Grilled Corn-on-the-Cob with Herb Butter

Claire Wright

Featuring:

Sweetcorn

Effort:

Complexity:

Cost:

In season now

Serves: 4

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

salt & pepper, to taste

2-3 tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped

4 corn cobs (fresh or frozen)

Veg Portions / Serving: 1

Recipe created for Veg Power by Claire Wright. Food photography by Claire Wright | addsomeveg.com

Claire Wright from addsomeveg.com shares 3 simple ways to prepare sweetcorn that the whole family will enjoy, starting with the most kid-friendly of all!

Buttered grilled corn-on-the-cob is the easiest way to get most kids to try sweetcorn. Or any veg! It’s just messy enough for them, deliciously sweet, and great fun to eat.

Method:

Preheat your grill while you prepare the butter. Add the softened butter, salt & pepper, and coriander to a bowl and mash with a fork until combined. If your corn cobs aren’t already prepped, remove the husks and pull off any stray threads. Spread the butter all over the corn cobs and lay on a foil lined grill-safe baking tray. Place under the grill for 5-10 mins, turning frequently with tongs, until they are slightly charred and cooked all over. Add a little more herb butter when serving, if you like.

In the summertime, if you have a BBQ, you can make these on the hot BBQ by wrapping the buttered cobs in foil and placing on it for 10-15 mins, until charred and cooked.

Out of season, you can buy frozen prepped corn-on-the-cob in most supermarkets and easy defrost and cook as above, or cook from frozen according to packet instructions and spread with the butter after cooking.

MIX IT UP: Change up the herb butter to make the flavour totally different next time. Fresh basil, parsley or even mint all work really well. You could also use mixed dried herbs (just use less – more like 1-2 tsp). Or change it up further by adding a finely chopped garlic clove or a little finely sliced de-seeded chilli if your family likes a little kick.

Engaging Kids

Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.

Kids in the kitchen

Kids can really own this recipe. Get them to make the herb butter themselves. Carefully teach older kids how to roughly chop the herbs with a knife or kitchen scissors. And any age child can mash the herbs, butter and seasoning with a fork. Get them to spread it over the corn cobs with a butter knife. If using a BBQ, get them to wrap the cobs in foil. If using frozen cobs, you can teach them how to use the microwave to cook them through before spreading with butter.

Activities

While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.

Sensory

Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.

Serving

The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.

Claire Wright

Editor: After leaving Exeter University with a degree in English Literature, Claire worked in various fields ranging from youth work and charities to publishing, before starting up a food-focused website when her first child was born. After being asked to project manage the publication of Veg Power's Crowdfunder book, Claire came on board as a fully-fledged team member in 2018 to take on the role of Communications Manager, then Editor, looking after Veg Power's website, content, recipes and social media platforms.

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