it, we are in love.  We used Kevin Gillespie’s technique as the basis for our process, but we changed the ingredients and flavors to make them a little more… us.  Here it is:

4 photos lost when the old site was hacked. Newer posts will have photos.

4^th of July Corn Off the Cob

(Serves 8 as a side dish)

10 ears of corn

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 lb of mushrooms (we used cremini)

2 shallots

1 cup Cotijo cheese crumbled

Cayenne pepper

 

Shuck the corn.  Grate half of the corn using the coarse side of a box grater. This is a messy job.  We learned the hard way.  We had to clean bits of corn and its starchy juice off the coffee pot.

Use a serated knife to remove the kernels from the other 5 corn stalks.  Grate or crumble the Cotijo cheese and set aside.

Sautee the mushrooms and shallots until the mushrooms are softened.  Add the corn mixture, salt and ground pepper and cayenne pepper to taste.   Stir in the cheese leaving some to crumble on top after serving.  Remove from the heat after approximately five minutes and serve with extra Cotijo crumble on top.

Our friends probably still think we’re crazy. But our food love was well received, and we plan to have some incarnation of it on our menu, whether from a food cart, in our restaurant, or on our kitchen table for dinner guests.