the arugula files

In Season: Corn

All I can say is: corn, I love you.  I love your flavor, your texture, your price.  I wish you would stick around longer than a few summer months, but I suppose absence makes the stomach grow fonder.  And, corn, you are more than a mere side dish.  Don't let anyone treat you that way.  You are a better than that.  You are a headliner:

Corn and peach salad, a lazy summer dish.  For grilling the corn and it's perfect for a heat wave.

Corn fritters with maple syrup, a dish that requires air conditioning and a bullet proof vest, but worth the battle.

Corn and bacon chowder, or should I say chowDUH?

Corn quesadillas, a cheap satisfying meal.

Blueberry Pancakes (Plus, Can you Make Pancakes with a Stainless Steel Pan?)

After poring through a dozen recipes for blueberry pancakes, it all comes down to the million dollar question: can you use a stainless steel pan to make pancakes?  Every recipe I read called for a nonstick pan.  The problem for me is that I don't own a nonstick pan.  My husband, Marcus, thinks we will all die slowly of cancer if we use them.  This morning I set out to find out if stainless steel pans work (not if we would slowly die of cancer from using nonstick, a debatable topic in my house).  My conclusion: yes, you can in fact make pancakes with a stainless steel pan.  It all comes down to the fact that stainless steel pans eventually become "nonstick" if they get hot enough.  You just have to be patient and wait for the pan to "release" the pancakes from it's hold.  Of course, this means you have to use oil, but I think oil is necessary anyway for browned edges that give pancakes flavor and texture.  You end up with a crispy shell and soft pillow cake inside.

Woodberry Kitchen

 
If I were a restaurant, I would be Woodberry Kitchen: a local ingredient-driven menu; worth the price; comfortable, but not casual; memorable and crave worthy.

I hate it when people describe restaurants at "ingredient-driven" (what else would drive it?), but for this kitchen, there is no other way to accurately describe the menu.  Take, for example, the Black Rock Farm peach and watercress salad with watermelon radishes and fennel.  Peaches so juicy, the dish didn’t need but a bit of lemon and oil to dress it.  Or, my dinner: delicate soft shell crabs, flanked by heirloom tomatoes, and perched on a giant crouton that was topped with just enough lemon, fennel mayonnaise, to make me consider asking for a little more on the side.  My sister ordered the roasted chicken served with kale, pan gravy, and a buttery biscuit – a solid plate of hearty food, and friend Denise did not mess around with a rib eye and a gratin of potatoes and leeks and homemade quark.  The potatoes were moan-out-loud good.

BBQ Chicken and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

When it comes to chicken, I've always been a breast woman.  No dark meat for me.  No thank you.  My mind was recently opened when my friend Anne made me Ina Garten's Indonesian Chicken for dinner.  I loved it.  Turns out, I'm really a thigh woman, especially when it comes to chicken on the grill.  So I decided to try this recipe from Fine Cooking. This quick BBQ chicken is perfect for the weekend.  The rub and sauce can be prepared ahead of time, leaving you more time to hang out with friends.

You Little Beast (The Squirrel Who Ate All My Tomatoes)

This little beast ate all the tomatoes off my lone tomato plant.  All seven of them.  Worst of all?  He ate them sitting right in front of my kitchen window.  I'm surprised he didn't flip me the bird after licking his lips.