Sweet Corn Blini Food

SWEET CORN BLINI

Steps:

• Put flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Grind 1 cup corn kernels to a rough purée in a food processor, then add egg and yogurt, and pulse to mix. Add corn mixture to flour mixture and stir together until just mixed to make a thick batter. Stir in 4 tablespoons melted butter. Set aside for 5 minutes. Thin with a little milk if necessary. (Batter may be prepared several hours ahead.)
• Warm remaining 4 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add remaining 1 cup corn kernels. Season with salt and pepper, then cook for 1 minute or so to heat through. Keep warm.
• Put greased griddle or cast-iron pan over medium heat. Using 1 tablespoon batter, make pancakes about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Cook for 1 minute, until bubbles appear on surface and pancakes are lightly browned. Flip and cook for 30 seconds more. (Be sure to keep heat moderate or else the pancakes will blacken.) Pancakes may be cooked in advance and reheated.
• To serve, place 3 hot pancakes on small plate. Top with spoonful of cooked corn and some of the butter from the pan. Drizzle with crème fraîche and sprinkle with chives.

SWEET BLINI

Steps:

• Make batter:
• Stir together yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, and warm water in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast, sugar, and warm water.)
• Transfer yeast mixture to a blender and add flour, salt, milk, and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, then blend until combined. Pour into a bowl and cover with a kitchen towel. Let stand in a warm, draft-free place until almost doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Return mixture to blender and add eggs and 2 tablespoons butter. Blend until smooth.
• Make blini:
• Lightly brush a 10-inch nonstick skillet with melted butter, then heat over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Holding skillet off heat, pour in 1/3 cup batter, immediately tilting and rotating skillet to coat bottom. (If batter sets before skillet is coated, reduce heat slightly.) Return skillet to heat and cook crêpe until underside and edges are just set and golden, about 1 1/2 minutes. (Loosen edge of crêpe with a heatproof rubber spatula to check.) Flip crêpe over carefully with your fingertips. Cook until other side is golden, about 1 minute more. Transfer crêpe to a plate. Brush skillet with more melted butter and make 7 more crêpes in same manner, stacking them as made and brushing skillet between each crêpe.
• Purée preserves and lemon juice in a food processor until smooth. Spread 1/2 tablespoon preserves on a crêpe and fold in eighths to form a triangle. Repeat with remaining preserves and crêpes.
• Brush a 12-inch heavy skillet with remaining butter and arrange crêpes in 1 layer with points at center of skillet. Cook over moderate heat until crêpes are beginning to brown, 1 to 2 minutes, then flip crêpes over with a spatula and cook 1 minute more. Transfer to a platter and dust with confectioners sugar.

CORN BLINIS FILLED WITH BRANDADE

Steps:

• To make the brandade: In a large, heavy saucepan, warm the olive oil over low heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring for about 3 minutes, or until the aroma is released. Add the flaked cod and stir vigorously for about 1 minute, until it is well broken up. Add the mashed potato and cream and continue stirring energetically. Stir in the lemon juice and the pepper (taste for salt but, since the cod is salty to begin with, it will probably not need any more).
• Work the mixture until it a very fluffy consistency. Keep the brandade warm in the top of a double boiler, covered, over slightly simmering water while you make the blinis.
• To make the blinis: In a medium saucepan full of boiling water, cook the corn for 2 minutes. Drain well and dry on paper towels. In a large heavy skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring, until it is softened and slightly golden. Add the corn, cover and cook for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the corn is tender.
• Add the cream and bring to the boil. Cook until the mixture is almost dry, about 5 minutes. Scrape the mixture into a blender and puree until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the container as necessary. Press the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on the solids to extract all the flavor and juices. Discard the solids. In the clean blender, combine the egg, egg yolk, salt, white pepper, and flour. Blend until smooth, add the milk and the corn puree and blend again. Transfer the batter to a large measuring cup and stir in the parsley.
• In a large cast-iron skillet, heat 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil over medium heat until very hot. Make the blini by pouring about 2 tablespoons of batter into the pan for each one, and cook for about 1 minute on each side (they should each be 4 inches in diameter; you will probably only be able to fit 2 in the pan each time). Transfer the blini to a plate in a warm oven as they are done and continue making blini, adding a teaspoon of oil to the pan for each batch, until you have used all the batter. Place one or two blini on each of 6 warm plates and place a large dollop of brandade on one side of each. Fold over the other side to cover. Drizzle the crepes with some of the crema and serve immediately.

CORNMEAL BLINI WITH TOMATO-CORN SALSA

Steps:

• For Blini:
• Heat milk and water to lukewarm (105°F. to 115°F.) in small saucepan. Pour into large bowl. Mix in sugar and yeast. Let stand 10 minutes.
• Stir flour, cornmeal and salt in medium bowl to blend. Stir into yeast mixture. Mix in buttermilk and egg yolks. Cover with plastic and let stand in warm area until very spongy, about 2 hours.
• Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until stiff but not dry. Gently fold into cornmeal mixture in 2 additions.
• Preheat oven to 250°F. Brush large nonstick skillet with 1 teaspoon oil. Heat over medium-high heat. Working in batches and brushing with additional oil as necessary, drop batter by tablespoonfuls into skillet, spreading gently to 2-inch rounds. Cook until golden on bottoms and bubbles begin to break on surface, about 2 minutes. Using spatula, turn blini over; cook until golden, about 1 minutes. Arrange in single layer on large baking sheets. Keep warm in oven.
• For Salsa
• Mix all ingredients except yogurt in medium bowl to blend. Season with salt and pepper. (Blini and salsa can be made 8 hours ahead. Cool blini. Cover blini and salsa separately and chill. Reheat blini uncovered in 350°F. oven about 10 minutes before serving.)
• Spread small amount of yogurt over blini. Divide salsa over blini. Arrange on platters and serve warm.

FRESH CORN AND RED-PEPPER BLINI

Steps:

• Combine the yeast with the lukewarm water and sugar in a small bowl.
• Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Add to the cornmeal and whisk until smooth. Place over ice and continue beating until lukewarm. Combine the yeast mixture with the cornmeal and leave the batter to ferment in a warm, draft-free area for two hours. (The mixture may be refrigerated overnight at this point.)
• When ready to serve, beat the eggs until light. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder, and stir into the eggs. Add the sour cream and mix until smooth. Combine with the cornmeal mixture (if the batter has been refrigerated and is stiff, place it over simmering water and stir until soft) and beat hard for two minutes. Mix in the corn and red pepper.
• Heat the griddle or skillet until hot. Grease with a small amount of clarified butter. Ladle tablespoons of batter onto the griddle. Cook for one minute on the first side until lightly colored, flip and continue cooking for another 30 seconds.
• To serve, place three pancakes on a warmed plate with a dollop of creme fraiche and a half-teaspoon each of Sevruga and salmon caviar per person. Or place one or two slices of Norwegian or Scotch salmon, along with a dollop of creme fraiche, on each pile of blini.

CORN BLINI WITH SMOKED SALMON AND CHIVE CREAM

Steps:

• Combine sour cream and chives in a small bowl. Cover and chill.
• Cut kernels from ear of corn. Scrape remaining pulp from cob using the dull side of a knife blade. Discard cob. Set corn aside.
• Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and cornmeal in a medium bowl; make a well in the center of the mixture. Combine milk and egg yolk in a small bowl, stir well with whisk. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, and stir with a whisk until just moist. Stir in corn, salt, and pepper.
• Place egg white in a bowl, beat with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Gently fold egg white mixture into corn mixture.
• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Spoon 1 tbls. batter per blini onto pan, spreading to about 2" diameter. Cook 2 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges begin to set. Carefully turn blinis over, cook for 1 more mintue. Transfer blinis to a serving platter, and arrange in a single layer; keep warm. Repeat process with the remaining batter. Top each blini with with 1 piece salmon and 1 teaspoons sour cream mixture. Garnish with chopped chives, if using.
• Makes 8 servings.