Grilled Sweet Corn with Chile and Lime Butter

August 24, 2016 0 Comments

 I love summertime and all the fresh produce it yields. With so many fruits and veggies at our fingertips, I thought it a good idea to share a few of our seasonal go-to recipes. Let’s begin with sweet corn which finally made its appearance at our local farmer’s market this past week. Picked in the morning, it was sweet, but not too sweet, fresh, tender and delicious by the time it hit our plates. While really good sweet corn doesn’t need much messing with, I like to try new approaches from time to time.

Here’s a recipe that’s a play on traditional Mexican Street Corn, but much lighter, allowing the corn’s flavors to have as much a say as the other ingredients. The recipe calls for grilling the cobs until they’re just charred and then dressing them with a simple, south-of-the-border-inspired compound butter. Mmmmm…summertime!

Ingredients

• 6 to 8 ears fresh sweet corn, husks removed
• 1 stick salted butter, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 large clove of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon pure chile powder, medium-hot to hot (you can use cayenne, but for a slightly different flavor profile, try New Mexican, ancho or chipotle chile powder)
• Salt

Earlywood “Ingredients”

• 1 spreader, or our spreader set, for smearing the corn with the chile-lime-butter mix

Instructions

For the compound butter:

Mince the garlic. Combine it with the butter, lime and chile powder. Allow the mixture to mellow at room temperature for about an hour.

For the corn:

1. Prepare a charcoal grill, or preheat a gas grill to high*.
2. When the coals are completely covered with grey ash, grill the corn about 4 inches from the coals. Turn the cobs often, using a pair of tongs or our l flat sauté.
3. After about 5 minutes, or when the corn is just beginning to brown and char, move the cobs to a platter.
4. While the corn is still hot, pass it around the table along with a bowl of the compound butter, a shaker of salt and an Earlywood spreader. Slather the corn with the butter, sprinkle with salt and enjoy.

Variations: Try adding lime zest and minced cilantro to your compound butter. If you make the butter ahead, roll into a log shape in parchment paper or plastic wrap and keep it chilled in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to serve the butter, cut it into serving-sized slices for each plate.

*Grilling in the summer not only adds a little je ne sais quoi to the flavor of your food, but when it's hot outside (and in your house)... it keeps the heat outside! If you don’t have a grill, follow these instructions for an easy alternative to grilling corn.

Happy eating!

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