The East Village’s Root & Bone now has a spot in Miami—fitting, since one of the chefs hails from Florida. This popular side dish, called Corn3 at the restaurant, shines with sweet summer corn flavor. The star ingredient is presented three ways: fresh grilled ears of corn are underscored by a buttery, smooth, Tabasco-spiced cornbread puree (basically, a super-rich cornbread butter), and garnished with popped corn on top for a clean crunch. All in all, it’s a beautiful ode to one of summer’s best vegetables.

Game plan: You’ll need to make a batch of your favorite cornbread at least an hour or so in advance; if you make it for another meal, just be sure to hold back 2 cups to use in the puree here. If you’re looking for a good go-to, try our Basic Skillet Cornbread recipe (with buttermilk), or our Moist Cornbread recipe (with regular milk).

  • Yield: 10 servings
  • Difficulty: Medium
  • Total: 45 min
  • Active: 45 min

Ingredients (13)

For the grilled sweet corn:

  • 10 ears sweet corn, shucked
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons chives

For the cornbread butter:

  • 2 cups leftover cornbread, crumbled
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 pound butter, cut into cubes
  • 1 tablespoon Tabasco

For the popcorn:

  • 1/4 cup popcorn kernels
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil

Instructions

  1. Blanch corn in boiling salted water for 5 minutes.
  2. When cool enough to handle, rub with oil and season with salt and pepper, then set aside until ready to grill.
  3. To make the cornbread butter, place cornbread, cream, milk, and salt into a small saucepan or pot and simmer until cornbread is soft (approximately 10 minutes).
  4. Transfer mixture to a blender; slowly process, being careful of the hot liquid splattering, and gradually increase the speed until the mix is very smooth.
  5. Add the Tabasco and then slowly add the cubes of butter while blender is running, until all butter is emulsified into mixture. Set aside and keep warm.
  6. To make the popcorn, heat canola oil in a medium-size, deep pot with a lid.7Once oil is hot, add the popcorn kernels and cover pot with lid.
  7. Once you hear the popping slowing down, pull the pot off the heat. Season popcorn with salt.
  8. Prepare a grill (charcoal or propane) and grill the prepared corn over medium-high heat, turning ears until all sides are lightly charred.
  9. To plate, cut each corn cob into 4 pieces, drizzle with the cornbread butter, and top with popcorn and chives.