The Grill Next Door

There's more to your grill than meat.  Over the last couple of summers, I've grilled an assortment of veggies as well as peaches and pineapple to serve alongside pork or over ice cream (and if you drizzle a little rum on the pineapple before serving you'll be sure to hear at least one happy "Arghhhh" from your family or guests).

But some items are just staples for grilling.  Corn. Sure you can cook it on the stove, in a cooler or in a microwave but grilling is awesome.  The corn this year is not so good, so I was looking for something to make it both moist and flavorful and saw an idea in Better Home and Gardens (one of the few magazines I enjoy).  It involved basting the corn during grilling with a salad dressing based sauce.

Liking the concept but not being too keen on the whole Miracle Whip on corn thing, I used a mixture of butter, mayo, sour cream, fresh lime, hot sauce, peppers and cilantro.  Now we're talking.

Serves 2-3, double or triple as needed.

3 large ears of corn (cut into halves or thirds)
1 Tablespoon dried cilantro
1 1/2 teaspoons  Penzey's Ancho or Adobo seasoning
1 heaping teaspoon lime zest
1/ 8 teaspoon cayenne
dash or two of hot sauce (my favorite is Scoville Bros. Singing Smoke)
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1 Tablespoon Mayo
1 Tablespoon sour cream
1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice (and that does not come out of little green plastic limes)

Clean corn, removing husks and soak in water for 10 minutes.

In a small bowl mix cilantro, pepper seasonings, and lime zest.  In a BIG bowl whisk butter, hot sauce, mayo, sour cream, and lime juice and set aside. Drain and dry corn and cook on covered grill for 15-20 minutes until done, turning and basting with the butter/cream mixture every five minutes.

Remove corn and toss with remaining butter/cream sauce in the bowl, sprinkle with the chili/zest mixture and serve immediately.  Excellent with chicken or a big piece of grilled Salmon.