I realize corn season is quickly coming to an end, so I must post this before you can’t make it anymore. I mean – you could – you could probably use frozen corn, thawed, but though I like frozen vegetables just fine, I’m not sure how that would stack up to this…
In any case, I recently received 5 ears of corn in my CSA. Long time readers will remember that my CSA is local & organic, which meant… there were worms in my corn. After I’d taken care of those (shudder) and cut what kernels I could off the cob, I thought about what I wanted to do with it. Well, I’d also received cilantro… and I had some tomatoes from a previous week… and of course shallots and red onions… yeah, go to the store and pick up some limes and jalapenos, what do you have?
Something delicious, my friends.
I “bribed” Beer Boor into making me more fresh tortilla chips by giving him half of the fresh corn salsa, and the trade worked wonderfully. I even made this batch spicier than I normally do, partially because I thought he’d like it more, and partially because heck, why not?
I like pushing myself sometimes to eat spicier foods.
And this, my friends, was bangin’.
5 ears of corn, cut off the cob – RAW! (feel free to blanch it quickly; see note below)
1 bunch cilantro, chopped (I like the stems a bit so I usually keep some in there too, but you can use just the leaves if you like)
1-2 shallots, diced
1 small red onion, diced (I used the combination because that’s what I had, but feel free to use what you’ve got on hand)
1 tomato, diced
2 jalapenos, diced (I removed the seeds and ribs completely, but if you want it spicier, feel free to leave those in or use more jalapenos)
Juice of one very juicy lime
Mix everything altogether. Salt to taste (I used very little or no black pepper). ENJOY. This was so good on the chips, but would also be delicious with a nice light white fish, or alongside chicken, or … well, with just about anything. Slightly spicy kick, sweet corn, and just yum. I had to stop myself from inhaling it all.
In fact, I decided to make more a week later, since I still had chips but no more salsa. So I went to the supermarket and finally bought some packaged corn on the cob, and did just about everything the same… but the corn didn’t taste quite as good. It was a lot starchier and just had this taste to it that might have been washed away, had I blanched it first. So I guess I learned my lesson: my local organic corn was so much better than the supermarket stuff. Wah.
In any case, enjoy the recipe as it is, and let me know how you like it! I would really like to put this with some flaky white fish for a slammin’ meal… yum yum yum!
Happy eating!
Lizz says
I was pleased when I found corn in the boxes this year too! Unfortunately they came as a “surprise” addition right before Labor Day. I didn’t get to use it and was totally grossed out by the worms!
FYI – My weekly hauls have been quite skimpy this year due to the weather. Are yours too? This makes me sad..
Feisty Foodie says
It doesn’t seem skimpier. Did we start the same year? Because I know the first year people said was skimpy so maybe I’m just used to it? And yes, the worms were horrible, but I was warned ahead of time so I knew to avoid.
My tomato share might not happen though. 2nd time in 3 seasons this has happened, so kind of sad about that.
Lizz says
re: tomatoes
oh no! Last year I didn’t get my share but this year tomatoes arrived without notice. They called me the night before pick up to let me know. Unfortunately since it was labor day weekend, I didn’t have time to make sauce until Monday resulting in some rotten tomatoes. The ones we did salvage weren’t even very ripe. It’s been a disappointing season and I’m debating participating next year as it’s become a slight inconvenience for me and less of a value IMO. This is my 4th season.
Feisty Foodie says
This is only my 3rd season. They told us we were getting some tomato shares, but since the holidays are coming up (I live in a very Jewish neighborhood), some people might want to take early shares, so I didn’t pick one up the first week out of deference (and because I wasn’t going to eat them right away anyway).
I do feel this year was a little worse for me, but I took on a full share alone, and I had issues that prevented me from eating everything as I’ve done in years past that had nothing to do with the CSA. The pick up is a little inconvenient though.
kimberly says
The only annoying thing about corn is shucking a corn, leaving all the ‘whiskers’ on the floor, creating a clean up project.
Ooo…perhaps some diced avocado would make this salsa even better! 🙂
Feisty Foodie says
Ooh, avocado sounds like a great addition. I actually still have my 2nd batch (with the corn from the supermarket) – I might try to make it even better with some. I also have some mango… hmmm…. 🙂 Thanks!
And yes, shucking the corn – actually, zipping ? it or whatever where you remove the kernels… that was killing me. I kept dropping them everywhere even with the ‘trick’ the chefs tell you on TV with the inverted bowl inside another bowl. Beh! 🙂
BeerBoor says
It was indeed tasty corn salsa – a little spicy but let the corn and cilantro win out instead of warring. Glad you did you hard work, I just made amahzing corn tortilla chips.
Feisty Foodie says
Steady supply of fresh tortilla chips will get you a steady supply of yummy food stuffs. It’s a fair trade, I think, since I certainly don’t want to man the fryer.
Amie T. says
I can never get enough corn salsa! You might like to try our Simply Delicious Meals recipe for a slightly different take on corn salsa. Tomato, Avocado and Corn Salsa: http://bit.ly/q31imY. Let us know if you try it! – Amie from Sam’s Club
Hungry says
Corn is my absolute favorite vegetable! When I use frozen corn in salsa, I’ll cook it in some oil and salt instead of blanching. I think the flavor is better that way.