Each year it seems that I become obsessed with some ingredient or food type. One summer I fancied jam, last spring I was gaga for fava beans; I painstakingly double shucked, then prepared them any which way I could think of, sauteed, mashed into a paste for crostini, and the simple favorite, slurped up with some sort of slippery pasta. This year’s latest fascination seems to be corn. (I didn’t say that the ingredient had to be new and exotic mind you.) Steamed, grilled, kernels cut off the cob and served raw in a salad, or my new favorite, creamed, what can’t you do with a delightful ear of corn?

Creamed corn was a mainstay of my childhood. Served warm, with cracked black pepper, I loved the milky, glutinous consistency of this down-home side dish. But like many other foods: PB&J; noodle kugel; or my mom’s flank steak, marinated in teriyaki sauce and charred to a crisp; creamed corn, for whatever reason, just seemed to fall out of favor. Maybe it’s just that now a days I prefer my foods to be fresh, not clumsily poured from a can and into a saucepan.

Do to my latest fascination, I have been glancing around in my cookbooks, to see what other people do with corn, and found a lovely recipe for homemade creamed corn, minus the roux and white sauce, in Jamie’s Dinners. Light yet creamy, it was not my creamed corn of yore, but rather a new, polenta-like creamed corn. Taking advantage of the sweet niblets of flavor that abound at the grocer’s, I bought a few ears and got to work.

The other fabulous characteristic of this recipe is its use of one of my favorite kitchen tools– the handblender. There is something so gratifying about turning a solid to a liquid, right before your very eyes. In just a few moments, with just the push of a button, the handblender turn what looks to be an average saute of corn and shallots, into a gorgeous amalgamation of all things summer. Roughly blended, delightfully sweet, this recipe for creamed corn will definitely become a mainstay in my repertoire this season.

The original recipe call for 14 ounces of frozen corn, but when it’s summer, and delicious, fresh corn abounds, I use that.

Creamed Corn
from Jamie’s Dinners

Serves 4

4 ears of corn, kernels cut and scraped from the cob
2 shallots, sliced
small glass of water
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
freshly ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, saute shallot in 1 tablespoon of melted butter. When shallots begin to color, add the corn kernels, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Briefly saute the corn to heat through. Add the glass of water, just enough to steam the corn. Cover, and let steam until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the milk and additional tablespoon of butter, and process with a hand blender, or a food processor until smooth, yet still chunky. Creamed corn should resemble polenta in thickness. Taste for seasoning, then serve.