Fresh summer sweet corn and peaches are all you need for a truly perfect summertime meal

I often gloat about living where I do, for many reasons, but this time of year it is because I am covered up with farmers' markets and fresh produce.

Around Memorial Day or a little after, the early summer fruits and vegetables start coming in and here in Baldwin County, Alabama, we are blessed with plenty: corn, tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumbers, zucchini, onions, peppers, sweet potatoes, okra, watermelon, cantaloupe, peas, green beans, eggplant, snap beans — and that's only just a sampling.

And Chilton County, as in Chilton County peaches, is only about three hours north, so those mouthwatering jewels are here too. 

From small, unmanned road side stands at the edge of a yard where you serve yourself and put your money in a honor system cash box to family-owned, multi-generation, large commercial farms with markets on site, there is a munificence of fresh local produce available on just about every corner.

I especially look forward to the sweet corn. If you've never bitten into a fresh-shucked, piping hot, butter-drenched ear of Silver Queen (my all time favorite), Devotional or Silver King corn, you haven't lived. In perfect rows, the small, almost white kernels, filled with creamy milky juice makes the best creamed corn you ever tasted, but eaten straight from the cob prepared simply with butter and a dusting of salt and pepper is mighty hard to beat.

I doubt my mother or my grandmothers would have approved, but I like to add fresh lime juice and even a bit of lime zest to the butter, salt and pepper combination that I slather on corn. Butter really is a must, but a little coconut oil mixed in can add another layer of flavor if, like me, you enjoy changing things up now and again. You can even go a step further with some ground cumin and a light sprinkling of cayenne if you want to add fresh corn on the cob to your Taco Tuesdays.

In a pinch, I wrap a fresh-shucked ear in a wet paper towel and microwave it until it is too hot to handle. Plate it with butter, salt and pepper — and that's it. It is delicious.

But there are better ways — or as my mother would say, more civilized ways — to prepare it. My mom and grandmothers boiled it in a big pot of salted water. As I am generally only cooking for two, I changed their method a bit by using a large covered skillet filled just halfway with salted water. 

I place the shucked ears inside and turn them a few times as they steam-boil. Once they are piping hot, I drain off the water and add butter to the pan, along with the aforementioned optional fresh lime juice and allow the corn to marinate while I finish up another dish or set the table.

With all the fruit coming in, dessert is a breeze. Strawberries in the spring, peaches in the summer and fresh figs in July are what I believe make the world go around. These three summer fruits make me so happy and grilled peaches with vanilla ice cream on a balmy summer evening is so good that it can bring about a near spiritual experience.   

Want more great food writing and recipes? Subscribe to Salon Food's newsletter, The Bite.

Grilling brings out the sweetness and caramelizes the natural sugars in the peaches. If your peaches are perfectly ripe and sweet, you need only a little oil to prevent them from sticking to the grill as you cook them. If you have sub-par peaches — peaches that are hard or just not sweet enough — grilling them with a little sweetener, as I mention in the recipe options below, will take them to new heights. 

As summer really comes on, the weather gets warmer and the air more humid, our gas grill becomes my best friend. There is nothing worse than heating the house up on a hot summer day when you don't have to and grilling my entire meal outside is a great way to avoid doing just that.

Whether you are going all veggie or are creating your meal around fish, fowl or what have you, if executed with care, you can have everything ready at the right time — and stay out of the kitchen, too.