My favorite hearty meal

As any good Texas gal, I love me some comfort food.  So here we are with my favorite meal, which is of course easy and delicious. 

What you need:  fresh sweet corn on the cob, ribeye steak, marinade of your choice, seasoning of your choice, dinner rolls, butter

Buy some sweet corn, preferably from a local food stand (the corn is likely right off the plant, and you can definitely taste the freshness).  I am spoiled rotten here in Virginia, because the sweet corn is so good that you can eat it riht off the cob without cooking it at all.  Of course cooking has its advantages, such as adding depth to the overall flavor.

I usually get my farm-fresh fruit and veggies from Chesterfield Berry Farm, right outside of Richmond.

Find yourself a nice, thick ribeye.  Track down whatever marinade you want to use (or if you like to show off, make it yourself).  I like using the JD Barrel Bourbon marinade, since it is a mix of smokey, sweet, and spicy (and seriously, as a general rule in life, you can't go wrong with Jack). 

Put your ribeye in a shallow bowl and dump a generous supply of marinade over it to coat the top.  Let it sit on the counter to marinate.  If you have a terrible counter-height dog like I do, I recommend letting it sit inside of the microwave so that it stays safe, since ribeyes aren't exactly cheap and watching that disappear down a canine hatch would likely vault me into the "bad place" very quickly.

While the meat is marinating, turn on the grill and let it get up to about 400 degrees.

While the grill is heating, prepare the corn.  Pull down the husks 3/4 of the way, and remove the silk.  After removing the silk, pull the husk back over the corn and trim any extra long pieces off.  Place the cobs into a large bowl of water...you may have to soak one end at a time and then flip the corn around to soak the other end.  You want to thoroughly soak the corn for about 30 minutes before you put it on the grill.

When the corn is done soaking, flip the meat in the marinade bowl to make sure that the flavor soaks into both sides evenly.  Throw the corn on the grill.  Basically, what you are doing is steaming the corn within its own husk.  The purpose of soaking it is to keep the kernals plump, to facilitate the steaming, and to prevent the husk in erupting in flame (I have learned this little gem the hard way).

I prefer ribeye, because it is thick, juicy, and the marbling makes the flavor a lot more rich and irresistable.

Leave the corn in one place for about 5 minutes, and then flip it 90 degrees, and cook it for another 5 mins.  After the 2nd 5 mins is done, flip the cobs another 90 degrees.  At this point, you also want to throw on your meat.  Usually beef is cooked at a lower temp, but the high temperature helps make pretty char marks and also gets the food to your plate faster.

Cook the steak on one side for 5 minutes.  Then, flip the corn to the final quarter, and flip the meat, and cook it for about 4 more minutes for a medium rare finish.  Take the corn and steak off of the grill, and let the meat rest while the corn cools down a bit.  For medium rare, you want the meat pink in the center.

For the record, it was really hard to delay eating this last bite for the sake of a picture opp...

As the meat rests, peel the husks back using paper towels (they are hot hot hot!).  Butter a dinner roll, and sprinkle some seasoning on top of the butter (I like to use garlic, but Old Bay is also delish).  Rub the butter side of the roll up and down the corn to melt and distribute the butter and seasoning all over the kernals (and also to give you melted buttery rolls!).  If you want to throw in a side of mac salad, potato salad, etc, that will finish off the meal nicely.  Dig in.