Bruce Tretter tells us the fastest way to make this summer vegetable sing.
“Knee high by 4th of July.” That’s how high they say corn stalks planted in spring should be by early July. And that usually holds true. But with the warm weather this year, corn stalks are much higher with early season corn, like the “salt & pepper” corn ready for harvest right now. And it tastes great, especially if you have the good fortune to get the corn fresh from a farm stand and eat it the same day you bought it.
Here’s a quick & easy way to cook 1-4 ears of corn using the microwave oven with absolutely no sacrifice in flavor. Dig it & dig in!
TIP: This is the fastest way to cook 1-4 ears of corn. If you’re cooking more than 4 ears, I’d recommend using the traditional pot cooked method as using the microwave oven at 2 minutes per ear of corn won’t really save you much time.
Preparation Time: 1-2 minutes
Cooking Time: 2 minutes per ear of corn
Needed
1 Ear of Corn per person
Microwave Oven Safe Plate (big enough to hold corn)
Sharp Knife
Cutting Board
Microwave Oven
1. Use a sharp knife to cut off the top of the corn husk and exposed silk fibers.
2. Wet the corn with cool tap water.
3. Put the corn on a microwave oven safe plate, place the plate in the middle of the microwave oven, and cook using HIGH heat or 100% power for 2 minutes per ear of corn (4 minutes for 2 ears of corn, 6 minutes for 3 ears of corn). NOTE: Cooking time may differ slightly depending on the watt power of your microwave oven. I used a 1200-watt microwave oven to cook the corn shown here.
4. After cooking, CAREFULLY remove the plate from the microwave oven …
… let the corn rest on the plate until it is SAFELY COOL to touch …
… then peel off the husk and silk fibers and …
… serve warm.
Read more step-by-step picture book recipes from Bruce Tretter in Lifestyle on The Good Life.
All images courtesy of the author
Hi Drew: I like the concept but am not a fan of microwaving anything wrapped in plastic. Research has shown that high microwave oven heat allows some heated plastic to leach some of their chemicals into foods cooked in the microwave oven. i just did some more research and found that some plastic wraps and bags are suitable for microwave cooking, though I’d still angle toward using a microwave safe glass or ceramic container either with a top or covered with paper towel.
Re: your spice option above, right on!
Hope that helps – Bruce
Shuck & wash the corn, place as many ears as will fit in a zip lock bag, toss in some butter/ magerine.
Nuke on high for 10 mins. Leave it alone in the microwave while you grill meat.
Serve when meat is done.
Optional- pretend you’re trying to impress her, shake red pepper/ Tabasco/ cayenne & rock salt on corn before nuking. Pour the melted butter in a dish to bring to the table