We had our first rain in months yesterday, and at the markets, summer is clearly giving way to fall. But corn is still around, and Ohio-quality or not, I intend to eat as much of it as I can before I\u2019m forcibly restricted to tubers, crucifers, and brassicas for the rest of the year. (Though I was looking at the brand-new Art of Eating Cookbook<\/a><\/span> last night, and I found myself eagerly bookmarking every recipe that used the words winter squash<\/span> or cabbage<\/span>. Weird how that works.)<\/p>\n This time last year – actually, this very day<\/i> last year! I just noticed that! Weird how THAT works – my friend Matthew and I did a Spilled Milk episode<\/a> on corn, and Matthew made a spicy sauteed corn recipe that, for me, sort of stole the show. I\u2019ve wanted to make it since corn first showed up this summer, but I got sidetracked by tomatoes and tomato sandwiches and more tomato sandwiches, and it was only today that I finally made the corn. With a few slices of sharp cheddar and some toast, it was the best lunch I\u2019ve had in a long time. Or maybe I was just impressed that I had made something that was not a tomato sandwich.<\/p>\n I might have said it before, but I\u2019ll say it again: Matthew is a terrific cook. I\u2019ve eaten a lot of meals at his table, from carnitas to home-corned beef, Frito pie, green papaya salad, cucumber salad with Szechuan peppercorns, and cowboy beans, and he does it all well. His spicy sauteed corn is not fancy, but it reliably does what I wish every recipe would reliably do: take a few good ingredients and, without unnecessary fuss, make them even better. It makes very good corn taste excellent and so-so corn taste very good. Basically, you melt butter in a hot pan, and then you tip in some fresh corn kernels, minced jalapeno, and a couple of sliced scallions. You stir to coat them in that hot butter, and then you let them hang out, mostly, for the better part of ten minutes, until the corn begins to caramelize. You might notice that it smells like the State Fair, in a nice way. I cooked my corn today a little darker than Matthew does, and it smelled even more State Fair-y, which was kind of thrilling, though I think I like his better. Either way, when the corn is pleasantly browned, you throw in a splash of water and scrape up the tasty browned bits on the bottom of the pan, and they melt into a light glaze that covers the whole thing. Then you finish it with salt and a good amount of lime juice, and that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n If it were my dish, I would call it Spicy Caramelized Corn, but Matthew calls it sauteed, and it\u2019s his dish, so he wins. Whatever you call it, the corn is darkly sweet and sticky, and your lips burn from the heat of the jalapeno, and then the lime juice comes in kicking. It gets very hard to keep a fork out of. I can imagine eating it with almost any meat – or cheddar and toast. Or maybe tomorrow, a tomato sandwich.<\/p>\n P.S. I\u2019m a guest at habit<\/a> for the month of September, so come visit. I post there as \u201cmolly w.\u201d a few times a week. I really love that site.<\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/7d559-matthewscorn-11.jpg?w=300\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMatthew\u2019s Spicy Sauteed Corn<\/h2>\n
Adapted slightly from Spilled Milk<\/a><\/h3> \n \n <\/header>\n\n