Croquet and Baked Alaskas

or, at least Indian Summer. After a weekend of disappointment, and a virulent case of the mean reds afoot in the Cod household on Sunday, something simple and leftovery seemed to be the call. There was the question of the six ears of Silver Queen corn the lady at the farm stand had insisted I buy the day before, which had not found its way into the previous evening's Dinner for Henry pizzas. I did not want to shop. I grabbed a few remaining cherry tomatoes from the garden, and a few hot peppers, and some basil. I scraped the kernels off the cobs, being sure to rub the dull edge of the knife along the cob after I'd stripped off the kernels, to get the good stuff there. I did not have any white wine I wanted to cook with, so I poured some dry vermouth into a saucepan, added about three ears worth  of corn, some mashed garlics, and a couple of hot peppers.

I let the corn simmer while I quartered about a dozen basil leaves, and halved all the cherry tomatoes I had (about 8). I started a box of farfalle. I uncovered the corn which had cooked about 20 minutes, and let it cook down a bit. I put a couple of slugs of good (Frantoia) olive oil in a skillet, and added the corn, basil, and tomatoes. When the pasta was done, I mixed the lot together, and served it forth.

For an out of the pocket improvisation, and accidentally vegan to boot, this was solid. The pepper gives the corn a little bit of character, and the summer flavors of basil and tomato come through in a sort of attenuated way that is appropriate for this time of year.* Also, very good the next day cold. I hope to do this once more this season, and if I do, I will try to get yellow corn, to accentuate the color contrast with the pasta.

*If someone else had cooked it, I might call it "wistful, austere, but satisfying."