Grilled Mustard Corn 🌽

I grew up in New England and summer brought us three months of beach weather and alongside the salty sea air came fresh corn.  My mother would always send us on our bikes to Woodman’s Farm to get corn that was picked that morning.  The owner’s wife would make him sit outside in the hot sun selling the daily picked corn until it was all gone.  He didn’t like that much.

It was a never discussed secret on Drakeside Road that Leonard would give you twice as much corn than you asked for so he could quit early.  New England people love a bargain.

He was a quintessential Yankee farmer and had an accent dating back to the pilgrims.   Like most farmers he worked tirelessly and I was able to spend a few months helping him out at with his farm work at the suggestion of my parents.  Well, more than a suggestion after the night we thought it would be smart to sneak a few beverages into the movie theatre that happened to be owned by our neighbors, Kay and John Tinios.  Word travels fast in small town and memories run long.

Years later, John was high up in the New Hampshire Restaurant Association and I was involved in politics.  I would often be traveling around the state with presidential candidates and he would love to tell  the Senator or former Cabinet member I was with the epic story of the night we took over the theatre.

Now, back to the corn, back in the old days,  when we brought the corn home it was steamed, buttered and salted.  Done.

I have been fiddling around with perfecting corn and stumbled onto the tastiest, simplest  way to prepare one of summer’s best treats.  I (well Tate the  housetern) shucked the fresh farm-stand corn and rubbed Dijon mustard on each ear and then sprinkled with kosher salt and Lawry’s seasoned pepper.  We (see above) then grilled the corn so it showed some color and  drizzled it with melted salted butter, seasoned again, then sprinkled some parmesan cheese and served hot.  Total winner.

Ingredients

• 8 ears of fresh corn directly from a farm stand/market if you can, shucked
• Roughly 1 cup of  whole grain Dijon
• Lawry’s  seasoned pepper
• 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup basil, cut into small ribbons
• 2 tablespoons each of fill and chives
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Making It

• Shuck the corn
• Rub each ear with a liberal amount of Dijon mustard
• Sprinkle with kosher salt and Lawyry’s  seasoned pepper
• Grill until 10% of the kernels are blackened
• Season with the salt and Lawry’s seasoned pepper
• Melt the butter and add the parmesan and herbs, pour over corn and toss