Foodie Tuesday: Zucchini Pancakes and Balsamic Corn Salad

This was my second helping. Please excuse the mess.

It feels good to cook again. It feels even better to pull stuff out of the garden and put it directly to use.

The Zucchini Pancakes are from Meatless Monday. I used one large zucchini and one medium yellow squash from the garden and had to add an extra egg and another two tablespoons of flour to get the batter right. And when they say to squeeze out the veggies after shredding, they're not kidding. I was surprised at how much oil these fritters didn't soak up while frying. They weren't heavy or greasy at all.

The corn salad started in my head as a simple mixture of tomato slices, fresh corn, and Italian dressing. We were out of Italian dressing and our tomatoes were a bit mushy so it evolved into this. This could easily be turned into a raw food dish by not microwaving the veggies. This is a good way to deal with mushy supermarket tomatoes because they soak up the dressing anyway. The fresh corn is really what makes this, so don't cheat with frozen. If you try to use canned you should stand back, take a look at your life, and try and figure out where you went so very, very wrong.

Balsamic Corn Salad

kernels from 2 large ears of corn
1 tomato, coarsely chopped (or a bunch of cherry tomatoes, halved)
1 good handful of fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1" lengths
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp fresh basil, minced
salt & pepper, to taste

Cut the corn from the cobs by putting a small bowl or cup upside-down in the biggest bowl you have. Use the small bowl/cup as a platform to rest the corn cob and slice the kernels off into the big bowl. It's messy no matter how you do it, but at least the corn will be contained in the big bowl.

Put the corn and green beans in the microwave with 1 Tbsp of water for 3 minutes. In the meantime, whisk together the balsamic, oil, sugar, basil, salt, and pepper.

Add the garlic directly to the hot veggies and let this cool down for a couple of minutes before adding the tomatoes and dressing. Toss and serve.

Yields 4 servings