Welcome to summer!!! It’s that glorious time of year when the best produce is at its peak. Tomatoes! Eggplants! Peppers! Corn! I love summer cooking.
Corn is quickly moving towards that happy time of the season when its sugars are getting to optimum levels, and every bite starts to taste like sunshine and summer fun. One gorgeous, perfectly warm late afternoon, I gave this absolutely addictive corn on the cob recipe with I-just-can’t-put-this-down flavors like butter, parmesan, chilies, and nori a try, and I wanted to make sure I wrote it down so I could have it again.
There are about a million ways to enjoy fresh corn when it’s perfectly in season, and it’s something that shows up at nearly every meal in this house. In the right season, corn can be a fairly inexpensive and delicious addition to every meal. It’s great grilled, boiled, cut off the cob, and sautéed. When it’s really perfect, you honestly don’t even need to cook it. It’s fantastic as-is. It works beautifully in salads, pasta, rice, polenta, and even great breakfast dishes with eggs and potatoes.
Every fresh corn on the cob recipe is a good recipe!
What I really wanted to do for this corn-on-the-cob recipe was ramp up a few addictive umami flavors and turn this simple grilled corn into something that nobody could put down. Something absolutely crack-like in its appeal…
I love street corn with cheese and lime, so that was definitely going to happen in this corn-on-the-cob recipe. Beyond that, adding a little dusting of chili powder (Calabrian chili powder was amazing here!), some butter (good olive oil is a perfect substitution), and some nori dust made this simple grilled corn on the cob recipe absolutely unbeatable.
Absolute umami corn on the cob with Parmesan and nori dust
- 4 ears corn (or 1 per person)
- 4 tbs olive oil
- 2 sheet nori (seaweed – the ones you use for sushi rolls)
- 2 tbs butter, melted
- 1 cup freshly grated parmesan
- 1/2 lime – to squeeze
- 1 tsp chili powder (like Calabrian, Aleppo, Espelette, or Smoked Paprika)
- Salt, Pepper
- Preheat the oven to 325
- Place the nori sheets on a sheet tray and bake for 5-8 minutes, until crispy and dry
- Let cool, crumble, and process in a spice grinder or coffee grinder until powder
- Soak the ears of corn in cool water for 20-30 minutes
- Carefully pull back the husks and remove as much silk as possible.
- Pour or spread 1 Tbs olive oil on each ear and replace the husks.
- Get your coals ready or heat your gas grill to medium.
- Place the corn on the grill and cook, rotating occasionally until each side begins to char.
- Remove from heat and let cool until you can just handle them. Remove the husks and any remaining silk. Pour butter over, season with salt and pepper, and top generously with parmesan, a squeeze of lime juice, and a sprinkle of nori and chili powder. Enjoy!
If you’re more comfortable boiling the corn when you’re working with a corn-on-the-cob recipe (or don’t have a grill), that’s a simple process. Just bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the corn (remove the husks and silk first), and let the corn simmer (either push the cobs under the water or cover the pot) until the kernels are bright yellow and as tender as you like them. About 3-4 minutes is perfect in my book. Should you salt the water? I think the flavor is better if the water is salted, but it does seem to toughen the kernels slightly. It’s a personal decision only you can make!
Want to take your corn-on-the-cob recipe to the next level? Instead of simply adding olive oil when grilling it, try adding butter, lime zest, chilies, or any other flavor. I recently made some grilled corn on the cob cooked with Sriracha butter, which pretty much blew my mind. Be creative! Try bacon and chives or any fresh herbs! Trust yourself and go for it.
Just a note: You don’t need them for this recipe, but I like to use nasturtiums when I’m plating food. They grow really well here; they add great color, and I like that peppery flavor. If you want to recreate the pic, you’re looking for nasturtiums! If you aren’t growing them already, you might want to consider it. They thrive in poor soil, are happy both in the ground and in containers, and can handle some neglect.
Want to make your own big, snowy pile of parmesan without too much effort? You just can’t beat a microplane!
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