When summer’s end is nighing
And skies at evening cloud,
I muse on change and fortune
And all the feats I vowed
When I was young and proud.

From hill and cloud and heaven
The hues of evening died;
Night welled through lane and hollow
And hushed the countryside,
But I had youth and pride.

The year might age, and cloudy
The lessening day might close,
But air of other summers
Breathed from beyond the snows,
And I had hope of those.

So here’s an end of roaming
On eves when autumn nighs:
The ear too fondly listens
For summer’s parting sighs,
And then the heart replies.

-Selection from A.E. Housman’s “When Summer’s End is Nighing”

Only one week until the Autumnal Equinox! Last night I decided to make a meal in honor of the end of summer with grilled kabobs, roasted sweet corn, and a skillet chocolate chip cookie. Everything turned out so delicious I thought I would share the recipes here.

Kabobs

About eight hours before you want to cook you should start marinating the kabob meat. The marinade I used is a my own variation of the allrecipes.com marinade that you can find here. I used chicken, but any meat you prefer would probably work fine. This was enough marinade for about 4 chicken breasts.

Cube your meat into chunks about 1.5 x 1.5″ square. For the marinade you need:

1 cup oil (I used 1/2 cup canola oil and 1/2 cup cilantro and roasted onion infused EVOO)

3/4 cup soy sauce (I used Bragg Liquid Aminos)

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup southwest spicy mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon seasoning salt

4 cloves minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix all of the marinade ingredients together. Put the cubed meat into a gallon sized Ziploc bag and pour the marinade over top (make sure that all the meat is covered). Seal the Ziploc bag and place in a glass container (in case the bag accidentally leaks). Marinate in the refrigerator for 8 hours.

When you are ready to cook the kabobs cut up some of your favorite grilling veggies (I used onions and sweet peppers). Alternate threading a veggie and a piece of meat onto your skewers. Cook on the grill using medium heat. Halfway through cooking flip the kabobs over so both sides get a nice sear.

Roasted Sweet Corn

About eight hours before you want to start cooking you need to start soaking your ears of corn. Leave all of the husks on and put the corn in a waterproof container (I used a large, plastic Rubbermaid tote). Fill the container with enough water to cover the corn. The corn will float, so you’ll need to put a heavy weight on top to keep it under the water. A cinder block did the trick for me.

If you’re having trouble finding fresh sweet corn at the grocery store this late in the season try looking for a roadside stand that sells it. Most commercial sweet corn growers plant their sweet corn under rows of plastic and use irrigation to have it ready as early in the year as possible. This also means that the sweet corn is done sooner. If you can find someone local who just grows a little bit of sweet corn in their backyard you might be able to find it this late in the year.

At least two hours before you’re ready to cook the sweet corn start building your fire. Your object is to get a bed of nice hot coals to cook the corn over. Roast the corn on a grate over your bed of coals, turning it once with a pair of tongs to make sure both sides of the corn are evenly cooked. When ready to eat, husk the corn and serve with butter.

Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

The recipe for the cookie is just the original Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I’ll put it in so all of the recipes are together.

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 package (2 cups) semisweet chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugars together. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spread the dough in a greased 10″ cast iron skillet. Bake in a 350°F oven for 25-30 minutes. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. You wan the edges of the cookie to be golden brown. It’s OK if the center is still slightly gooey because the cast iron retains heat for a while and will continue to “cook” the cookie even after you take it out of the oven. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

 

-Michaela “The Farming Daughter”