When I make snack foods for parties I’m always torn between trying new recipes that I know people will gobble up like candied yams on Thanksgiving Day and experimenting with no recipe: just me, my kitchen and the inventory in my pantry.

I usually have a few standbys up my sleeve: guacamole, baked brie en croute and spinach artichoke dip very rarely yield leftovers but when I’m cooking for the same friends often, even I start to get bored with same old, same old.

Corn, which thanks to Michael Pollan, many of us know as America’s #1 crop is often eaten plain on the cob alongside cookouts or clambakes. Decorated with butter, salt and pepper, corn on the cob is a great summer treat, but a creative cook – no, a creative eater, will get a lot of mileage out of corn beyond the cob.

We all know that corn is versatile: corn bread, chile corn chowder – but it pairs well with a lot of really fresh, great ingredients including my favorite combination: basil. There is something fitting about pairing basil and tomatoes, ingredients most frequently seen in Italian cooking with America’s most abundant crop.

Corn Dip with Tomatoes and Basil

Adapted from Martha Stewart

What you need:

1 3/4 cups fresh corn kernels (from 2 ears) or frozen kernels
1/3 cup 2 percent milk
1/3 cup silken tofu
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper
8 cherry tomatoes, quartered, or 2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
3 cups baked white-corn chips (6 ounces) for serving

What you do:

1. Cook corn and milk in a skillet over medium-high heat until corn is tender, 7 to 9 minutes. Let cool completely.

2. Puree 2/3 cup corn mixture, the tofu, lime juice, and salt in a food processor; season with pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl, and stir in remaining corn mixture, the tomatoes, and basil. Serve with chips. Dip can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 1 day.

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Tagged as: basil, corn, easy appetizer, easy entertaining, entertaining, party appetizer, party food, summer basil, summer corn, summer tomatoes, tomatoes