Belinda Jeffery's sweetcorn with smoked paprika butter and lime

Although our class days are long, I often find I wake early after them and lie quietly in bed listening to the dawn chorus of birds, smiling to myself as I think back over the past few days.

As much as I love teaching, one of the things I look forward to most in the build-up to our classes is the setting-up day. We arrive at the hall early, our car bursting at the seams with paraphernalia – baskets, boards, vases, cloths, and loads of produce and flowers. Our first job is to get the kitchen ready. Actually, that’s not quite true, the very first thing we do is put the kettle on for an essential cup of tea! Next comes the hall and then my favourite part of all, doing the flowers and generally ‘zhooshing’ everything to make it shine. I feel just as I did when I was a little girl playing house. It’s so much fun!

If possible, I always try to do one really unusual, food-related centrepiece for our morning tea table. This week it was a lovely old wire basket brimming with cobs of glossy black corn from my very clever farming friend and organic grower, Palisa Anderson. It seemed particularly appropriate, as one of the side dishes we were about to cook was freshly picked sweetcorn with smoked paprika butter, lime, chives and crème fraîche. I thought you might like to give it a try, as it’s such an easy dish to make and goes exceptionally well with pretty much anything cooked on the barbecue. Also, it’s just that little bit different. A word of advice, though, it’s extremely more-ish, so you might like to double the recipe.

Happy Sunday. Belinda ❤️

Sweetcorn with smoked paprika butter and lime

SERVES 3–4 (AS A SIDE DISH)

2 cobs fresh sweetcorn

40g unsalted butter

1 small red chilli, finely chopped

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon sea salt flakes

lime juice, to taste

1–2 tablespoons finely chopped chives, plus a little more, for garnishing

2–3 tablespoons crème fraîche, optional, to serve

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

These quantities are for two cobs of corn, which, depending on their size, serve three or four people as a side dish. Just double or treble the quantities for larger numbers.

Shuck the husks and silk from the corn cobs. Level the base, then stand the corn up and, steadying the top with your hand, use a large knife to carefully cut the kernels away from the core. Try to cut as close to the core as possible. Scoop the kernels into a bowl.

Melt the butter in a medium-size frying pan (use a large frying pan for bigger quantities) over medium-high heat. Add the chilli, smoked paprika and salt, and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes to release the fragrance of the chilli and paprika.

Tip in the corn kernels and continue to cook, stirring regularly, for 6–10 minutes or until the corn is speckled brown and tender when you try a bit. Add a good squeeze of lime juice for a bit of a tang, taste it again and add more, if you like, then stir in the chives.

Scrape the corn into a shallow serving bowl and swirl in a dollop of crème fraîche, if using, and pepper to taste. Garnish with a smattering of extra chives.