Spicy Corn Salad

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Summer weather is right around the corner and with Memorial Day weekend starts for many the unofficial kick off to summer!  

Which in turn means lots of cookouts, and this weekend is usually the first of many.  

Whether your throwing the party or loading up your cooler and making the trek to a friends, cookouts are an American right of passage that most every adult can look back on with fond childhood memories (and adult ones too).

And of course, you can't have a cookout without the food.  That's the best part...Besides some of the tasty beverages. 

There are just endless possibilities of things you can do and so many different little traditions that people have.  Growing up, a go-to was always corn on the cob, cooked with a little salt and pepper and smothered in butter.

I figured, now's the time to jazz that side dish up and take the spice up a notch!!!

This is corn salad with a twist...

          Yummy charred corn, spicy fresh jalapeños, bright cilantro and salty addicting feta cheese brings life to this new corn salad and drool worthy flavors and aromas.

Enjoy :)

Spicy Corn Salad
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

3 cups corn (about 4 ears), cut from the cob

1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 glove garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

1 handful cilantro, chopped

1 lime, juice

1 tbsp. chili powder

1/2 cup feta, crumbled, plus extra for serving

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

1.  Melt the butter in a heavy skillet oven medium-high heat.

2.  Add the corn, toss and let it sit cooking until charred, mix it up a bit and let it char again, the whole process takes about 6-10 minutes.

3.  Add the jalapenos, garlic and shallots, and sauce for a minute or two until soft and then remove from heat.

4.  Mix everything together in a large bowl. Serve warm or at room temperature, with extra feta sprinkled on top.  

***Alternative version for grilling.  Using 4-5 ears of corn, grill corn until the kernels are slightly charred and corn is cook.  When cool enough to handle, cut corn kernels off and set aside.  Using the butter called for, lightly saute jalapeno, garlic and shallot until aromatic and softened over medium-high heat, about 2-3 minutes.  Add in the grilled corn kernels and toss together with the jalapeno-shallot mixture and heat through, 1-2 minutes.  Remove from heat and resume with step 4 above.

French Onion Soup

This past Thursday I had my French class that I taught, and we made a few French dishes that I love to eat.  Among them we made, Steak au Poivre (Pepper Crusted Steak) with a Cognac Sauce, Ratatouille, Crepes with an Apple Caramel Sauce and French Onion Soup. 

Now after going to Culinary School, and taking my Classical Cuisine class (which was a restaurant run class serving "classical French foods") I have ingrained in my head where I can no longer call it French Onion Soup.  Because in that class, it was a French menu, therefore according to one of my instructors it should simply be called Onion Soup because the French should have been a given.

But for the purposes of this blog that is neither here nor there, just a little insight on how my brain functions.  Anyway.....French Onion Soup, something that my mother has been asking me for years to make her.  Not sure why, but when I started my culinary venture, she just said she would really like me to make it for her at some point.

And I am sorry to say for years up until this point I have played the bad daughter roll because I haven't made it for her.  It was one of those things that I was always so-so on because the recipe always seemed so simple.  What could be so special about onions in a beef broth with bread and some gruyere cheese?  But it's those very things that make this a delicious dish for all to indulge in, and of course I made my momma happy when I presented her with a bowl of this.
Enjoy

French Onion Soup
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 onions, sliced thinly
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
3 fresh thyme sprigs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 quarts  beef broth
1 baguette, sliced
1/2 pound Gruyere, grated

Directions:
1.  Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. 
2.  Add the wine and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes.  Discard bay leaves and thyme sprigs.
3.  Add the flour in with the onions and stir.  Turn the heat down to medium low, and cool out the raw flour taste, about 5 minutes.  Pour in beef broth and bring the soup back to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes.  Season to taste, with salt and pepper.
4.  Preheat your broiler when your close to serving the soup.  Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Load the slices with Gruyere cheese and sprinkle with salt and black pepper.  Broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
5.  Ladle the soup in bowls and float several of the Gruyere croutons on top.


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