Summer Corn Cakes

Sorry if I have been MIA for the past couple of weeks, a lot has been going on and I find myself starting another chapter in my life…  It seems like change is all around, as my good friend and freshmen year roommate from college is about to start an exciting chapter in her life!  In a few short months she will be marrying a great guy.  He’s really sweet (and a foodie) my first memory of him is him working the grill making portabella bruschetta's and bringing it to all the girls in the hot tub and being jealous when he planned a surprise trip to a Hollywood Bowl concert- complete with a gourmet picnic and wine for my friend.  Can we say dream date and a keeper?!  A bunch of my friends flew in from across the country this weekend, and an amazing shower and bachelorette shenanigans ensued…  I’ll try to post some of the great eats we had soon!    

But back to the point of this post, I have been wanting to make corncakes forever!!  I am a huge corn lover, so when my friend who also loves corn, invited me over to hang out and BBQ I knew it was time to try these babies.  Let me tell you they did not disappoint and they were the perfect compliment to our BBQ feast!

Summer Corn Cakes
adapted from several recipes from epicurious

1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup cheddar cheese
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
3 ears fresh corn, shucked
1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced
1 Tbsp. jalapeno
3 stalks green onion, chopped
olive oil
 

1.  Shuck 3 ears of corn and remove kernels from the cobb.  *Place ear of corn on a small bowl and place in a bigger bowl to catch all the kernels.*

2.  Heat skillet and add olive oil to the pan.  Sautee corn and red bell pepper for a couple minutes, to soften the bell pepper.  Remove mixture from heat and set aside.

3.  In a large bowl add in cornmeal, flour, baking soda, salt, pepper, Jalapeno, cheddar cheese, green onion and corn mixture and mix.  Add in the buttermilk and egg and mix well till ingredients are well blended.   

4.  Add a small amount of olive oil again to the hot skillet and drop about 1/4 cup of mixture into the pan to form cakes.  Cook till each side is golden brown. 

I ate this a couple different ways… Serve with some chopped tomatoes, crumbled goat cheese and green onions or try it with some mashed avocados.  I think it would be REALLY good with some chili on top too.  Yum!!

Lomi Lomi Tomato

As you may or may not know, I grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Growing up in paradise I was exposed to beautiful rainbows, amazing ocean views, daily treks to the beach and a wide variety of food.  Hawaii is literally a melting pot of food, cultures and people.  While ads and TV/movies depict Hawaii a certain way (some better than others) for some reason every dish with pineapple is associated with Hawaii!  I have breaking news- no one in Hawaii eats pineapple on pizza, on their hamburgers or on most savory dishes.  Yes I would say 95% of the people in Hawaii do not eat pineapple on their pizza or have never had it on a burger. 

I thought I would share with you some real local/Hawaiian foods!  I grew up eating Lomi Lomi Salmon whenever I had Hawaiian food.  My friend Jon was the first person to serve me Lomi Lomi tomato.  “Lomi Lomi” means to massage in Hawaiian, which is the way that this dish was traditionally prepared.  All of the ingredients were mixed or massaged by hand to combine.  This recipe is super easy and comes together so quickly.  If you can get a Maui onion or sweet onion, definitely use it!  Maui onions are great and so much milder with a great flavor.      

Lomi Lomi Tomato
16 oz. (1 lb.) grape tomatoes, or 4 large tomatoes
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 Maui onion (sweet onion), chopped
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. Hawaiian Salt (rock salt)
Tabasco

1.  Cut up tomatoes into bite size pieces.  Add in green onions, Maui onion, apple cider vinegar, Hawaiian Salt and Tabasco and mix well.

2.  Chill thoroughly and serve.

Serve with Kalua Pig or your favorite Hawaiian dish!  One of my favorites is to eat this with Poi!  Poi is a Hawaiian side dish which is steamed taro that is ground into a paste like texture.  It sounds weird, looks gross, but you either love or hate poi,  Try it with lomi lomi tomato and you will fall in love! 

Gaji Namul, Korean Eggplant

Recently Marukai (a Japanese market) opened on my route home.  I actually already live within 2-3 miles of two other Japanese markets, but for some reason Marukai is my favorite.  Maybe because I grew up with it in Hawaii and the fact that they have lots of Hawaii stuff as well.  This basically means a lot more Japanese cooking, as well as some great deals on Asian veggies and fruits. 

During my last trip, I picked up some Japanese Eggplant for under 2 bucks.  Due to the hot weather in LA recently, I decided to try my hand at a cold dish, a Korean panchan called Gaji Namul.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Korean BBQ, one of the best parts is that with your meal you get served a wide variety of fresh and pickled veggies.  These serve as the perfect compliment to the sweet and savory marinades on the various cuts of meats.  If this hasn’t convinced you to try Korean BBQ, please call me- I will take you.  LOL   

Gaji Namul
adapted from kourmet

3 Japanese style eggplant

Sauce

1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. green onion
1 tsp. garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
sesame seeds
1/2 tsp. sesame seed oil
1 tsp. jalapeno

1.  Quarter the eggplant and place them in the steamer.  Sprinkle the eggplant with salt and steam for 10-15 minutes, or until the eggplant is soft enough to easily pierce with a fork. *Time may vary depending on size of eggplant*

2.  Cool down and tear/cut eggplant into bite sized pieces.

3.  Combine the sauce ingredients together and mix with eggplant pieces.

The longer you let this sit, the more delicious it gets.  I love this as a vegetable side dish with a hot scoop of rice.  I also added this into one of my salads and it was great.  This can last for about a week in your refrigerator in an airtight container.