Recipes

Grilled Sweet Corn with
Tomato Vinaigrette and Crème Fraiche

Serves 4-6

We adlibbed this side dish during a market demonstration called “The Evolution of a Dish,” about using ingredients (or leftovers) that you have on hand to create a new dish with little fuss. Our quick corn sauté had its genesis in some extra grilled Maryhill sweet corn from a demonstration earlier that morning.

We sliced the corn kernels off the cob, and then sautéed them in butter with red onion, garlic, basil and a tomato vinaigrette put together from grilled tomatoes, that were, you guessed it, leftover from another dish. To finish, we swirled in crème fraiche we had made by culturing some leftover whipping cream we hadn’t wanted to see wasted.

It’s always a good idea to throw something extra on the grill for later, whether it’s chicken, peppers, corn, or even potatoes for home fries the next morning.

But you don’t need to have grilled corn and tomatoes on hand to make this late summer sauté. You can also begin with both of those ingredients in their raw state. Just cook them slightly longer.

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped fresh or grilled tomatoes, with their juices
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3-4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. capers in salt, soaked in water, drained, and chopped
• ¼ cup chopped basil
• optional: 1-2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. butter or chili lime butter*
• ½ red onion, chopped, approximately ¾ cup
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 cobs leftover boiled or grilled sweet corn, kernels sliced off the cob (each cob yields about 1 cup of corn)
• ¼ cup crème fraiche or crema

1. For the vinaigrette, stir tomatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper, capers, and basil. Taste. If the tomatoes are acidic enough on their own, the vinaigrette may not need any vinegar. But if the tomatoes taste more sweet than tart, add red wine vinegar.
2. Sauté red onion in butter over medium heat in a wide skillet, until softened. Add garlic and corn and sauté, stirring, until corn is hot and garlic is fragrant. Add tomato vinaigrette, simmer for two minutes and then add crema. Adjust seasonings and simmer one more minute. Serve hot.

Note: We had chili lime butter on hand but you can use plain butter, or add 2 tsp. chili powder.

<< back to recipes menu