This month’s vegetable is Sweet Corn and can there be a more colourful veg? Of course the best way to eat it is as corn on the cob.
Cut the ends off, wash and boil for 5 minutes, cover with loads of butter and then get it all over your mouth as you eat it; delicious! It’s the best way to get children to eat vegetable and my grandchildren would eat it every day if they could, mainly because they love butter! Sweet Corn is another vegetable that is so versatile. It can be added to pizzas, made into a soup, compliment a curry or casserole or just be cooked in silver foil on the BBQ. Below are just some of the many recipes available, including a favourite in our house, Tuna and Sweet Corn Bake. It’s easy, quick and very tasty so why not give it a try this week?
Buen Apetito
Tuna and Sweet corn Bake
50g butter
50g plain flour
450 ml milk
2 tsp lemon juice
410g can Sweet Corn
185g tuna in sunflower oil
25g parmesan cheese
2 tbsp brown breadcrumbs
Melt the butter in a pan, stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and gradually add milk. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until thick and smooth. Stir in lemon. Drain the sweet corn and put in the bottom of an oven proof dish. Drain the tuna and flake over the Sweet Corn then pour the sauce over them both. Grate the cheese and mix with breadcrumbs before sprinkling over the sauce. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Tortillas with Sweet Corn and Beans
2230g red kidneys beans
340g Sweet Corn
1 red and 1 green pepper
2 cloves of garlic
3tbsp sunflower oil
1tbsp oregano
2tsp cumin
150ml vegetable stock
8 wheat tortillas
Salt and pepper
Rinse and drain kidney beans and Sweet Corn. Finely cut the peppers and chillies and crush the garlic. Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the peppers and garlic for 3-5 minutes. Stir in the beans and Sweet Corn, oregano and cumin. Season and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes. Add the vegetable stock and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Heat the tortillas in a dry frying pan for 30 seconds each side and serve with the mixture rolled inside.
Caribbean Rice and Sweet Corn
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
2tbsp olive oil
1 yellow pepper
1 can of sweet corn
1tsp oregano and 1tsp thyme
1tsp ground spices
225g long grain rice
8 spring onions
225g can chopped tomatoes
375ml vegetable stock
Tabasco sauce
Heat the oil and add the chopped onions and garlic until softened. De-seed yellow pepper and chop then stir into the pan with oregano, thyme and ground spice. Add the rice and stir well before cooking for 3 minutes. Add peel and chopped spring onions and tomatoes and their juice and stir. Add the stock and bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain Sweet Corn and then stir into the pan and simmer for a further 6-10 minutes or until the rice is cooked and the liquid absorbed. As an optional extra add a few dashes of Tabasco sauce to suit your taste. Serve.
Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup
1tbsp vegetable oil
100g boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1cm piece ginger, finely chopped
1tbsp cornflour
600ml hot chicken stock
100g Sweet Corn
1 egg
1tbsp fresh lemon juice
Shredded spring onions, shredded, to garnish
Dark soy sauce
Heat the oil in a deep pan and gently cook the chicken, garlic and ginger for 3-4 minutes without colouring. Blend the cornflour with a little stock and add to the soup pan with the remaining stock and the Sweet Corn. Bring to the boil, stirring continuously and simmer gently for 5-7 minutes. Mix together the egg and lemon juice and slowly trickle into the soup pan, stirring with a chopstick or fork to form egg strands. Season to taste, garnish with salad onions and serve with a drizzle of soy sauce and some prawn crackers.
Sweet corn Fritter
¾ cups of plain flour
1tsp baking powder
½tsp salt
Black pepper
1 egg
440g Sweet Corn
2tbsp of oil
Sift flour, baking powder, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Add egg and stir in Sweet Corn. Heat oil in a frying pan. Drop tablespoons of corn mixture into the pan. Cook until golden then turn and cook the other side. Serve hot.