Feta under the broiler with corn and shishitos

Name: Feta under the broiler with corn and shishitos
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 4 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (not thawed if frozen, from about 4 ears); 8 oz shishito peppers; 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (plus more for drizzling); 1 tsp ground cumin; salt; 12 oz sheep's or goat's milk block feta, sliced ½ inch thick and patted dry (12 to 16 oz, avoid cow's-milk feta); ½ small red onion, thinly sliced; 1 lime, juiced (about 2 tbsp); ½ cup basil or cilantro leaves, torn (or a mix)

Ten minutes under the broiler and dinner simply happens.

At a Glance

Time

25 min

Serves

Story

This one is won or lost at the shop, not the stove. Buy a block of sheep's or goat's milk feta, because the extra fat lets it slump and blister and go gloriously molten under the broiler, whereas a leaner cow's milk feta simply panics and crumbles to chalk. Do not write the lime-soaked onions off as a garnish, either. They are a two-minute pickle with a single job, which is to cut a bright sharp line straight through all that warm, oozing cheese.

Ingredients

4 cups fresh or frozen corn kernelsnot thawed if frozen, from about 4 ears
8 oz shishito peppers
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oilplus more for drizzling
1 tsp ground cumin
salt
12 oz sheep's or goat's milk block fetasliced ½ inch thick and patted dry (12 to 16 oz, avoid cow's-milk feta)
½ small red onionthinly sliced
1 limejuiced (about 2 tbsp)
½ cup basil or cilantro leavestorn (or a mix)

Method

A whole dinner off one sheet pan in under ten minutes of actual cooking, which in high summer feels like getting away with something. Serve straight from the pan with warm pita or tortillas.

Set a rack near the broiler and heat it to high. On a sheet pan, toss the corn, shishitos, olive oil and cumin until everything glistens, spread it into an even layer and season with salt. Lay the feta slices on top and drizzle with a little more oil.
Broil until the cheese is molten and singed in spots and the shishitos have plumped and charred, 5 to 7 minutes. Keep an eye on it, a broiler turns on you the moment you trust it.
While it goes, stir the red onion together with the lime juice and a pinch of salt and leave it to soften into a quick pickle.
Pull the pan and scatter the pickled onion and its juices over the top, followed by the herbs. Bring it to the table in the pan it cooked in, all that oozing cheese and blistered pepper still going, and let everyone fall on it.

For a crowd

12-14 people

A broiler only blisters one pan at a time, so for a crowd think in relays. Run three pans under it one after another, 5 to 7 minutes each, and carry each to the table molten rather than holding them warm. Make a big bowl of the lime onions ahead, they only get better sitting.

On the pass