Corn on the cob is probably one of the most recognized summer foods in North America. It is prevalent depending on where you are at, from early July into mid-late September, and enjoyed by young and old alike. Corn on the cob was one of the few things I truly missed when I spent four years amidst the angst of adolescence dread: braces.
While there are so many recipes for corn on the cob, and so many ways to prepare it, I have never once had a bad recipe! Usually, I fall back on the simple old standby: cook it quickly in the microwave, either completely husked and covered in plastic wrap with a splash of water, or partially husked. Either way, it takes about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes in the microwave. Then spread it with butter and sprinkle with salt. But once in a while I like to change things up a bit, and this recipe is the result.Pre-cooked corn on the cob, husked.
2-3 TBS fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp fresh chopped, or 1 tsp dried parsley, cilantro, sage, thyme, rosemary or other favorite herb
1TBS butter or preferred cooking oil
Melt butter or heat oil, then add lemon juice and crushed red pepper to medium fry pan. Add pre-cooked corn on the cob. Saute corn on the cob until corn kernels appear to slightly tighten and shrink; about 5-6 minutes. Occasionally rotate corn on the cob in the fry pan to completely cover with lemon juice and butter mixture. Add herbs and saute 1 more minute. Remove from heat and serve.
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Fruit Roll-Ups/Fruit Leather
Well, fruit rolll-ups, a.k.a. fruit leather, because I guess it's supposed to look a bit like"leather", was such a hit when I made a little while ago, that I didn't even have time to take a picture of it for you. I don't like posting a recipe without some sort of picture to go along with it, since how do you know you want to make the recipe, if you can't see what it looks like, right? But in this case until I can make some more, I'll just have to postpone the picture. Fruit leather takes a little bit of patience, and for me, a little bit of practice, but because of that I can pass on some tips that I found helpful, but never found in any recipe anywhere else. Fruit leather is basically a pureed mixture of whatever ripened fruit you have available, or even a blend of several fruits. I've made raspberry, blueberry. blueberry-blackberry, blueberry-vanilla, strawberry, strawberry-mandarin orange, peach, apple, apple-cinnamon. All were good. All were gone as soon as I took them out of the dehydrator. Ahem...and...on to the recipe!
So, there are a couple ways to make fruit leather. If you have a dehydrator, that is usually the most convenient. You can also use your oven if the thermostat goes down to anywhere in a range between 130F and 170F. Both methods have their pros and cons, you will just need to weigh out your options and use what works best for you.
The basic recipe goes something like this:
2-3 cups pureed fruit, whatever is available
1/4 cup sugar; if needed, but optional
Spices or flavorings in very small amounts; also optional
Cover a cookie sheet or dehydrator tray with plastic wrap. Try not to leave too much of an overhang of plastic on the edges.
Yes, plastic wrap! I questioned it at first, too, but if you are using the proper temp settings, it does not get hot enough to melt the plastic, although it may shrink just slightly. Wax paper, or parchment paper, even with the waxy coating will soak up the liquid of the puree before it dries and cause the fruit to stick. Freezer paper is also not a good idea as it is meant for cold temps rather than heat. And with aluminum foil, the fruit either won't peel off, or will tear the foil. If you do decide to use parchment paper or foil, it's recommended to spray with cooking spray prior to pouring out your fruit.
Spread about 2-3 cups pureed fruit mixture, somewhat thickly, especially at the edges, onto the cookie sheet/dehydrator tray.
At temperatures of 130-140F, most recipes indicate that fruit will be done around 8-10 hours. I found that this was not long enough and my fruit required over twice that amount of time. That length of time would be inconvenient with an oven. Some of the reason for longer dry times, may be a higher water content in the fruit puree, or "peeking". Is it done yet?
Using a higher temp generally requires about 6-8 hours or overnight in the oven. If you are concerned about leaving your oven on overnight or while you are away, you can turn the oven off during that time and leave the door closed. You can turn the heat on again in the morning or when you return and no harm done. Also if your lowest oven temp is above 170F, then you may prop your oven door open slightly during drying and keep an eye on your fruit. This might not be recommended though, if you have small children or pets.
Check your leather for dryness. If it is still damp or slightly tacky, you may need to rotate your tray for even drying. When it is done, it will peel fairly easily off of the plastic wrap. If it doesn't peel off easily, it may be one of two things. One: it may not be dry enough, and two: the edges may not have been thick enough, and you will need just a bit of effort to peel your leather off the plastic wrap.
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Baked Pears
A bag of fresh pears just "appeared" on the counter the other day from a recent parental trip to Costco. Pears don't appear much on our family table, besides the canned store-bought variety, which may be why we're not huge fans of them. Fresh pears though are another story, but for some reason we just don't get them too often. These ones were nice beautiful pears...but hard as a rock. We had to let them sit for a few days which is never a wise idea, because "a few days" usually turns into "too long". So I had company the other night and decided that I was going to experiment on both the pears and the company. Since it was my sister's family I figured they would survive!Preheat oven to 375F.
I took 5 fresh pears peeled, halved, and cored and placed them in a baking dish.
The sauce is fairly simple to make, and leaves some extra, so if you have more pears/more people this should yield enough for a few extra if you have room.
2Tbs butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
Melt these two together, a few seconds in a microwave is fine, less than a minute.
Stir in 1 tsp cooking sherry.
Place about 1 Tbs of sauce in each pear half and bake 20 minutes at 375F.
Simple, but delicious, and the warm sauce goes great with ice cream as well!
