Roasted Garden Corn

   What says summer any more than homegrown garden corn?  I could eat it just about anyway: grilled with a little butter and salt, cooked down and creamed-style, corn chowder -- it all screams summer time flavor!  There's nothing like the natural sweetness that come from freshly picked corn.  It almost doesn't seem like a true Southern meal with out it, at least in my family!

   This recipe is a pretty simple one that I've come up with.  It's basically roasted corn seasoned with aromatics like sweet vidalia onion and green pepper, and seasoned with a little kick!  It's a yummy side dish that I like to prepare with farmer's market corn from the cob and I usually serve it with grilled chicken or pork chops, or (if I'm treating myself) delicious fried chicken.

    To prepare, husk your corn on the cob and obviously try to get all the silk off of the corn.
    Next, I take a good long serrated knife (like a bread knife) and I cut the corn from the cob directly into the baking dish that I will roast the corn into.  Otherwise, whenever I cut it off onto my cutting board that corn will just fly everywhere!  Trust me, I've made quite the mess before.

   After cutting all of your corn off the cob, you will want to get the "corn milk" out, too.  This is a very important part in making the corn taste sweet and the very best it can!  The corn milk is what will make your corn taste fresh from the garden, in my opinion!  How you do this is by using the back of your knife to run down the cob and press all of that good sweet milk out. It's easy to do and worth the little effort.
   Once you have all the corn in the pan, I like to add finely diced onion and green bell pepper to the corn.  I use about equal amounts of the onion and bell pepper.  Add as much as this as you like.
   Pour in a little milk.  Enough to about halfway coat everything, and stir it all  together.
   Next, I had my seasonings.  I like to use the simple combination of salt, freshly cracked pepper and paprika for the pretty color and little something extra.  You can add whatever you like, but since I've already added some onion and pepper for flavor I would keep it pretty simple.  Toss all of the seasonings together with the corn mixture.  Dot it all over with small pats of butter.  Once again, use as much as you prefer.  We try to eat pretty healthy so I only use about 1- 1 1/2 tablespoon or so.
   Put in about a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes, or until the corn gets nice and tender.  You will want to stir it a couple of times, and add more milk if you like.  I usually don't make this recipe a creamy corn, it's more of a corn relish. The corn gets soft and yet some are a little crunchy and so good!

This corn recipe is so colorful, and delicious that I hope you try it will one of your summer meals!

Grocery List:
Corn on the Cob
Sweet Onion
Green Bell Pepper
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Paprika