Creamed corn with roast greenhouse veg and chorizo

A triumphant allotment harvest and the ends of the greenhouse bounty combine to make a gloriously more-ish meal.

Finally! A harvest from the new allotment.

The sweetcorn at the allotment is ready to pick! I don’t really count the allotment potatoes as a proper harvest, since they will grow in anything and without any attention. But the sweetcorn, the sweetcorn I planted out with great trepidation in early June, tucking them into the rough, weed-ridden soil of my new allotment, with only the very faint hope they might survive.

At first things didn’t look good

The seedling sweetcorn sulked, turning a little pale as if to say, “I was perfectly happy in that warm and very fancy greenhouse, and now you expect me to slum it with the couch grass in this barren, rocky square of soil you claim is an allotment?”

Nothing a good feed can’t fix

A few generous glugs of seaweed feed, some long days of sunshine, and the sweetcorn perked up, growing quite happily after its initial paddy. It’s a crop well-suited to an allotment since they require quite a bit of space (40-45cm between plants) and need planting in a grid rather than a row since they are wind pollenated.

A glut

And now I have so many that there is even enough to make creamed corn, a dish that requires a lot of sweetcorn and seems somehow unsuitable if the harvest is small when you might prefer to trumpet the rare jewel of a whole cob to the table just boiled and slathered in butter and really pay attention.

Creamed corn is endlessly useful. You’ll find other ways to use it in this post from last year too:

Creamed corn, mushrooms & crispy kale, soup in a similar vein & culinary ear-worms

Creamed corn with roast greenhouse veg and chorizo

I could eat this all day. Much lighter than polenta, creamed corn is a perfect sweet and creamy foil for all sorts of roasted veg, especially juicy ones like the current greenhouse harvest. Omit the chorizo if you prefer a veggie option, but don’t mistake this for a veggie side dish – it needs no assistance. Though I will confess to serving this topped with a piece of baked hake and a few pine nuts once and it was rather lovely too.

Serves 2

• 350g tomatoes

• 3-4 small peppers (250g total)

• 4 garlic cloves, in skin

• 1 cooking chorizo sausage (70g), casing removed