I have a long list of things I love about summer.  Among the top ten items are: blackberries, peaches, raspberries, outdoor grilling, heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil...you probably get the idea.  Life can be hectic and stupid.  And stupidly hectic.  However, there are certain activities I simply WILL NOT sacrifice on the alter of Productivity, and one of them - especially in the summer - is my weekly Farmer's Market.  For one thing, there is no better place to find fresh summer corn.

       I like it boiled to tender crisp and slathered with butter.  I like it cut raw off the cob and sprinkled in salads.  I like it laid in the coals of a camp fire all day, so it's roasted and tender and hot by supper.  And every summer, I try to find a new way to use it.
      This summer, my spouse is suffering some unfortunate but necessary dietary restrictions, and I'm supporting him by dieting as well.*  This means we are sadly lacking in certain summer traditions, such as homemade lemonade, and berry cobbler with homemade ice cream.  But we couldn't let summer go without at least one good BBQ dinner!  So after a week of steamed rice and tofu (whee), we got a rack of ribs, made a mess of coleslaw, and I made some corn bread with fresh corn kernels in my cast iron skillet.  Absurdly.  Delicious.  We had two slices left over, so in the morning we topped them with poached eggs and called it breakfast.  It actually turned out to be one of the tastiest savory breakfasts I've had this year, so I figured I had to share it.  You can have it with any meal you want, obviously, but I do recommend topping a wedge with a perfectly poached egg, served with a nice fruit salad of peaches and blackberries.  Preferably from your local Farmer's Market.

Z.D.'s Double Corn Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 tsp regular butter
One large ear of fresh, local corn
1 Cup finely ground yellow cornmeal
1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 Cup (4 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, barely melted
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/3 Cup sour milk, divided

Directions:
 - Plop the 1/2 tsp salted butter into a 10 inch cast iron skillet, and stick it in the oven to warm as you pre-heat to 400º F.  Once the butter is melted, remove the skillet, and use a heat-resistant pastry brush to grease the skillet.  Set aside.

 - While the butter is melting, shuck the corn and remove as much cornsilk as possible.  Using a sharp knife, carefully cut as all the kernels from the cob.  Set both kernels and cob aside.

 - In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.  Using the dull edge of your knife, scrape as much pulp from the outside of the corncob as possible into the dry mixture.  Add in the corn kernels, and stir until just combined.

As you can see from the little blob at the bottom, you won't get a lot of juicy pulp from the cob, but it's very flavor intensive, so you don't want to waste it.

 - In a small bowl, beat together the butter and egg, then stir into the corn mixture until mostly combined. Pour 3 Tablespoons of the sour milk into your batter, and stir.  Add more by Tablespoons if too dry.  You are going for a stiff consistency, just slightly looser than a biscuit.

Use your judgement.  If in doubt, go for slightly more milk, but only slightly.

 - Scrape batter into your greased cast iron skillet, and smooth evenly.  Pop in the oven and bake for 18 - 22 minutes, until edges are barely golden and toothpick comes out clean.  Cool at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Something about the smell of fresh-baked cornbread is so freaking Middle America, I swear if the U.S. flag had a smell, this would be it.

This is a dryer, more crumbly cornbread, which is partly why it's so great with a poached egg.  The flavor can't be beat, and the corn kernels add lovely texture.  I may have a few more corn recipes in me before the summer is out, but first the Gladstone household has to shed a few pounds.  Wish us luck!

Yeah, it was so tasty, we forgot to take a picture of a slice on a plate.  So instead, you get to see the aftermath of our feast.  It speaks for itself.

*That's true love, folks.

      Farmer's markets are a great place to find non-traditional produce.  Heirloom tomatoes with their bizarre shapes and colors are a great example of a farm stand phenomenon that's now snuck it's way into all the high-end restaurants and grocery stores.  Another one?  Purple carrots.

Enjoyed by mauve rabbits everywhere.

      When I was a kid, carrots were orange.  Period.  Now, they can be white, pale yellow, peachy-orange, construction-cone orange, or blood orange-orange.  They can even be red, or an undeniable shade of grape purple!  These last ones are my favorites.  Some of them are really orange with purple skins.  Others are purple all through the outer ring, and only orange at their core.  The cross-sections are gorgeous in a salad.  And - being me - I started to wonder how that would translate to a dessert.
      What about purple carrot cake?  I asked myself.  Would it be purple?
      I suppose I could have just looked this up online, but where's the fun in that?  I have my grandmother's recipe for carrot cake, and I know it tastes delicious.  Purple carrots have slightly less sugar than orange carrots, but I don't mind a minor decrease in sweetness.  I've had cake made with beets before, and the color, texture, and taste were all great!  So, I got myself a bunch of purple carrots, waited for a relatively cool day to rev up my oven, and got baking.
      The result was...a partial success.  Flavor and texture were flawless: everything one could want in a carrot cake.  But the color turned out beige, with indigo flecks in it.  Definitely not purple.  I suppose in retrospect I could have tried puréeing the carrot so that more of the juices would get into the batter, but I suspect this still would have baked into a more grey-ish hue.  So alas, a purple cake made from purple carrots is, as yet, unknown to my table.  But that doesn't mean the recipe doesn't darn well taste great, so here it is, and I hope you enjoy!

Z.D.'s Carrot-of-any-Color Cake

Ingredients:
1 C vanilla sugar
3/4 C canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 & 1/2 Cups sifted AP flour
1 & 1/2  tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 & 1/2 Cups finely shredded carrots (about five large carrots)
1/2 Cup chopped pecans
8 oz. cream cheese, softened (for frosting)
1/2 C beer caramel sauce (for frosting)

Directions:
 - Preheat the oven to 335º F.  Grease and flour a 9 x 11" cake pan, at least 2 inches deep.
 - In the large bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the sugar, oil, and vanilla on med-high speed.  Once the mixture is well combined, beat in the eggs, one at a time, allowing at least one full minute of mixing time after each egg.
 - Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Turn down the mixer speed to low, and alternate stirring in portions of the shredded carrots and the dry mixture.  Beat until just combined.

Much prettier than the finished product, truth be told.

 - With a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir in the nuts until well distributed.  Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake 30 - 35 min, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Yeah, purple carrot purée might have worked better.  Next time?

 - Place cake on a rack to cool.  Meanwhile, beat together the softened cream cheese and the beer caramel sauce until it creates a smooth frosting.  Store in fridge until cake is fully cooled, then spread evenly over the top.

      Obviously this makes a lovely dessert.  Or, if you're the kind of person who likes to eat dessert for breakfast, pair this with a meaty scramble and a bowl of fresh summer berries.  And congratulate yourself on finding such a nice way to get your veggies in the morning!