Since corn is in season and it's the Fourth of July, I thought I should share my new discovery about corn. My old corn cooking method was from David Rosengarten (from The Television Food Network's Taste show). For that, you put cold water in a pot, add corn, put on high, and the corn's done when it comes to a boil (living in high altitude, however, I had to alter that a bit to "boil for a few minutes").
Recently I saw an episode of TVFN's Tyler's Ultimate (with the very attractive Tyler Florence!) for Roasted Corn with Chili Lime Butter, and just had to try it.
6 ears fresh corn, unhusked since it's just me and my fiance, we usually do two, maybe three ears
1/4 pound butter (1 stick), room temperature two tablespoons-ish
2 teaspoons chili powder to taste
1 lime, zested mmmm...limey
1 lime, cut into wedges I usually forsake this for this recipe as it's limey enough and just for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the corn in its husks directly on the oven rack and roast until the corn is soft when you press on it, 30 to 40 minutes.
While the corn is roasting, combine the butter with the chili powder and lime zest.
Peel down the husks and tie in a knot to use as a handle while eating. Fiance does this as he used to work at a restaurant and doesn't have my wussy hands Rub the corn with soft butter mixture, and garnish with a lime wedge. (This roasting method produces the sweetest corn I have ever tasted.) This is actually part of the recipe, but I agree
In similar fashion, fiance grilled corn last week at his family vacation (we don't own a grill, it's very sad!). His mother peeled the husk down banana-style, took out the silks, retied the husk back on (usually done with string, but she improvised by tying with some husk-strings), then let them soak. I believe she said "two hours," but we didn't have the time. Fiance then put them on a medium grill (or he should have as lots of fire was involved) until soft when you press them. Fiance's five-year-old nieces weren't impressed by the "burnt corn," but it tasted delicious to me! Just be careful of the flames, cook them at the highest over a medium flame, and soak them for at least two hours and it should be delicious.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Roasted Corn, other corn methods
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Meat rub Spice-O-Rama
My husband and I are big grillers. We grill everything, especially meat. But there's really only so many times that you can eat plain grilled meat without getting bored. I don't always have time for marinades, since I usually pull something out of the freezer in the morning as I'm heading out the door (and want to start cooking almost immediately after getting home). So I started playing with some spice combinations and have come up with some good meat rubs.
Paprika-based rub
1T ground Hungarian paprika
1/2T ground mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 clove minced garlic - I am such a cheat. I have a super duper garlic press that I got for a wedding present; it's got a mincer and slicer
1/4 tsp pepper - I use white pepper, because I don't actually like black pepper
1 tsp salt, to taste
Mix all spices together, and rub to desired flavor on raw meat. Any excess can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days.
I've found that the one above is particularly good on pork. As a matter of fact, it's a knockoff of a recipe I found in my George Forman cookbook. . .shhh, don't tell the big guy!
Another favorite, for chicken:
Rub some bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts down with some extra-virgin olive oil and set aside.
While the grill is heating up, mince up some garlic (about 2 cloves for two breasts) and some fresh basil (to taste). Insert about 3/4 the spices under the skin of the breasts and put on the grill. The rest of the spices taste fantastic over some quartered red potatoes (wrap the combo in tin foil and stick those on the grill, also). The skin of the chicken can be removed prior to eating, to cut down on calories and fat.
For those of you that don't use outdoor grills, the top recipe can also be cooked on a tabletop grill. The chicken one can be baked in a 350 oven for about 35 minutes.
In addendum to Jackie's vegetables post, I like to grill asparagus, too. I do it like Ted from Queer Eye, by making little asparagus "rafts" with bamboo skewers, like so:
I baste them with olive oil, rub a little minced garlic on the top, and sprinkle with white pepper. I grill them on the top rack, away from the flame until the tips are drying, but the skin is still semi-tough. I've found that the insides of the stems soften quite nicely using this method.
Take that, Bobby Flay!
(just kidding, Bobby. You know I love you!)
