Recipe: Debbie's Raw Corn Salad

I don't create that many of my own recipes and have no desire to. But sometimes I modify recipes and those become my preferred versions. And sometimes I throw together ingredients in a particularly memorable fashion so I can recreate it. These are "my" recipes and this is one of them.

The ingredients are suggestions. Replace with or add whatever looks good at the market or that you prefer. That's the beauty of a salad like this.

Everything except the corn needs to be fresh. For the corn, you can thaw out a bag of frozen corn. But I would not use canned tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are generally good year-round, you can just slice them in  half. No need to seed or dice when they start out so small. But this really is best in the summer when everything is at its peak.

Ingredients:
4 ears of corn, kernels cut from the ears
1 enormous shallot, thinly sliced into half moons and then roughly chopped
1ish pound of ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
1-2 large cloves of garlic, pressed through a garlic press
Large bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped, stems and all
8oz crumbled feta cheese
Several tablespoons of olive oil
Juice of 1-2 limes
Salt to taste

Directions:
As you prepare each ingredient, dump into a large mixing bowl.

Stir all of the ingredients together.

Add enough olive oil to thoroughly coat everything and then squeeze the limes directly into the salad, stirring to combine and tasting after you add the first lime to see if you need more. It should have a definite and lively lime flavor.

Finally, add the salt, tasting as you add to make sure you have the right amount.

And that's it!


I generally eat this with a spoon as a main course, but it would be great as a side dish. Or as a topping for grilled chicken or fish.

this little piggy went yum yum yum yum all the way home

I often buy pork loin pieces (would they still be called chops?) from the grocery store.  I like pork and these are always so pretty.  Nice and lean, pink and shiny - how can a girl resist?  But they're also very thin - maybe 1/2 an inch?  And pork is a toughie because if you cook it too long it gets, well, tough.  But if you don't cook it enough, it's a bad thing.  Not as bad as pork used to be and not as bad as undercooked chicken, but still.  You have to be in a safe range.

Well, tonight I think I solved the mystery.  I cooked up my little pork maybe-chops and they ended up divine.  No real recipe since ATK only has stuffed, smothered or thick-cut recipes.  I actually borrowed the method loosely from a Marion Cunningham cookbook.  She has a recipe for chicken thighs cooked in red wine vinegar that is possibly my favorite food ever.

I made it with a side of spinach, wilting it in the leftover pan juices, and got all artsy and arranged the spinach in a ring around the pork.  It was very pretty.  Too bad I forgot to take a picture. 

It would also be lovely with some couscous.  Maybe let the pork rest on top of the couscous so it'll absorb all the extra juices...  Anyway, on to the recipe.

* Heat up a non-stick pan over medium-high heat until it's super hot
* Spray with Pam
* Salt four pork loin pieces on both sides, add to pan
* Leave in place for 3-4 minutes until nicely browned on one side
* Flip over and let brown for about 30 seconds to a minute (the time it takes to fill the measuring cup for the next step)
* Add 1/2 cup (ish) of water and a tablespoon (ish) of red wine vinegar
* Turn down heat a little and cover pan
* Let sit for a little bit, like the amount of time it would take to run upstairs and change into pajamas (I'm just sayin')
* Come back and check internal temperature
* If at least 140, remove from pan
* Let sit for 5 minutes (very, very important - if you cut into the pork too soon, the juices won't get a chance to redistribute and you'll end up with tough meat. plus you need to let the internal temp rise a bit more)
* Shove into mouth

So freaking good. Really moist and tender and richly flavored. Seemed almost like semi-poached pork, but I guess it was a quick braise? Either way, I'm a fan and will be making it often.

food for mah jongg

My friend, Anne, got me into playing mah jongg and I love it.  LOVE it.  Part of it is the group of women.  Sure, Anne is one of my best friends, but the rest were strangers and so different from me and my usual group of friends.  We all have a quirky sense of humor and are very easy-going so it's fun and relaxed.  We're almost all novices so just play for bragging rights, which I always prefer anyway.  One woman has another mah jongg group where they're all very good and bet on each hand so she tries to encourage us to bet, but we're not there yet.  Another woman is very good at knowing what hand you're playing (rumor is that she can count cards) so it's fun to try to outsmart her.  But there's about twelve of us and we try to have 5 people at each game so we can rotate in and out (and so we don't have to cancel if one person can't make it).  And we rotate who hosts.

Last night was my first night of hosting.  I took a half day from work so I could clean my house and cook some yummy treats.  But what to serve?  Most do some a mix of appetizers and candy, which is always a big hit.  But it's fall, which brings out the need to pull out mixing bowls and crank up the oven. 

I did a little online searching and found macaroni & cheese cupcakes.  Are you kidding me?  How freaking fabulous is that idea!  And I remember that Martha Stewart had a recipe in a holiday magazine for making individual mac & cheese for a kids' party and I always wanted to do it for adults.  Putting it in a cupcake liner is just even more brilliant.

I wish I remembered to take a picture because they were darn pretty.  I used a mix of Sargento reduced-fat Italian cheese blend and Kraft sharp white cheddar and then put a teaspoon or two of shredded parmesan cheese on top to give it a crunchy crust.  So picture the recipe author's version but a little crispy up top.  Plus hers is a much better picture than mine would have been.

source

I've never made macaroni and cheese with egg in it before (I come from the layered-casserole school of m&c) and I think it was the egg that helped it stay together when you took off the liner.  I sprayed the inside of the paper so they came out a little greasy, but nothing a napkin couldn't take care of.  Fab finger food.  And not too shabby heated up the next day for lunch!  Think next time I would have used all sharp cheddar, but the blend was still very nice.

I always like a little green with my mac & cheese.  Broccoli is great, but then I found a recipe for spinach balls.  Perfect for my appetizer mindset!  And they were super easy and super good.  I think they were even better room-temperature than warm.  I made them with whole-wheat stuffing mix, shredded parmesan instead of grated and herbes de Provence since I was out of garlic powder.  Think I also used a medium onion instead of small, but since I was missing the garlic, figured extra onion would be good.  And it was.  Next time I might use 3 boxes of spinach since I like a lot of green, but otherwise it was perfect.

For dessert, I made my now-favorite red velvet black bean cupcakes.  Take a box of cake mix (or make your own - I do always prefer homemade, but I'm in a lazy mood) and add the necessary water, but instead of oil, add the same amount of applesauce.  And instead of eggs, add a pureed can of black beans.  Seriously.  It sounds weird and a little gross, but you cannot taste the beans.  I first did this for Halloween with a fudge chocolate cake mix and just mashed the beans - when you bit into a bean piece, you just thought it was a chocolate chip.  For the red velvet, I decided a puree would be better since the batter isn't dark enough to hide the bean chunks.  Icing was 2 boxes of 1/3 reduced-fat cream cheese, maybe two Tb of vanilla and granulated Splenda to taste.  One woman dubbed them "health cakes."  Though they didn't taste healthy at all!

I assmembled it all on my cupcake stand.  Red velvet on the bottom, mac & cheese on the top.  It was so pretty and I really am kicking myself for not taking a picture!

For a 100% healthy side, I sliced up a few star fruit.  The light green on my turquoise platter was a great combination and the lightness of the fruit was a nice contrast to the heaviness of the other food. 

Overall, I was quite pleased with my selection and think I'll repeat it exactly when I host again in two weeks - after all, it is a different group of players!