Corn, Cooking, Combining

The corn is starting to bear a few smallish ears. While they're on the small side, skinny and short, the flavor is big. The stalks are really tall so the size of the ears is a disappointment.

The live trap is set between two rows, where it will be somewhat easy for me to drag it out should it fulfill its duty and be occupied by a heavy, snarling raccoon. This year, I'm shucking the corn inside the house and disposing of the husks and silk in the garbage. I'm hoping the lack of good corn aroma released by said shucking will be effective in not alerting the raccoons that the corn is ripe. The trap gets checked each morning. I'm fearful the cute neighborhood fox cubs that gambol through the yard will get caught as they check out the yard. They've knocked over the kitschy items I have in the flowerbeds and toppled the birdbath more than once. So far luck is with them (and me) and the trap has remained empty.

The last of my fresh raspberries were picked Friday morning. I made a batch of dark chocolate cupcakes (recipe shared last year). Instead of using the icing suggested by that recipe (chocolate truffle icing, also shared last year, and excellent on graham crackers), I went with the following recipe:

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

• 1 C raspberries, heaped

• 1/2 C unsalted butter

• 1/4 C salted butter

• 2 3/4 - 3 C powdered sugar

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Purée the raspberries through a sieve, catching the juice in a small heavy pot. Heat the juice over medium-low heat until reduced by half. You should have 3 to 3 1/2 Tbl thickened juice. Speed chill in the freezer until cool. Whip butters until pale and fluffy. Add 1 C powdered sugar, beat in. Add purée and vanilla, beat again. Add more sugar until of a good spreading consistency. Store air tight.

Since I still had lots of raspberries in the freezer from last summer (they really keep well when vacuum sealed), I also made this pan of bars:

Raspberry Butter Bars

• 3 C frozen berries

• 1/2 C sugar

• 2 Tbl cornstarch

• 1 Tbl butter

• 1 3/4 C butter, soft

• 5 eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 3 C flour

• 1 1/2 C sugar

Combine the berries, 1/2 C sugar, cornstarch, and 1 Tbl butter in a heavy pan. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly, while stirring. Remove from heat to cool.

Heat oven to 325*. Grease a 9x13" pan. Beat butter until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Add vanilla. Gradually add in flour. Spread in greased pan, top with dollops of berry. Swirl in. Bake 40 minutes, until edges are light brown and set. Center may look underdone. Cool on rack.

Obviously, with this kind of baking, my summer session of the Whole Life Challenge has ended. I'm again enjoying wheat flour and real sugar until the fall session commences. I think I have a couple months to indulge my sweet tooth before donning the hair cloth of abstinence again.

The garden is producing a few ripe tomatoes, fresh new potatoes, red and white onions, carrots, a couple of big cucumbers, as well as beans. I used beet tops and Swiss chard in place of spinach or arugula in the salad I'm currently enjoying.

Wheat Berry Salad with Goat Cheese

• 1 1/4 C wheat berries

• 2 1/2 C chopped cucumber

• 2/3 C green onion, sliced thin

• 1 1/2 C loosely chopped arugula OR spinach

• 6 Tbl flat leaf parsley

• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved

• 1 Tbl lemon zest

• 3 Tbl fresh lemon juice

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

• 1/2 tsp sugar

• 2 Tbl EVOO

• 3/4 C goat cheese, crumbled

Cook wheat in water (2" above wheat) 1 hour. Drain and cool. Add the next 5 ingredients. Combine the zest through sugar in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in the oil. Drizzle over the salad, toss to coat. Stir in the cheese. Let stand at least 30 minutes. Serve at room temperature.

Dennis took the combine to the field Friday afternoon as I was writing this. I might be out there as well on Saturday, running the grain cart. I'm undecided if I want to be there (it would mean there's enough wheat to bother cutting) or not (I have plenty to do as it is). I suspect the drought will make my attendance a moot point this harvest.

(This paragraph is for Dennis's fellow golfing farmers' edification. I've had a few of them say they read my column to keep up with how different life is 36-40 miles north of the middle of nowhere.)