ROASTY

The Grill-Roasted Corn with Chesapeake Butter pictured above is one of the tasty goodies with which we celebrated the Mistress of Sarcasm’s impending birthday yesterday evening. Dinner consisted of Grilled Meat, in accordance with the desire of the Mistress (a chip off the old block, evidently) - and so why not grill a veggie, too?

Our early celebration was necessitated by the fact that the Missus and I are, even as I post this, heading northeast for the week. We’ll stop in Dee-Cee to visit Elder Daughter, after which I will continue onward unto the City of Brotherly Love. Philadelphia! Home of cheese steaks, soft pretzels and mustard, Tastykakes, a certain brand of cream cheese, the first U.S. Mint... and, incidentally, the Cradle of American Independence. Also the site of this year’s biennial FJMC Convention, which is what brings me back for the first time in well over a decade.

But we were talking Roasted Corn, weren’t we? Yes, we were.

To make this stuff, I adapted a Cook’s Illustrated recipe. You shuck your fresh ears of corn, throw ’em in a big pot of water in which you’ve dissolved a half-cup of salt, and let ’em brine for at least a half-hour. Then you put them directly on a hot grill - no foil wrapping. Turn the ears frequently; you want them caramelized nicely but not carbonized. It should take about 15 minutes to get them nice and tender.

While the corn is brining, make the Chesapeake Butter. Combine a stick of softened butter, a teaspoon or so of Tabasco, a couple of cloves of minced, pressed, or finely grated garlic, and one or two teaspoons of Old Bay seasoning. Mix well. When the corn is done, slather the ears with this butter. It’s like a landmine of flavor. Yowza!

We gobbled up the corn along with some Korean-style marinated flank steak, sautéed green beans with lemon-soy butter, and a nice green salad... leaving room for a slice of superb raspberry layer cake (courtesy of Publix). Hey, not every damn thing is made from scratch here!