Saturday, April 21, 2012

When You've Got Corn Coming Out Your Ears This Summer

Every summer when that CSA starts sending you ears of corn, and everyone rhapsodizes about the glory of summer and corn! tomatoes! and you start laughing bitterly because like me you are single and alone and god, it's too hot to turn on a stove and boil water, why can't you just heat water in a gigantic pot on a grill and this cooking thing is ridiculous anyway because you are outside and it is hot and why set a FIRE outside to cook, stop and remember this: you do not have to waste the corn. Nor do you have to eat 4 ears for dinner, which is rather a lot for a person. Dehydrate it. I will tell you how.

Turn the oven on to 200 degrees. That's barely on, and it won't heat up the house too much. I promise. Next get a 13x9 baking dish or a baking sheet with a rim. Cut the kernels off the cob with a sharp knife. Lay the kernels on the baking dish in a thin layer. Plunk it in the oven. Run away and leave it overnight. Once in a while, come back and stir it around. There will be this delicious nutty smell in the air.

After about 12 hours, it will be dry. Store in a big plastic back or a jar. In the winter, when you have your kale salad, you can use it as a topping. Or add it to some chicken stew or something.

This was brought to you by the fact it was 101 degrees today.

I had 4 ears of corn to process because I went a little crazy at Bountiful Baskets this week. I got the regular basket, the Asian vegetable pack, and 25 pounds of carrots. The carrots came in a package that was the size of my niece. They're kind of horse carrots--bigger, thicker carrots grown in Arizona. I don't mind the size, and if I get tired of them I'll grab my bike and some carrots and go looking for the horses in the neighborhood. (Yes, in my city neighborhood there are at least 2 lots that have horses living there.)

I got the most perfectly ripe strawberries from BB, and ate them for dinner. It's the end of our summer here in the Southwest--the beautiful, easy growing weather, open windows and beautiful flowers popping off the top of the saguaros. Our summer is like everyone else's winter, and now we will hunker down and wait out the dreary heat.

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