Monday, August 23, 2010

CULINARY SMACKDOWN: BATTLE SANDWICH

Yes, I know this is month's Smackdown is Battle: Sandwich, not Battle: Corn. But bear with me, friends, while I explain. You might recall that recently I received a thoughtful surprise package from my thoughtful and surprising sister.
It contained Iowa sweet corn!
I set about looking for new ways to use my sweet corn bounty and, inspired by a post from this month's Culinary Smackdown host and last month's winter, Christo aka DoggyBloggy at Chez What?, tried my hand at Mexican street corn.
I also tried oven-roasting corn for the first time. Husk on for about half an hour at 400 did the trick.
I mixed up some mayo with this chile lime salt and tossed in some roasted red pepper for good measure.
I doused an ear of corn in the sauce and added a squeeze of lime - which is key for this dish! Since I couldn't locate any cotija cheese, I rolled my coated corn ear in some feta, which has a similar crumbly consistency.
Yes, my first attempt was pretty goopy. But what good goop! I mixed leftover sauce with some corn off the cob, and it was heavenly.
My second attempt was a little more restrained, but I still couldn't get the deliciousness of these flavors out of my mind.
I realized the flavorful corn-lime-chile mayo would make an interesting sandwich condiment, and I set about building my Smackdown sandwich from there. Here's my trial run with chorizo atop Mexican street corn mayo on baguette.
My photo may not have turned out too well, but the sandwich sure tasted good.

Then it occurred to me shrimp would go exceptionally well with the Mexican street corn mayo. So here you have my entry for this month's Culinary Smackdown - Mexican street corn shrimp salad sandwich with cilantro, lime, and feta, and a mixed tomato salad on the side.
I'm looking forward to checking out everyone's Smackdown entries. Head on over to ChezWhat? to see DoggyBloggy's round-up of the entries tomorrow (I think). And may the best sandwich maker prevail!

ETA: Dog's round-up of the entries and announcement of the winner is now up here.What a terrific array of sandwiches - and what a huge turn-out! Great job by all the entrants, and a big thanks to DoggyBloggy aka Christo for being such a great Smackdown host!

18 comments:

LaDivaCucina said...

Ah the killer combo of shrimp and corn and cilantro! I love it! Your sammie looks so healthy and fresh and delicious! And yes, easily could transform into a salad....Oh my. I have corn and shrimp and cilantro and feta! Crikey, I'll make THIS for dinner tomorrow! Great post, so many great entries!

Sharon Rudd said...

Thanks, Diva. Your entry looks fabulous too! You went with Peri-Peri sauce, and I went with gloppy-gloppy sauce :) Good, though.

GrumpyGranny said...

OMG, that looks fabulous! I've never heard of Mexican street corn before--I have a feeling I'm going to learn a lot of things reading these entries, and I can't wait! I'm trying that as soon as I can wrangle up some decent shrimp in this land-locked state. Then you can come over for a slopper. ;-)

GG

Sharon Rudd said...

GG, you will definitely learn a lot from these entries! DoggyBloggy's got results and links to all of them up. I think this might be a record turn-out. Great job to all!

Making Space said...

Wow that all looks GORGEOUS!!!! Congrats on your entry, it's beautiful. I love how you describe going from one inspiration to the next. Awesome.

Dani said...

I know what I'm cooking next!! Great job Eggy!

Joanne said...

Mexican street corn is such a fantastic thing, especially in a sandwich the way you've prepared it here!

Velva said...

Okay, I am drooling that sandwich looks fantastic! corn-lime mayo just makes me sing. Nice!

Karl said...

Good morning Eggy,

What a neat idea. I love the combination of shrimp and corn. We have it as a salad often. I never thought of putting on bread. Nice presentation.

Heff said...

You really went the extra mile, Eggy !

Sharon Rudd said...

Thanks to all for your kind comments! Meanwhile, guess what? I may not have won the $100 CSN gift certificate Doggy was giving the Smackdown winner, but I just found out I won a $60 CSN gift certificate from AllTopChef's giveaway! Woot - La Creuset, here I come!!

Jen said...

Great entry! You are so creative.

LaDivaCucina said...

Eggy, just came home with some Key West pink shrimp, going to make a salad version and add a bit of jalapeno to the mix as well!

Anette said...

Visit my blog to find out the theme for Culinary Smackdown September 2010

Shaheen said...

Such interesting ways to eat sweetcorn. I Honestly hav enot seen any of those versions before. So thank you for the introduction.

I was at my parents for a long weekend in Wales, U.K. They were all snacking on roasted sweetcorn, drenched in lemon juice then slathered with chilli and salt. Yum!!! I couldn't resist eating some either.

moi said...

Every year at this time a local farm, Schwebach's, starts lining the roads selling their famous corn. Now I know what to do with it other than sticking it on the grill. YUM!

Aunty Belle said...

WOw--wowowow.

We have a local Sweet Corn Festival--ya know, wif' a corn maze an' all that?

So I must try this--yum!

AN ain't yore sissy a sweet thang to so kindly send ya that bounty??

Alessandra said...

Wow, a big box of sweet corn...I am surrounded by corn fields here in the North of Italy, yet nobody eat sweet corn, just polenta...maybe I will go and steal some from my aunt...tomorrow!