Thursday, August 18, 2011

Must rescue Jessica from foodie abyss

It's Sharon, the smart one on the left.
Recently my friend Jessica (there she is, on the left) revealed that when she heard the word sauté pan, she immediately thought emergency room or burn unit. The sum total of her at home cooking is boxed pastas and bagged rice….guess she’s mastered the boiling water part? She complains that most all recipes she finds have obscure ingredients and use gadgets she wouldn't even find in a Top Chef kitchen let alone waste her money on when she can buy shoes and eyeshadow instead! This fear (minus the shoes and eyeshadow bit) seemed to be echoed at every bbq or grad party I attended this summer! And we know Kris has been blabbering on about this "food ridiculousness" for a year.

Hmmm.....I'm in a quandry.  As I stare at the pages of  Bon Appétit's BBQ issue - what can I recommend to dear Jessica (HI Jessica - vote Team Sharon remember?) that will taste great, not have too many fancy smancy ingredients or required tools, AND be easy as pie to prepare.  (OK easy as shoes for Jessica)

Here’s what I decided - a delicious corn recipe that you can serve as a crudités. Don’t panic at the word crudités (crew-duh-tay) – this really pretty bulletproof recipe & really only features 5 ingredients - you will need a grill.  Follow along and impress your friends, family or maybe just yourself.


Ingredients: shucked corn, feta, sour cream, limes, nice thick bread, Extras: olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper.Brush the corn with olive oil or regular oil... salt and pepper and put on a hot grill...( if you don't have a brush just dip a paper towel in the oil and brush) Next make a mixture of equal parts sour cream and feta – don’t make this difficult, just a big spoon of each. Turn the corn periodically, it will get brownish/black on some parts. When it starts to look done place the sliced bread (which you should brush with olive oil on both sides) on the upper part of the grill. The bread doesn't have to be on the top rack but it will cook fast....keep an eye on it, you want toasted, not charcoaled! (I sometimes add some chopped garlic in the olive oil mixture before I paint it on the bread - that's up to you)

Remove everything from grill, spread the sour cream mixture on the toasted bread, use sharp knife and cut the kernels off the corn cobs and spread corn over sour cream mixture. Squeeze juice from a wedge of lime over the whole thing. This particular night I had put some whole red peppers on the grille and added some slices of that to the presentation. You can also sprinkle some red pepper on the top if you’d like a little more “kick” but you don't have to...viola.... You can cut these into strips and serve as an appetitizer, but I just eat the whole slice myself.(Tip: I get the sliced miche loaf from Panera but have even used Scali bread from Crowells in Canton)



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