Review: I Love Corn

Summary: I Love Corn gathers 50 of the best corn recipes from around the world, including soups, appetizers, entrees, and desserts. Some of the dishes you'll find are Jalapeño Corn Muffins; Sweet Corn Fritters; Fresh Corn Gazpacho; Grilled New Zealand Venison with Corn, Cocoa and Chipotle Relish; Polenta Stew; Corn Pudding with Bacon and Leeks; Yankee Corn Bread; Popcorn Pudding with Salted Caramel Corn and Butterscotch Sauce; and Fresh Corn Ice Cream. Also inside this colorful, gift-worthy package you'll find tips for buying, storing, cooking, and grilling fresh corn, along with instructions for easily cutting kernels off the cob.

With recipes that have been painstakingly crafted by creative, award-winning chefs from around the country, such as Dan Barber, Michelle Bernstein, and Hugh Acheson, I Love Corn makes corn the irresistible ingredient of choice for all of your favorite dishes. -- Andrews McMeel

I love getting books -- who doesn't? But when I opened up a package and saw the new cookbook titled I LOVE CORN by Lisa Skye, I wasn't exactly jumping up and down. What can I say? I am not a huge fan of corn, much to my kids' dismay. I enjoy the occasional corn-on-the-cob or piece of corn bread, but I definitely don't go out of my way to eat corn. I almost cast this cookbook aside because I figured that there wouldn't be any recipes that interested me.

However, I am a huge fan of cookbooks and I couldn't resist taking just one quick peek. And much to my surprise, there were quite a few recipes that I wanted to try. I LOVE CORN is a collection of fifty of the world's best corn recipes -- and some of them are pretty darn unique. The recipes were gathered from famous chefs and are served in well known restaurants around the world, and they range from simple to complex.

The cookbook begins with a Forward and an Introduction, but it was the following section called "Everything Corn" that I found especially interesting. These few pages teach you lots about corn from how to buy it and store it, to all of the different ways you can prepare it. In addition, there are instructions for how to serve it and how to freeze it. The book is then divided into the following chapters: Breakfast, Soups, Starters, Mains, Sides, and Sweets. Of course, I went straight to the corn desserts because I was extremely curious.

I knew immediately which recipe I wanted to try -- the Cornmeal Cake with Honey and Bananas by Eve Nasetti. It is a very simple recipe and it has ingredients that I usually have on hand -- corn meal, egg whites, sugar, honey, unsalted butter, baking powder, salt and bananas. I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for quick and easy recipes that I can make without having to head to the grocery store. The recipe only took me a few minutes to prepare and I admit that I wasn't too sure it was going to turn out. The whole fluffy egg white portion added to the corn meal and butter portion just looked a little slimy to me. However, the cake did turn out and it was delicious. The chef recommends serving it at room temperature with some whipped cream and strawberries; and I'm sure it would be terrific that way. But I tested it while it was still slightly warm and I can't imagine it could get much better.

In addition to the Cornmeal Cake with Honey and Bananas, there were some other recipes that definitely piqued my interest including the Lobster and Corn Bruschetta; the Sliced Sirloin with Spicy Corn, Shiitake, and Bacon Salsa; the Fresh Corn and Black Bean Salad; the Spicy Stir-Fried Corn and Broccoli; the Jalapeno Corn Muffins; and the Blueberry Financier with Corn Bread Streusel. For those of you with more adventurous tastes, there are recipes for Popcorn Pudding with Salted Caramel Corn and Butterscotch Sauce, Chilled Corn Soup with Nutmeg, and Grilled New Zealand Venison with Corn, Cocoa, and Chipotle Relish.

And there's one more nice little tidbit about I LOVE CORN that I wanted to share with you. A large portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to The Dougy Center, the national center for grieving children and families.

If you are a fan of corn or just curious about an entire cookbook with corn recipes, then I suggest giving I LOVE CORN a chance!

Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy of this cookbook.

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