Creamless Creamed Corn with Mushrooms and Lemon

By BobD

"My granny taught me that when corn is very fresh, the juices are naturally creamy," Kevin Gillespie says. "I took that as the gospel." He grates half of the corn here to make a luxurious puree that thickens without cream.

Kevin's Tip: Scraping corn cobs with the dull side of a knife removes the juices.

Ingredients

• 6 medium dried shiitake mushroom caps
• Boiling water
• 10 ears white corn, shucked
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 medium shallots, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Details

Servings 6
Cooking time 40mins
Adapted from foodandwine.com

Preparation

Step 1

In a bowl, cover the shiitake with boiling water. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, set a box grater in a large bowl. On the coarse side, grate 5 ears of the corn all the way to the cob. Using a serrated knife, cut the kernels from the remaining ears of corn. Using the dull side of the knife, scrape the juices from the cobs into the bowl.

Drain and mince the shiitake. In a saucepan, heat the oil. Add the shallots, garlic and shiitake and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until very soft, about 10 minutes. Increase the heat to high and when the oil sizzles, add the corn and its juices. Cook, stirring, until the corn is thick and shiny, 3 minutes. Add the lemon zest and juice, season with salt and pepper and serve.