I walked into a coffee shop the other day, Nina Simone playing in the background, an unidentifiable buzz and warmth in the room and the scent of hot beverages brewing, and it totally transported me; I feel ready for the cooler months ahead to be filled with days of apple picking, Fall dinners with friends in Fort Greene, weekend drives to go leaf peeping, the build to the holidays and rum toddies.  I’m finally facing the fact that it’s the end of summer and am filled with this mixture of wistful nostalgia and excited anticipation of the fall to come. That said, it’s my last hurrah! And I couldn’t help but take one last shot at summer with this beautiful salad inspired by the farm stands I visited out in the South Fork this past week and a Mexican tortilleria in Queens where I spent the day cooking.

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Seriously.  I had a somewhat interesting story for how I came up with this recipe, but I keep going to the fridge and sticking a fresh spoon into this now cold, smoky, spicy corn pudding and taking a bite.  Then, tossing the spoon into the sink to prevent a second bite.  I’m hedging because I don’t want to admittedly portion a piece out, heat it up and eat it (after the three helpings I had last night), but I seriously can’t help myself.  It is that tasty…even cold and semi-solid in the fridge.

Growing up in Florida (yes, it’s still the South!), I developed such a weakness for southern food, and corn pudding, itself, is classic, southern comfort food at its best.  And I know I did some corn fritters not too long ago and repeating corn might be a sin, but it’s such a seasonal staple in my house.  and this is just too good not to share.

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The combination of corn and coconut is something that will always remind me of childhood.  One of my favorite East African dishes growing up is called makai paka. It’s basically sweet corn on the cob simmered in a creamy, coconut-based broth with turmeric, garlic, green chilies, and cilantro.  The fun was in eating the corncobs; you could suck out the spicy coconut curry absorbed into the cobs, making ridiculous slurping noises.  Not something I can quite get away with these days…

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