Vegetarian Koreatown Dogs With Corn and Grilled Edamame.

In journalism, editors stress one key point above all else: Don’t bury the lede.  With that in mind, let me cut right to the chase and then work backwards.  Tonight, for the first time, I grilled edamame pods – and they were glorious!

Great Country Farms sent us a great big bag of edamame in this week’s CSA box, and at first I was at a loss as to how to prepare it.  Sure, there’s the traditional method of steaming them, but I wasn’t sure when I would get a chance to do it, and I had no idea what meal I’d pair them up with.  This afternoon, as I concocted the final menu plan for tonight’s cookout – I’d already settled on the Koreatown hot dogs from over at Tablespoon.com but was perusing my fresh veggies for good side items – it hit me: Why don’t I cook the edamame in a foil packet?

And so it came to pass that I washed each pod thoroughly, laid them out on a sheet of aluminum foil, doused them with just the slightest hint of olive oil and gave them a little taste of salt.  Then I wrapped the packet back up and put it in the fridge until Go Time.

While I was there at the sink, I pulled two fresh ears of corn out of the fridge and prepared them in foil packets as well, adding a pat of butter and a dusting of garlic powder to each ear before wrapping them up in foil.  Then I paraded outside to light the grill and get the party started!

First I put on the corn, followed five minutes later by the edamame packet.  After they cooked for about 25-30 minutes, flipping every 10 minutes or so, I added the veggie dogs to the grill as well, followed closely by two buns for toasting purposes.

Mother Nature kept up her running commentary throughout tonight’s cookout, letting loose with a rumble of thunder every few minutes just to let me know she was on her way.  But thankfully, we made it through our barbecuing time before the rain came and the lightning show began!

As the sky darkened, I hustled everything off the grill and brought the plates into the house for serving.  The veggie dogs were great!  Per the recipe, we topped them with a Korean spicy sauce and a tangy kimchi.  Then we unwrapped the ears of corn from their foil – glorious!  The kernels were sweet and juicy and pleasingly soft.  Then, as the piece de resistance, we opened up the pouch of edamame, and I held my breath for the verdict.  The first soybeans emerged from their pod just perfectly – success!  Thankfully, all the others followed suit as LeeLee and I worked through them.

Every component of this meal worked out beautifully, both together and separately!  I’ll definitely grill edamame again; it added a great flair to an already wonderful vegetable.  Hooray, Sunday cookouts!

:)