Tag Archives: fresh tomato-corn-black bean

Recipe: Fresh Corn, Tomato and Black Bean Summer Frittata

Corn on the cob is plentiful now in late July around most of the U.S.  In Oaxaca, there is corn in a multitude of colors — yellow, orange, red, blue, black, purple, white.  Most of us know corn as yellow or white.  If we eat blue corn chips dunked in salsa, then we are familiar with this third variation on corn.  I’m told that most of the blue corn grown in the U.S.  is used for chips!  Here at Blue Heron Farm, where I live, we only grow organic vegetables in our circle garden.  The earth is fertilized with manure (cow or chicken or horse) and amended with annual green fertilizer with gets plowed under to enrich the soil.  My husband Stephen is growing an abundance of corn (the stalks are at least twelve feet high) and rows of plum and Better Boy tomatoes.  What to do with this abundance?  Find all kinds of good ways to cook it.

I would like to say that the eggs come from our poultry, too.  However, late this spring the chicken coops were raided by marauding raccoons, weasels, foxes, and other predatory creatures of the night (who knows what else?) and we lost 52 chickens over a period of three weeks. As much as we tried, we couldn’t make those living quarters impenetrable. That wiped out the possibility for eggs and meat this season.  We were all too frustrated and sad after raising those little wee chicks to start over again this year.

Given our love for Mexico, here is the recipe we came up with for a Summer Frittata. (I should have taken a photo.  We ate it up before I even thought of it.)

Equipment:  10″ omelet pan, wire whisk, bowl to hold six eggs, spatula, sharp chef’s knife or Chinese cleaver

Ingredients:

  • 6-8 large eggs
  • 2 T. water
  • 2 t. salt
  • 1/4 cup olive oil or enough to coat bottom of skillet
  • 1/2 large onion, diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 large fresh tomatoes, stemmed, cored, cut in large dice (1″)
  • 2 cobs of fresh corn, kernels removed from cob
  • 1/2 cup of canned black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/4 cup Queso Fresco (Mexican crumble cheese) or substitute fresh grated Parmesan, or Ricotta, or Farmer’s cheese (or use any cheese you like)
  • Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
  • Optional:  Dash of red pepper flakes or diced fresh green or red peppers

In omelet pan, heat olive oil until it sizzles when you splash a tad of water on the surface.  Add onions and garlic and sautee until glossy, over medium heat.  (Add diced peppers and red pepper flakes at this first step if you wish, cooking until peppers are soft.)

Add corn, tomatoes, and black beans and stir into onion/garlic mixture.  Cook for 1-2 minutes over medium heat.   Remove onion/garlic/corn/tomato mixture to a bowl.  Add a little more cooking oil to your skillet.  Beat eggs adding 2 T. water and 2 T. salt.  Pour into skillet that has been heated to medium heat.  Cook eggs until bottom is firm and top is still a bit liquid.  Add the corn/tomato/black bean mixture and spread over diameter evenly.  Add cheese.

Remove from heat.  Put under a 400 degree broiler for about 4-5 minutes until cheese is melted and top of frittata is firm.  Season to taste.  Turn out into a serving dish and cut into quarters or sixths or serve directly from the pan.

Serves 4-6.