Simplest sweet corn!

Usually, when making something for dinner, one of the thoughts to inevitably pass through my head is, "Is this something that I can take to work for lunch tomorrow?" The bagged-lunch dilemma ensues. Refrigerated or not, it needs to taste good when I eat it/warm it back up. I'm not by any means a fan of leftovers, with the exception of those that improve after a day or two such as chili or lasagna. Corn, on the other hand, I thought would be just fine for next-day snacking, if I made more than I needed.

I've been on a bit of a vegetable bender, which, I'll be the first to admit, is a) accidental and b) not typical. I don't eat many veggies -- not plain, and not usually by choice. I like them, sure. But I like them fresh and local, and if there aren't any, I'm not interested. And unless I need broccoli for a recipe, I won't buy it. I'm just not a garden-variety grocery store produce shopper, I guess.

Weird.

But this summer, as the farmers markets have been going and I know a couple of people with CSAs that provide more than enough produce to go around, I've found myself with all sorts of vegetables that I wouldn't have ever bought for myself. And crazy as it sounds, corn on the cob is one of those things. I've never bought corn on the cob, ever.


I can still say I've never bought it -- it was given to me. But now I can't say that I never prepared it for myself either, at least from something other than a can. (Eeeeep!)

When my parents used to make corn on the cob for dinner during summers as a kid, eating it off the cob was great, but it was always a special treat when mom would cut the kernels off with a sharp knife so that I could eat it with a fork and not worry about getting it in my teeth. I always enjoyed how it sliced off in little sheets, looking almost honeycomb-ish. This wasn't the usual way of eating it, though, and it takes a little extra patience to slice al the kernels off when it's perfectly fine to eat with skewers stuck in the ends of the cob. But for whatever reason, the scarcity of this mode of eating corn fresh off the cob made it my very favorite way to eat it.

So that's how I made it. :) Bring water in a large pot to boiling, drop in de-husked corn cobs in water for 7 minutes, remove and let cool just slightly, then with a sharp knife shave off the kernels. Toss in a bowl, melt a little bit of butter in there, salt and pepper to taste, nom nom nom nom. Haha.