Corn

Gael Greene shared these recipes with Epicurious from her new book, Insatiable. On a writing retreat at the cabin of screenwriter Vicki Polon, we put together this fragrant soup.

Editor's note:
This recipe is adapted from chef Joseph Poon. He also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Poon and Cantonese cuisine, click here. Chop suey is an Americanized Cantonese dish that dates back to the late 1800s, when it was served in Western mining camps and in San Francisco's Chinatown. The usual components are bean sprouts, sliced celery, onions, meat, and water chestnuts, all stir-fried with soy sauce. Chef Poon updates and lightens the dish by using a sophisticated array of vegetables and tofu instead of meat, and blanching the ingredients instead of frying.

Few summer lunches are as nutritious and filling as this chilled Southwestern meal from the new Pasta Salad cookbook by Barbara Lauterbach (Chronicle Books). The recipe features whole-wheat rotini — that is, healthy carbs — for a fix of fiber, ripe summer vegetables, and heart-helping avocado. These are carbs you won't want to cut.

The trick: Just add a slurry.
To thicken soups, Terry Conlan of Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, Texas, adds slurries, cocktails of flour stirred with a low- or nonfat liquid, such as broth or skim milk. The texture of his Bay Scallop and Corn Chowder comes from a mix of flour and fat-free cream. Use slurries for any soup that calls for full-fat cream by substituting a slurry of flour and nonfat half-and-half.

The trick: Sear in juices.
For her Southwestern Shrimp Soft Tacos, Jacki Pearson, executive sous-chef at Green Valley Spa in St. George, Utah, turns on the high heat to lock in the marinade and the shrimp's natural flavors — with hardly any oil. Use this technique with thin cuts of pork, beef, or poultry, too: Toss a piece of meat into an extra-hot pan and sear both sides (a minute or two) until a golden crust forms and meat cooks through.

Tortillas aren't the only depository for beans, corn and tomatoes. Let romaine lettuce do the job. Feta cheese supplies a dose of calcium and major flavor. And the honey-lime dressing adds just the right touch of tangy sweetness. Buen provecho!

Sunday lunch. From Golden Door in Escondido, California. This soup, from The Golden Door Cooks Light & Easy (Gibbs-Smith), is stocked with a gardenful of vegetables. Look for the brightest beta-carotene beauties — golden corn, sunny yellow peppers, and ripe yellow tomatoes. Because the produce is raw, you're not cooking away any vitamins.

To round out the meal: 1 cup lowfat pudding

You can stuff five or six healthy vegetables into salsa (tomatoes, peppers, scallions, garlic, corn, whatever else is left in the crisper bin) then use that salsa five or six different ways (on fish, on chicken, in a burrito or, of course, on a delicious corn chip. You can make salsa in minutes. It keeps forever. It is the antidote to any of your vegetable woes!

Scott Uehlein, executive chef at the renowned Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Tucson, Arizona, provides an easy technique for a dish that is good enough to eat every day — you can't even tell it's good for you!

Eat healthfully (and still have steak) A lowfat diet can include beef. In fact, because red meat is loaded with iron and folate, it's especially good for women, and the sirloin used here is one of the leanest cuts. Chef Tom Colicchio pan-roasts it with almost no added oil at Craft, his new restaurant in New York City. And instead of teaming it with a fat bomb like butter-laden mashed potatoes, he has a better option: zingy corn relish. It has vitamin A and several Bs, plus a crunch so mouth pleasing, you'll never miss the fat.

Everything about this dish is light, clean, vibrant, and harmonious, with the wonderful taste of corn perhaps taking center stage. The corn's refined sweetness is marvelously juxtaposed with the elegant sour flavor in the cheese. Mushrooms provide an earthiness, and spinach leaves cut through all the elements to insure a clean, bright taste. A playful salad featuring buttery lettuces, tomato pieces, and Rawmesan adds even greater depth on the palate. Here, both the flavor and textural variety are extraordinary.

Enriched with coarsely mashed potatoes, this lively soup makes for an easy supper. Serve the Accompaniments in separate bowls for an interactive touch.

The ultimate dish for a cold winter day, this hearty pie couldn't be more satisfying. Picard uses venison along with pork to create an amazingly tender and sauce-rich filling.

Editor's note: This recipe was included with two others from our roundup of great cookbooks for Dad. Tangy goat cheese pairs well with spicy salsa for a quick and delicious appetizer or vegetarian entrée. Serve these with extra salsa and guacamole.

Editor's note: This recipe was included with two others from our roundup of great cookbooks for Dad. Use this fresh, spicy salsa to top grilled steak tacos or as a dip for tortilla chips.

A creamy white cheddar cheese sauce makes this gratin luxurious enough to serve as a vegetarian main course.

Creamy, cheesy, and light, this wonderful custard packs a few of the most delicious ingredients—sweet corn, earthy mushrooms, and spicy chorizo—into one amazingly satisfying dish.