Alex had dinner at One Market while he was in San Francisco and one of the things he tasted was their "fresh polenta" essentially a scraped and cut corn gently heated with its juices and finished with a touch of butter and salt. It tasted like summer corn at it's peak. The texture was amazing, close to that of soft polenta, with the gentle texture of corn kernels against the tongue. He was smitten and proceeded to describe the dish to me in great detail several times. Fortunately local corn is just coming into season around here. It was no surprise when Alex walked out of a kitchen store with the American Corn Cutter to try and reproduce those results. Now I'm mostly a purist when it comes to summer corn at home. When the corn is really fresh and cooked properly, each kernel bursts like caviar releasing the sweet corn essence on my tongue. Nothing more seems necessary. Alex was not daunted by purist beliefs. He cleaned the corn and happily decorated the patio with corn silk. At least he husked the corn outside. When Alex came in, he methodically scraped and cut the corn from the cob. Once all the cobs were bare he put the corn and its juices in a pot and gently warmed his bounty. As the heat cooked the corn, the natural starch in the juices thickened the mixture. A pinch of salt, a dash of cayenne and a knob of butter finished his fresh polenta. At least until he looked in the fridge and decided to gild the lily by adding fresh snipped basil. I have to say, as a purist, that fresh polenta is an admirable use of summer corn. Yet another staple to add to the repertoire especially since Amaya gives it two thumbs up.
