The Bestest, Simplest BBQ Ever

Yummy Sweet Corn!

Well, we had a perfectly AWESOME and LAZY weekend...

Temps were in the upper-90's and all we did was laze at the poolside Tiki Bar! When it got too hot, we'd dive in!

Yep. Sucks to be us!!!

Last night, we decided to BBQ. Just the two of us, so I didn't go nuts or anything. I had some NY steaks in the freezer. I took 'em out and defrosted them. Basically just sprinkled them generously with McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning, covered 'em with plastic wrap and left 'em in the fridge for a couple of hours.

I also bought a few fresh ears of corn at the grocery store. Now corn is something that we normally boil b/c we don't have enough room on the grill for a "feast" AND corn. When we boil 'em, my "secret" is to add a teaspoon or two of Splenda to the water, and a splash of cream, and a tablespoon of butter. They tend to stay "pretty sweet" that way.

Well, this time, I figured we'd try to grill 'em. I keep thinking about "Fair Corn" - you know, the kind they sell at the County Fair (they canceled our County Fair this year, so I've been jonesin'!). I always figured they had some kinda Voodoo Magic at those Corn-On-The-Cob booths because I've *never* had corn so good, anywhere else!

Ehh, what the hey - let's try grilling it - see what happens! I Googled "How to Grill Corn on the Cob" and found a zillion websites that talked about it. All with "slightly different" or "extremely vague" instructions.

In the interest of simplicity - I'll just tell you what we did! First, I stripped the corn, leaving the entire husk intact, and still attached to the ears. Then I did my damndest to remove all the corn silk. I suspect that, as long as you get *most* of it, the last half-dozen-or-so strands will just burn off. Then I pulled the husks back up over the corn niblets. Re-wrapping corn is an art that I haven't quite mastered, so I ended up covering up just the ends of the corn in foil (and I still didn't do it perfectly! Some of the niblets got charred 'cuz they were "exposed"). Then I put the corn in one of those corn-bondage-devices. A metal crimpy-lookin-thing that holds 4 corn cobs in an orderly, military fashion (I suspect that's not mandatory - but it makes "turning" a whole lot easier!). Then I filled the sink with water and soaked the corn for about an hour (so the husks wouldn't burn too quickly).

Rog put 'em on the grill on medium to medium-low heat, turning frequently (this is a gas grill, BTW. I have no doubt that charcoal would be infinitely better, but not as easily controlled, temperature-wise).

Then I wandered out to the garden and picked a half dozen Super-Fresh tomatoes. Sliced 'em up and arranged them artistically w/fresh "gourmet" mozzarella cheese (not the rubbery-yellow-stuff from the "cheese" section of the grocery store - this was the "expensive" stuff from the gourmet food section), then added fresh basil (from my Aero-Garden on the sink) and drizzled Extra Virgin Olive Oil on top... Insalata Caprese - about as fresh as you can get!!!

And there was also a tub of (store-bought) potato salad available for DH, who insists on carbs.

Well, aside from having to dodge a couple of hungry wasps, dinner was abso-freaking-lutely PERFECT! Rog even perfected the art of searing the steaks on the outside (I like 'em crisp and black on the edges, and pink in the middle)... The corn: Was positively ORGASMIC!!!! Oh-My-Gawd!!! It was AT LEAST as good as "Fair Corn!" Dripping with butter, Ohhh Gawd!!!

No, corn isn't low-carb, and yes I *did* pay for it. But - GAWD - was it worth it!!!

No more boiled corn for us!!!!

(I just wish I could GROW fresh corn here! It kills me that my next-door neighbor can grow fresh corn - not 10' away from my garden! - but I just CAN'T!)