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| Option: remove husks to char the corn... |
While pounding drum sets, blowing out my lungs on any number
of wind instruments, and conducting fellow music students at the University of
Western Ontario, I decided to have my first adult dinner party.
In 1979, tacos were a novelty and seemed like great fun to
me, albeit a surprise for my selected group of dinner guests. As they stared at
their place settings, void of eating utensils, my friend Ted, a clarinet major,
repeated numerous times, “You expect
us to eat with our hands?” It’s easy to
visualize this if you think, “Felix” from the Odd Couple movie and add a
goatee…
Our foray into eating sans utensils resulted in a mess in
our laps and on the floor, and an ensuing search for straws with which to
finish our wine – the glasses kept slipping out of our greasy hands.
Thirty-two years later (argh) I have no qualms about serving
my guests a meal which may not require forks and knives. In fact, as the corn
from Taber Alberta appears at roadside stands right around this time of the
year, one of my favourite menus includes BBQ ribs, potatoes in foil, raw
veggies, and this thoroughly messy, lip smacking, never- can –eat- enough corn-
on- the- cob recipe. I found it years ago in a Gourmet magazine, but I can’t
remember which year or month.
It’s been so long since I read the recipe, I don’t even remember
the name of the dish; I call it “Corn with Feta and Lime” It’s so easy you can
just memorize the ingredients and method. Grab a pile of napkins; roll up your
sleeves – here goes.
Corn with Feta and Lime
Serves 4
4 – 8 cobs
of corn with husks on – I usually count 2 cobs for each guest, but I
still often run out…
2 cups
crumbled Feta cheese (or more)
½ cup Yogurt
or mayo
3- 4 Tbsp. hot
sauce – or to taste
4 limes
quartered
1.
Mix the yogurt or mayo with the hot sauce in a
couple of small serving bowls – place the bowls so that two people can easily
share one bowl.
2.
Put the feta cheese into a couple of small
serving bowls – place the bowls so that two people can easily share one bowl.
3.
Put the limes into a couple of small serving
bowls– place the bowls so that two people can easily share one bowl.
4.
Soak the corn in warm water in the sink for
about 30 minutes. Remove from the water, shake off the excess, and put on a hot
BBQ.
5.
Grill corn for about 20 minutes or until done –
the corn steams in the husks. If the kernels become a bit charred, even better.
6.
Test for doneness. Shuck and serve the corn hot.
7.
Now, to eat:
a.
Spread a bit of the mayo hot sauce mixture on
the corn.
b.
Smoosh some feta onto the corn.
c.
Squeeze lime juice onto the feta.
d.
Eat with gusto.
I find it
easiest to prepare small sections of the corn at a time – the feta sticks
better.
Over the
past decades I’ve lost touch with all of the guests at my first dinner party. Sadly,
Ted died a number of years ago but every time I eat with my hands, and there’s
a mess all over, I recall Ted’s voice at the end of that meal, “This was really
a fine idea, Wendy.” And I smile – sweet, sweet memory.
In the meantime, if you can get your hands on
some Alberta corn, do it. It really does seem tastier having been grown out on
the Canadian prairie.
Warmly,
Wendy
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