Grilled Corn Panzanella

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Corn for me is the quintessential high summer vegetable.

As a kid my oldest and dearest friends had a cottage in Muskoka that my family used to go to many times a summer. The kind of cottage that’s hard to find these days in Muskoka, amidst all the monster homes that people summer in, this is a real cottage (or as we say on the west coast, a cabin). It was built by my friends great-great-aunt and uncle, from scratch all the way. They even built some of the furniture and sewed the quilts. It was the home to our most elaborate games and biggest adventures as kids, and I loved it.

Since moving to BC I haven’t been back, which is alarming and hard as it’s been nearly 6 years now, one of my friends was recently up there and Instagraming pictures and it broke my heart a bit. Food was never a big priority up there; besides hot dogs, one great bakery, and traditional Thanksgiving dinner, my food memories from the cottage are few and far between. But I do remember stopping along the way at farmers stands and getting corn. Corn before “peaches and cream” corn, that was savoury instead of sweet and had a much stronger flavour that the kind you can pick up at the grocery store these days, at least where I live.

But I found some at the farmers market the other day, bright yellow and deeply flavoured. I grilled it and put it in this salad and it tasted like summer, the idyllic kind you can only have when your on school break and have nothing to do the next day but swim.

Grilled Corn Panzanella

2 cobs Corn

1 cup Cherry Tomatoes, halved

2 cups Bread, cubed

1 handful Basil

1/4 cup Olive Oil.

half Lemon

Salt and Pepper

Grill the corn- for me this means on a grill pan on my stove top. You could do this on a BBQ or under a broiler. You want to get it nice and charred.

Once cooked take a serated knife and cut the kernels off the cob.

In a frying pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Toss in the bread cubes and toast until it starts to darken on the edges. Salt.

Add the corn and the tomatoes, toss a couple times. Add in the basil and the lemon, adjust the seasoning and serve!

Coconut Corn Soup.

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I live in a pretty funny little part of East Van. It was the Italian area and then at some point it became the hippie hang out and now it’s the part of town that has the best cheese shop, a shockingly good vegan Mexican joint, and home to the coffee shop that wakes me up at 7am from crowds of Europeans shouting over soccer goals. It’s a wonderful place, most of the time.

It’s also very food oriented. It has more greengrocers then probably anywhere else in the city and my new favourite fish shop.

And on my way to my new favourite fish shop a couple days ago I noticed a very sweet little man outside with a small truck and a sign that said “Chilliwack Corn”. Now, who am I to refuse fate?

So instead of getting tuna I got sidestriped shrimp (the best shrimp ever doncha know?) and made a big batch of coconut corn soup.

This is good soup.

It’s rich and satisfying, it freezes well because of all of the starch in the corn, and it’s very flavourful. It’s loaded with lemongrass and ginger and lime and it is wonderful. Best takes less then 20 minutes on the stove and it is also terrific chilled, so you can make it the day before company comes by and be totally prepped up!

Coconut Corn Soup

A healthy glug of Olive Oil

1 large Onion, diced

2 cloves Garlic, sliced,

1 stalk Lemon Grass, sliced or chopped,

1 inch piece of Fresh Ginger, sliced,

2 cans of Coconut Milk

4 Pieces of good fresh sweet Corn

1 Lime

Fish Sauce to taste.

8 Shrimp

A small handful of cilantro, mint and/or thai basil.

* because your going to be pureeing the soup don’t worry about how nicely anything is cut!

In a medium sized pot on medium heat warm your olive oil and add in your lemongrass, ginger and onions.

Once the onions are soft and everything is very fragrant add in the garlic and cook until you just start to smell it. Then add in the coconut milk and 1 cup of water.

Cook this mixture for about 10 minutes, and then add in the corn. Cook the corn out for 5 minutes and then take it off the heat and puree it. You can use an emersion blender or a standing blender but either way I recommend pushing it throw a sieve. With the ginger and the lemongrass being so fibrous you just won’t get as nice a texture without that extra step! It doesn’t take long but it does make a big difference.

Now you can either bring it back up to a simmer and serve or chill it to serve. Either way check your seasoning. Add in lots of lime and lots of fish sauce and make sure theres enough salt.

For the prawns, just bring 1 cup of the soup of to a boil in a small pot, and add in the shrimp for 1 minute and then serve them right away!

Garnish with the herbs, and you have a perfect summer meal.