Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Corn Wholed

Tonight, I grilled some chicken breast and made a variation of corn husk skewers, based on the recipe from Chris Lilly's new book, Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book. In my opinion, this is a great BBQ/grilling book and I highly recommend it. This isn't the exact recipe, but is close enough. I subbed potatoes for zucchini, lime for lemon juice, and changed some quantities.

Corn Husk Skewers

Ingredients
4 ears of corn (in full husk)
4-5 red bliss potatoes, sliced into 1/2" slices
8 T butter, softened
3 T dijon mustard
1 T lime juice
1 T fresh lemon thyme
1 T green onion, finely diced
1/2 t garlic salt

Instructions
Pull the husks back on each ear of corn and remove the silk.
Cut the corn cob into 1-1.5" pieces, leaving one piece intact at the base. Soak the husks in a bowl of water.

Mix the butter, mustard, lime juice, thyme, onion and garlic salt together in a bowl. Add the corn and potato pieces, tossing thoroughly to coat all pieces. Don't even bother trying to keep your hands clean, just get in there and mix it up!

Stick a metal skewer through one of the cob bases. Then alternate pieces of corn and potato, ending with a corn cob tip.

Pull the husks back up around the "re-assembled" cob and wrap each cob in foil. Cook over a hot coal fire (mine was 375f) for 20 minutes, turning a 1/4 turn every 5 minutes. Then remove the foil and cook another 10 minutes, turning a 1/4 turn every 2 1/2 minutes. Don't worry, you'll see some charring at this point and the husks can burn all they want.

Pull off and make sure you let them cool before serving smoking hot metal skewers to your guests.
My grades:
Creativity - A
Fun and different idea.

Flavor - A
The butter mixture is perfect, it didn't need any other seasoning. Everyone loved them.

Difficulty - MF or at least a PITA
Honestly? I will NOT make these again. As cute as they are, they are a complete pain in the ass (PITA) and not very safe sticking the skewers through the hard corn cobs.

Next time
I'd just roll the husks back, slather them with the butter mixture, and then grill as noted. The fun presentation wasn't worth the effort and risks. But the cooking times, the process, and butter mixture work great!