Southwestern Rice & Corn Casserole

My first taste of victory came last summer in a "people's choice" corn recipe contest at the Woodbury Farmer's Market. For my recipe, I decided to combine several of the ingredients I love into a "tex-mex" casserole. I guess the market patrons that voted enjoy the combination of corn, tomatoes, rice, beans and cheese, too.

In order to perfect my recipe I made the dish several times in the weeks leading up to the contest. First I tried starting with un-cooked rice. Unhappy with the results - the rice wasn't fluffy enough - I switched to cooking the rice in advance. I also started with plain diced tomatoes from a can, but switching to the Ro-Tel tomatoes with chilies made a big improvement in the tex-mex taste I was trying to achieve.

I had fun with this recipe and I hope you do, too. It's easy to modify to fit what you have on hand and what "tex-mex" tastes you like (or don't like). It might be fun to try kidney beans. Or, maybe macaroni instead of rice? (I'm not sure how that would work, but it might taste good!) You could even try adding ground beef or shredded chicken (with or without taco seasoning) to make this a main course casserole.

Southwestern Rice and Corn Casserole
1 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 Tbs. chili powder
1/4 tsp. cumin
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes with chilies
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
1 c. cooked rice
1 tsp. salt
4 ears of corn, kernels and milk removed from the cob with a knife
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped (optional)
1 c. grated mexican blend cheese

Saute the onion in butter and olive oil until soft and starting to brown. Stir in chili pepper and cumin and cook, stirring, 15-30 seconds. Add tomatoes and chicken broth and simmer 10 minutes. Add beans, rice, corn and cilantro; stir to combine. Pour mixture into casserole dish. Bake at 350 deg. for 40 minutes, adding cheese during last 10 minutes.

Summer corn salad with cilantro vinaigrette

This afternoon the Woodbury Farmer's Market hosted a corn recipe contest, judged by Dominic Polidoro, local chef-owner of The Spot. As mentioned in an earlier post, I have been eagerly awaiting this contest (especially since I originally thought it was scheduled for last Thursday).

It was a real challenge for me to develop a recipe I felt was good enough to impress the judge. At his restaurant, Chef Dominic uses seasonal ingredients to create a menu that is fresh and inviting. While I love some of the menu standards, I have found that it is hard to go wrong ordering one of the daily specials.

So, here it is. My award-winning (2nd place)...

Summer corn salad with cilantro lime vinaigrette
For the salad, mix together in a medium bowl:
3 ears corn, cooked and kernels removed
1 tomato, peeled, seeded and diced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1/4 red onion, diced and soaked in an ice water bath for 5 minutes, then drained
*Note: my original version also included 1/2 cup black beans. Add them if you like, I think it's a nice touch.

In a mini food processor, blend together for the dressing:
1/2 c. cilantro
3 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. white wine vinegar
1 Tbs. fresh lime juice (approx. 1/2 lime)
1/4 c. sour cream
1 chili pepper (or less, depending on type of pepper and how much heat you like), ribs and seeds removed
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Add 1/4 cup of dressing to salad and toss. To serve, you will need 6 cleaned and dried butter lettuce leaves and 6 sprigs of chives. Wrap about 1/2 cup of salad in each leaf and tie with a chive sprig. Drizzle a little more dressing over the salad-filled lettuce wrap.