Three Recipes With Fresh Summer Corn

Greta Caruso and Fanny Singer are longtime friends who happened to have their first kids within a month of each other in 2022. Since they’d both spent years cooking and writing recipes professionally, they figured that feeding their children would be easy enough. But “we were shocked to discover how challenging it was,” Greta told us, “even with all that experience under our belts.” To help themselves and other exhausted parents, the duo set up a weekly newsletter called The Green Spoon, which features simple, seasonal food for families.

As a fan of their newsletter, I asked Greta and Fanny if they’d be up for sharing summery recipes. I especially love their issues on vegetables (most recently, peas), so they suggested putting together three dishes starring corn. “We love peak-season corn for lots of reasons,” Fanny said. “It flexes sweet and savory, it runs the gamut between crunchy and creamy, it can be used in a bazillion ways, and, crucially, it generally appeals to every member of the family, from toothless new eaters to discerning adults.”

So! Without further ado, here are their three recipes…

Creamy Corn Pesto
Yields 2 cups of sauce and 4-8 servings of pasta

For kids, a boiled, butter-slathered ear of corn offers a fantastic distraction while the rest of dinner is being cooked. But if you’re looking for more of a family meal, we recommend this creamy corn pesto pasta.

1 pound of dried pasta, your choice of shape (we like penne or ziti for this sauce, but long shapes work well, too!)
extra virgin olive oil
7 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
3 ears of corn, shucked and kernels cut off (why did it take us so long to discover this genius lay flat method for removing kernels?)
1 tablespoon of butter (optional)
big handful of fresh basil leaves (~15)
Parmesan cheese (optional)
sea salt

Put a pot of salted water on to boil and cook the pasta according to package instructions. (The sauce comes together in about the same time as it takes for the pasta to cook, so once the water is on, you can dive right into the next step.)

Add a glug of olive oil to the bottom of a pan and turn the burner to medium-low. Add the garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes until it’s just starting to color and grow fragrant.

Add the corn straight away along with the butter (if using), basil and a splash of water. Stir to combine the ingredients and cover the pan. Cook for about 15 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring every few minutes and adding a splash of water if the mixture starts to stick to the pan at all.

When it’s ready, the corn should be bright yellow and a bit soft. Scrape the contents of the pan into a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth. (Add a teeny splash of water if it feels too thick.)

Right before you strain the pasta, reserve ~½ cup of cooking liquid in a mug. Toss the pasta with the sauce and a splash of cooking liquid to coat the noodles thoroughly. Finish with some freshly torn basil, a generous grating of Parmesan (if using!) and salt, to taste. Serve promptly.

Note: if you happen to have a baby to feed, this pasta sauce doubles as a great chunky puree for new eaters. Just set some aside before adding any additional salt to the rest of the batch.

Charred Corn Bean Tacos
Yields 6–8 tacos, depending on size

We couldn’t love the flavor or texture of charred corn more, but grilling, man…such a production! Thankfully there’s an easy way to fake it with a gas stove, five minutes and a will to succeed. Once the corn is charred, we tuck it into some pinto bean tacos with all the fixins: a super simple, riffable dinner that everyone will enjoy.

2 ears of corn, shucked
extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, minced
1 15 oz. can of pinto beans, strained and rinsed (or homemade, of course)
2 limes
sea salt
6–8 corn tortillas
Fresh cilantro (optional)
Queso fresco or mild feta cheese, crumbled (optional)

Start by charring your corn over a burner on your stove (see photos), rotating the ear with tongs to achieve your preferred state of charred. (We like it 1-2 notches below burnt to hell, but to each his own). Set aside to cool. If you’re someone who has an electric stove — congratulations! You’re doing something good for the planet! — you can achieve something similar by cranking your oven’s broiler to max and placing the shucked ears on a sheet pan directly under the element, rotating every couple of minutes until you brown all sides.

In a pan, add a glug of olive oil and turn the burner to medium. Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes until soft and just starting to crisp up. Add the beans, the juice of ½ a lime and a pinch of salt. Cook over low heat for about 10 minutes, letting the beans soften and the flavors marry.

Once the corn is cool, cut the kernels off the cob using this lay flat method.

Warm your tortillas through directly over your stove burner using tongs, then assemble your tacos. We love to finish ours with fresh cilantro and a bit of crumbled queso fresco (or feta, in a pinch!), but they are also delicious with chopped fresh tomatoes, roasted zucchini, hot sauce, no hot sauce, shredded cabbage and basically anything else you can think of. Dig in!

Cheesy Corn Dinner Muffins
Yields 14 muffins, depending on your muffin tin

This cornbread recipe is a twist on a classic with the addition of Greek yogurt, grated cheese and fresh corn. We love a finer milled cornmeal for these — our absolute favorite is the heritage Anson Mills fine yellow cornmeal — as it gives them a consistency slightly more refined than the coarser crumb of typical cornbread. They’re moist and soft and make a perfect snack or side at dinner served warm with butter.

2 ½ cups of fine cornmeal (you can also sift a coarser grind cornmeal)
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup granulated coconut sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ tablespoon of baking soda
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup whole milk
1 cup grated mild cheddar
1 cup fresh corn cut off the cob using the lay-flat method we can’t stop talking about (about 2 small ears’ worth)
Neutral oil (for greasing the muffin tin)

Mix dry ingredients together (cornmeal, salt, coconut sugar, baking powder, and baking soda) in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix eggs and yogurt. Add the lemon juice to the milk and allow it to sit for 2–3 minutes, then add it to the yogurt-egg mixture and whisk vigorously to combine. Add the cheese and corn to the wet ingredients and stir.

Add wet ingredients to dry, mixing well.

Put about ¼ cup of batter in each greased muffin cup and place in preheated oven for about 18 minutes until golden brown. A knife inserted should come out pretty clean. Enjoy!

Thank you, Fanny and Greta! We love The Green Spoon. xo

P.S. Five things to do with corn, tomatoes, or both and a three-ingredient summer dessert.