Oven-Roasted Corn-on-the-Cob

This "recipe" goes beyond Ridiculously Easy. I may have to create a new category called Outrageously Ridiculously Easy just for this one. At the risk of hearing a great collective "Duh" from my readers, I shall now impart unto you my new favorite way to cook corn-on-the-cob:

Stick it in the oven.

There you go. Feel free to snicker and point fingers. "Hey, look at the doofus who didn't know you could cook corn in the oven. Some food blogger!"

In my defense, I knew you could cook corn right on your barbecue grill, so I suspected that the oven technique would be about the same. But before I went and ruined a bunch of fresh-from-the-farmers'-market corn, I googled and found what I needed to know courtesy of Tyler Florence, who I assume is someone on the Food Network (never seen it). The instructions couldn't be simpler: Preheat oven to 350F, put corn (in husk) directly on the rack, and roast for 30 minutes or until tender. The husk traps the steam so the corn cooks in its own moisture.



Once cooked, the silks come off the corn much more easily than they do with uncooked corn. Tyler (I call him that now that I know who he is) says to peel down the husks after cooking and use them as a handle for eating, and you can—I tried it—but it's a little messy. If you're eating outside, it's fun and kind of rustic to hold your corn by its own natural handle, but errant silks do tend to get all over the place. If you're eating inside, I suggest peeling the husks back and then cutting them off with a big chef's knife. You can then decorate your cob with your favorite cute corn holder.



Now the real beauty of this technique, beyond the fact that you just set your timer and work on the rest of your meal while your corn cooks, is that roasted corn has so much more flavor than boiled or [horrors!] microwaved corn. I should know because my favorite fast-cook way to make corn is in that dreaded appliance (in husk, 2 minutes on high power, let rest for 2 more before eating). Normally I like to sprinkle lime juice and seasoned salt on my corn (as mentioned here), but oven roasting brings out so much sweet flavor that I just eat it au natural. You can't get much healthier or easier than that!

P.S. Just had to add that if you have a large toaster oven, you can cook it in it, too. It heats up the house a lot less than the regular oven and saves energy.

One medium ear of yellow corn provides: