Before we get to the nitty gritty of pan-roasting corn, let’s just say that I was hoping to have a soup recipe for you, but “my best people” thought it was a girly soup.

You know, the kind that ladies-who-lunch sip on, cooing how delicious it is? Well, it is delicious, and if I’m honest, it is a bit frou-frou.

So while I lick my wounds and contemplate whether or not it’s worth your time, I thought I hold a class on how to pan-roast corn — which is probably a heckofva lot more useful than some sissy soup.

Why would you want to pan-roast corn? Because it’s easy to make, it’s versatile and it tastes phenomenally better than boiled corn, thanks to the caramelization of corn’s natural sugar content.

Here’s how you do it. Set a skillet over medium-high heat while you shuck the corn. You can use any skillet, but I prefer a cast-iron skillet because it really sears the corn.

Wash and pat dry the corn. Hold the ear, pointy end down inside of a large bowl, which will catch the kernels instead of sending them flying all over the counter. Use a chef’s knife (or a serrated knife if you prefer) and slice down one side of the corn.

Turn the corn a quarter turn and slice again. Repeat two more times, for a total of 4 cuts. The cob will resemble a squared-off rectangle when you’re finished.

The skillet should be nice at hot by now and you can throw the corn in — that’s right: no oil, no butter, no nothing. It’s a dry skillet (which is another reason I like to use cast iron because it can take the punishing heat without any fat.)

DON’T STIR. Sorry to shout, but this is important. You want the corn to spend some time browning, and stirring just spoils the fun. After a couple minutes, you can stir, gently, once, wait a couple minutes and then stir one last time.

It will take about 5 minutes total, to roast the corn, and it should look like the corn in the picture above.

If you cook much longer than 5 minutes, the corn will be overcooked. Remove the corn from the skillet once it’s done, and use immediately, or store in the fridge for a couple of days.

How can you use pan-roasted corn? Let me give you a few ideas to get your mind rolling on the infinite possibilities:

1. Top a girly soup (actually,you can add to any soup, girly or not)

2. Sprinkle on top of a fresh garden salad

3. Fold into an omelet

4. Serve as a side dish for barbecue chicken

5. Use as a filling for savory crepes, along with cooked shrimp or lump crab

Got any other ideas? Leave a comment and share.

Tags: cooking technique, corn, kitchen tip, pan roasting
Posted in How To..., Tips & Tutorials | 14 Comments »

Last weekend, there was a coupon in my Sunday paper for a new soup from Campbell’s under their V8 brand. I drink V8 juice (finally switch to the low sodium version, which was painful, but I have a little trick…I douse it with a sprinkling of cayenne powder).

But I digress… this post is about the new V8 soups. I bought three — southwestern corn, golden butternut squash and tomato herb. They also make a garden broccoli and sweet red pepper.

I completely adore the southwestern corn. The corn soup is thick, creamy and has a nice kick of heat. I topped it with some leftover popcorn and it really helped “pop” the corn flavor.

The tomato herb is also yummy. It, too, could use a little doctoring, and I found that a sprinkling of grated Parmesan really brought out the sweetness of the thick, red tomato base.

The butternut squash wasn’t as good. It tasted strange to me, so I looked at the ingredient list, and figured out the problem. Potatoes are the third ingredient in the squash soup, so it waters down the taste of the squash. Too bad, because butternut squash soup can be absolutely divine. I have a recipe for butternut squash soup in my cookbook, The Great Ranch Cookbook, with apples and chipotle. It is divine, but takes a bit of work.

It’s not nearly as easy as opening a carton of the V8 butternut squash soup, although figuring out how to open the V8 boxes is a bit of challenge. The boxes are small (16 oz.) and the nutritional content varies by soup, but 1 serving of the corn soup (8 oz) is 150 calories and 3 grams of fat, while the tomato soup is 90 calories and 0 fat grams for a cup.

The only downside is the amount of sodium, which also varies by soup (between 590 and 750 milligrams — 25% to 31% of the recommended daily allowance.) But you can find lots of other soups, even some made by Campbell’s, with as much as 890 mg and some as low as 60 mg (their low sodium cream of mushroom soup). The RDA is 2,400 mg. So the V8 soups are not outrageously laden with sodium.

I love soup, and soup season is upon us (some more than others…we’re still in the 80′s temperature range although nights and mornings are cooling off…finally). While I’d love to say that I have time to make a fresh batch of soup every week, I don’t. So I’ll keep a couple of these V8 soups in my pantry for those nights when nothing sounds better than a steaming bowl of soup.

Tags: Campbell's, corn, soup
Posted in Book & Product Reviews, Uncategorized | No Comments »

One of the best things about summer is fresh corn.

I never buy corn during the rest of the year because if it isn’t summer, it isn’t time for corn on the cob.

Here’s one way I like to celebrate the bounty of summer corn, with flavors of the southwest (cumin) and a little Spanish touch (smoked paprika).

8 minutes on the grill might seem like very little time, but I like my corn on the crunchy — not chewy — side.

Smoky Grilled Corn

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 large ears fresh corn
3 tablespoons softened butter
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Method
1. Heat the grill to medium high.

2. Shuck the corn, wash off any remaining silk strands and pat dry with paper towels.

3. Stir the remaining ingredients together until well blended.

4. Slather the seasoned butter all over the corn ears until well coated and all the butter is gone.

5. Place ears on the grill and grill until slightly charred in places, turning every couple minutes, for about 8 minutes.

6. Serve on the ear, or let cool slightly and slice kernels off with a sharp knife.*

*I place the ears in a large bowl before slicing so kernels don’t fly all over the kitchen counter.

Tags: corn, grilled corn, grilling
Posted in Recipes, Side Dishes | No Comments »

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