Easy Sauce tops grilled chicken

From Lauren Chattman's "Cool Kitchen: No Oven, No Stove, No Sweat!" (William Morrow, 1998, $22) comes this easy sauce. Use it on grilled chicken and vegetables, or tossed with noodles, scallions and cucumbers.

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup water

1 small garlic clove, peeled

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste

1 teaspoon sugar

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Makes 3/4 cup of sauce.

A sweet find: Incredible corn

Don't get so fixated on white corn that you miss some of the very good yellow corn available right now. I recommend locally grown Incredible, one of the sugar-enhanced varieties. They often taste too sweet to me, but this was great. I found it at the Waverly farmers' market, 32nd and Barclay streets.

Pub Date: 8/19/98