Six Seasons

by Joshua McFadden

  ¼ cup shredded Pecorino Romano cheese

  Put the corn, walnuts, chiles, scallions, and mint in a bowl and toss to mix. Squeeze over the lime juice and season generously with salt and black pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning so that the corn is lively with flavor. Add ¼ cup olive oil and toss. Taste and adjust with more oil, lime, salt, or black pepper.

  Serve the corn salad in a bowl and top with the shredded pecorino.

  MORE WAYS:

  Dress up plain vegetables: Top roasted or grilled eggplant slices.

  Garnish crostini: Spread garlic-rubbed grilled bread with Whipped Ricotta and tumble corn on top.

  Make a bright chunky salsa: Loosen with more lime juice and olive oil and use broken Whole-Grain Carta di Musica as chips and dip.

  Corn and Tomato Salad with Torn Croutons

  This is a perfect hot-summer midweek meal, for which so little effort is required for such delicious reward. I love the crispness of the raw corn, but you can also make this dish by grilling whole ears of corn before cutting off the kernels.

  » Serves 4

  Kernels cut from 3 ears sweet corn, plus the milky pulp scraped from the cob (about 2 cups total)

  1 pound tomatoes (all shapes and colors), cored and cut into wedges or chunks, or whatever looks pretty

  3 to 4 scallions, trimmed (including ½ inch off the green tops), sliced on a sharp angle, soaked in ice water for 20 minutes, and drained well

  ¼ cup red wine vinegar

  Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

  2 cups Torn Croutons

  ½ cup pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped

  ½ cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

  1 handful basil leaves

  1 handful mint leaves

  Extra-virgin olive oil

  Put the corn, tomatoes, and scallions in a large bowl. Add the vinegar and toss gently to mix. Season generously with salt and pepper and toss. Taste and adjust the seasoning so the salad is nicely bright.

  Add the croutons, pistachios, pecorino, basil, and mint and toss again. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Moisten with ⅓ cup olive oil and toss again. Taste and adjust. Serve lightly chilled or at a little cooler than room temperature.

  Sautéed Corn Four Ways

  These four sautéed corn dishes are templates—delicious as written, but also meant to inspire you to create your own combinations. The idea is to simply eat corn every day when it’s in season. The key to cooking corn is to cook it fast, over high heat. It’s better to barely cook it, leaving it on the raw side so it stays sweet and crunchy, than to cook it too long and have it become tough and starchy.

  » Serves 4

  Basic with scallions

  1 tablespoon unsalted butter

  4 ears sweet corn, kernels cut off (about 2½ cups)

  1 bunch scallions, trimmed (including ½ inch off the green tops), thinly sliced on an angle

  Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

  Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted and the foaming subsides, add the corn and scallions and a big pinch of salt and some pepper and cook, tossing and shaking the corn.

  After a minute or so, you’ll probably see some sugary corn juices start to stick to the bottom of the pan. Scrape those up with a metal spatula or wooden spoon as you cook. They are really tasty and you want to incorporate them into the sauté. Cook the corn until it’s heated through and slightly caramelized, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve right away.

  Cream and melting cheese

  ¼ cup heavy cream or crème fraîche

  ¼ cup freshly grated cheese, such as Fontina, cheddar, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Monterey Jack, or Gouda

  Follow the basic recipe, but omit the scallions. Pour in the cream and let it boil about 30 seconds, then add the cheese and cook, stirring until the corn is cloaked in a lovely creamy sauce. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Serve right away.

  Pancetta, black pepper, arugula, and hot sauce

  2 ounces pancetta, cut into small dice or lardons and fried until lightly browned and slightly crisp

  1 handful arugula, washed and dried

  A few dashes hot sauce, such as Sriracha

  Follow the basic recipe, but omit the scallions. Toss in the pancetta and season the corn with a healthy dose of pepper. Add the arugula and a few shakes of hot sauce, and toss quickly just to incorporate the greens and begin to wilt them, but not actually cook them. Taste and adjust the salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Serve right away.

  Fresh chiles, radishes, and pine nuts

  1 large or a few small fresh green chiles, seeded, deribbed, and sliced into rings

  4 or 5 radishes, trimmed, scrubbed, and cut into small chunks or wedges

  ¼ cup pine nuts, lightly toasted

  1 large lime wedge

  Follow the basic recipe, but omit the scallions. Add the chiles to the corn and cook, stirring and scraping, until the chiles lose a bit of their crunch and get fragrant, about a minute. Add the radishes and pine nuts, toss to mix, and squeeze the lime wedge over everything. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Serve right away.

  Grilled Corn with Alla Diavola Butter and Pecorino

  Not quite a recipe, this dish is a reminder that when you have a fridge stocked with good condiments, such as my alla diavola butter, great meals are minutes away. You can use any of the compound butters in the book (starting here), and it’s fun to set out several butters and let your friends choose their own.

  » Serves as many people as you have ears of corn

  Sweet corn, husked

  Alla Diavola Butter

  Freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

  Heat a grill to medium-high.

  Arrange the corn—unoiled—on the grill and cook for only a couple of minutes, turning so that all sides get exposed to the heat. You just want to warm the exterior and maybe give it a kiss of smoke and flame, but you want the interior of the kernels to stay juicy and almost raw.

  Arrange the corn on a platter and slather with the butter, turning the ears so they get entirely coated. Shower with grated pecorino and eat right away.

  In the kitchen When grilling corn, you’ve got choices. You can remove all the husks and silks and grill “naked,” or you can pull back the husks but leave them attached, and remove the silks. Or for less-charred results, pull back the husks, remove the silks, and then pull the husks back into position—the corn will steam rather than grill, but it will still pick up some smoky flavor.

  Corn, Tomatoes, and Clams on Grilled Bread, Knife-and-Fork–Style

  People always want bread to dip into their clam broth, so why not put the clams right on the bread from the get-go? And you don’t need to use a knife and fork; hands are perfectly fine. I was just being polite.

  » Serves 4

  Extra-virgin olive oil

  3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

  1 tablespoon Tomato Conserva or tomato paste

  1 bunch scallions, trimmed (including ½ inch off the green tops), sliced on a sharp angle

  8 ounces cherry tomatoes (a mix of colors and varieties), halved if large

  ½ teaspoon dried chile flakes

  2 tablespoons unsalted butter

  Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

  1 pound small clams, such as Manila, rinsed

  ½ cup dry, unoaked white wine

  ½ cup lightly packed flat-leaf parsley leaves

  2 large ears sweet corn, husked, kernels sliced off into a bowl (about 1⅓ cups kernels)

  Juice of ½ lemon

  Four ½-inch-thick slices country bread, grilled, rubbed with garlic, and kept warm

  Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and the garlic and cook slowly to toast the garlic so
it’s very soft, fragrant, and nicely golden brown—but not burnt—about 5 minutes.

  Add the tomato conserva and cook for another 30 seconds or so, stirring and scraping so the tomato doesn’t burn but does get a bit darker. Add the scallions and cook, stirring, until they start to get fragrant and soft, another minute or so.

  Add the tomatoes, chile flakes, and butter, and season generously with salt and black pepper. Cook, stirring the tomatoes occasionally, until they start to burst and render their juices, another 3 to 4 minutes.

  Add the clams and wine, cover the pan, and cook until the clams all open; this could take as little as 2 minutes or up to 6 minutes, depending on the size and type of clams. When the clams are open (toss out any that refuse to open even after another couple of minutes cooking), add the parsley, corn, and lemon juice. Taste and adjust the sauce with more salt, black pepper, chile flakes, or lemon juice.

  Arrange the grilled bread on plates or in shallow bowls and spoon the corn and clams over the top, dividing the juices evenly, too. Finish with a generous drizzle of olive oil, and serve with a knife and fork, and a bowl for empty shells.

  Corn Fritters with Pickled Chiles

  Think hush puppies and you’ll get the idea. When you’re frying the fritters, be sure not to add too many at once to the oil or it will lower the temperature and make the fritters soggy. Fry them in batches and let them sit in a low oven on a baking sheet lined with paper towels until all are cooked.

  » Makes about 24 fritters

  1 teaspoon fast-acting yeast

  1 cup all-purpose flour

  1 cup fine cornmeal

  Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

  ½ cup plain whole-milk or low-fat yogurt (not Greek)

  ½ cup water

  2 ears sweet corn

  ⅔ cup finely chopped pickled chiles, store-bought or homemade

  3 scallions, trimmed (including ½ inch off the green tops), sliced on a sharp angle

  ½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

  Vegetable oil, for deep-frying

  Compound butters (optional), for serving

  Whisk together the yeast, flour, cornmeal, 1½ teaspoons salt, and many twists of black pepper in a large bowl. Whisk in the yogurt and water to make a mostly smooth batter (a few lumps are okay; add more water if the dry ingredients aren’t fully moistened).

  Cover the bowl and keep in a warm place for at least 1 hour and up to overnight (if for more than 2 hours, put it in the refrigerator, and then let it warm at room temperature for about 30 minutes before you continue).

  When the batter is bubbling and puffed up a bit, husk the corn, slice off the corn kernels, and add them to the batter. Then, with the back of a table knife, scrape the milky juice from the cobs into the batter too. Gently fold in the chiles, scallions, and Parmigiano.

  Arrange a double layer of paper towels on a tray. Pour at least 2 inches of oil into a large pan (with tall sides, so that the oil can’t bubble over when you add the batter). Slowly bring the oil up to 375°F on a thermometer. (Or fry a small piece of bread: When it takes 60 seconds to get nicely crisp and brown, but not burnt, your oil is just about right.)

  Using two tablespoons, scoop up some batter and carefully lower it into the oil. Continue until you have added enough fritters to fill the pan but not crowd it. Cook the fritters, turning with your spoon in order for all sides to get nicely browned. When puffy and a rich brown, scoop them out with a slotted spoon and drain on the paper towels. Season lightly with salt.

  Serve the fritters warm (not piping hot), with one or more of the compound butters, if desired.

  Eggplant

  Eggplant may be the trickiest vegetable to cook, and therefore it can inspire some ambivalence. But when handled correctly, it is sublime.

  Younger specimens have fewer seeds. Choose eggplant whose flesh will be dense, creamy, and as seedless as possible. That means young, firm, heavy-for-their-size eggplants. The more time on the vine, the pithier the flesh and the more bitter the flavor. Another contributor to eggplant unpleasantness is time spent in cold storage. Eggplant doesn’t like the cold, and if stored poorly by the distributor or grocer, the bitter compounds can be nasty. One more reason to shop at a farmers’ market or grow your own.

  I prefer the slender Asian varieties, which I like for their relative lack of seeds but also because one Asian eggplant split lengthwise makes a perfect portion and looks great on the plate. The larger globe eggplants can be delicious, too, but will be seedier.

  Salt and cook well to improve texture. Eggplant is like a damp sponge. Deal with the “damp” aspect by salting the cut surfaces of eggplant an hour or two ahead to draw out bitter liquid. The “sponge” part means that eggplant will absorb other flavors in your dish, making it a good team player, but it can absorb too much oil during cooking. To avoid this, be sure your oil is hot enough when you add the eggplant.

  Eggplant is one of the few vegetables that I won’t tell you to eat raw; when cooked, you never want it crisp-tender. Only when it is fully tender will you achieve the creaminess that is eggplant’s hallmark.

  Peel. Most eggplant skin is tender enough to eat, so whether you peel is up to you. I’ll sometimes peel the eggplant in stripes, leaving a bit of skin to provide structure.

  Carta di Musica with Roasted Eggplant Spread, Herbs, and Ricotta Salad

  I serve this dish as an appetizer or as part of a trio of antipasti. A good-quality feta would be a nice swap out for the ricotta salata, and a few small edible flowers would make the dish look stunning on a cocktail spread.

  » Serves 4

  1 bunch scallions, trimmed (including ½ inch off the green tops), sliced on a sharp angle, soaked in ice water for 20 minutes, and drained well

  1 big handful mixed fresh herbs (mint leaves, flat-leaf parsley leaves, basil leaves)

  1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

  Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

  Extra-virgin olive oil

  Roasted Eggplant Spread

  4 Whole-Grain Carta di Musica or other large, very thin cracker breads

  ½ cup crumbled ricotta salata

  Put the scallions and herbs in a bowl, toss with the lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust with more of any of the ingredients until the salad is bright and zingy. Drizzle on a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and toss again.

  Spread a thick layer of the eggplant onto the cracker breads. Top with the salad and sprinkle the ricotta salata over the top. Finish with another generous drizzle of olive oil and serve.

  Roasted Eggplant Spread

  Use this delicious spread as a crostini topping, a dip, or a sandwich spread. Here I roast the eggplant in a hot oven, but you can also grill-roast it over charcoal, which will give it a smoky flavor, much like a Middle Eastern baba ghanoush. Either way, be sure you cook it fully—if the eggplant is at all undercooked, the spread won’t be creamy and the flavor will be a bit too “green.”

  » Makes about 1½ cups

  1 pound globe eggplant

  2 teaspoons fish sauce or Italian colatura

  1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

  ¼ teaspoon dried chile flakes

  Extra-virgin olive oil

  ½ lemon (optional)

  Heat the oven to 450°F.

  Prick the eggplant a couple of times so it doesn’t burst during roasting. Set it on a baking sheet and roast until totally tender and starting to collapse, 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on size. Let the eggplant cool on the pan until you can handle it, then split it open.

  Scrape the flesh into a food processor (compost the skin). Pulse a couple of times to make a rough puree. Add the fish sauce, vinegar, chile flakes, and ¼ cup olive oil. Pulse until is smooth.

  Taste (watch out for the processor blade!) and adjust with more fish sauce, chile
flakes, and olive oil until the spread is rich and creamy. Serve with a squeeze of lemon if you like.

  Grilled Eggplant with Tomatoes, Torn Croutons, and Lots of Herbs

  Eggplant is amazing on the grill, but sometimes the exterior can char before the inside is fully cooked and creamy-tender. Let the eggplant sit in a warm place for a few minutes after you’ve pulled it from the grill. This allows the interior to steam a bit more—carryover cooking—guaranteeing the lush texture you’re looking for.

  » Serves 4

  1½ pounds eggplants (aim for a nice variety of small Asian types)

  Extra-virgin olive oil

  ¼ cup red wine vinegar

  Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

  1 pound tomatoes (go for variety here, too, in colors and sizes), cored and cut into chunks if large

  1 bunch scallions, trimmed (including ½ inch off the green tops), sliced on a sharp angle, soaked in ice water for 20 minutes, and drained well

  1 cup Torn Croutons

  A couple handfuls mixed herb leaves: basils (lemon, opal, Genovese, etc.), mints, flat-leaf parsley, minutina, chives (cut into 2-inch lengths), cilantro, and, if it’s still around, papalo

  Trim the ends off the eggplants, halve them lengthwise, and sprinkle with a generous dose of salt. Set them on a rack or in a big colander and leave for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours (if longer than 2 hours, put them in the fridge).

  Heat a grill to medium-high.

  Blot the moisture and excess salt from the surface of the eggplants. Grill the eggplants—unoiled—until they are lightly charred on the outside and tender on the inside, about 10 minutes total, though this will depend on the variety of eggplant. (Alternatively, to roast them: Heat the oven to 450°F, and heat a baking sheet for 15 minutes to get it ripping hot. Toss the eggplants in a couple of tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and place them cut side down on the hot—be careful!—pan, and blast it back in the oven. Roast until both sides are nicely browned and the eggplants are tender, about 18 minutes.)