Zen on the Cob in the Dutch Oven

I like fancy.  I like complex.  I like a challenge.  I like to see if I can pull off intricate dishes and stretch myself.  I like to take simple dishes and enhance them, to "kick them up a notch". 

Ba-bam, and all that.

This weekend, however, I got to cook something incredibly simple.  And it tasted wonderful.

We were having a big barbecue party for a lot of Jacob's teachers and support staff at the school, and I spent a lot of time at the grill, naturally.  But on the side, I made some steamed corn on the cob.  It was so simple, that I'm not even going to spell it out in a recipe.

I started by lighting a lot of coals and pouring about half of them (I'm guessing about 20 or more) onto my cooking surface.  I put a veggie steamer (one of those metal fan-out things) in the bottom of my 12" deep dutch oven.  I poured in water until it was just up to the level of the steamer, and laid in the corn cobs (schucked and snapped in half) onto it.  Then I put the dutch oven on the coals. 

Pretty soon, it was venting steam a little, so I knew it was boiling.  I just kept fresh coals on for about 30-45 minutes, until the corn looked yellow and cooked, you know, like corn on the cob is supposed to.  Then we served it up with butter, salt, and pepper.  Yum!  Only two pieces were left over when it was all done.

Sometimes, simple and pure is perfect, right?





Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.