This is the first solution I will publish. There will be many more. This one is a pretty simple one, but I'm kinda proud of it. Beth wanted to make some chicken tortilla soup, and the recipe specified roasted sweet corn. This was not really practical, since it's January, and there is no fresh corn in January. Not here, anyhow. I told her not to worry, I would find a solution.
I don't think she even doubted at all that I would. So I spread the bag of frozen white corn (thawed) out on some heavy-duty foil, and I went over it with a propane torch until I caused a Maillard Reaction on the surface of the kernels. This is exactly what happens to the corn on a cob roasted over an open fire.
So, how did it work? As you can see in the photos, it looks just like it should. And it smells and tastes exactly as it should - like fire-roasted corn. Just that easy.
You can do this any time, with any kind of corn, I'm sure, and use it in any kind of recipe. I would think that it would work nicely with carrots, peppers, etc., too. In fact, I like to make recipes using fire - roasted peppers, and they can be made in a similar way. It's actually easier with peppers, because you can just roast them directly on the burner grate of your stove top until they are all black, then put them into a zip-lock bag for twenty or thirty minutes. They will finish cooking in the bag, and the blackened skin can then be easily removed, leaving the nicest fire-roasted peppers that can be made indoors. Next time I do it, I will post the recipe I like for chicken stir-fry with fire-roasted peppers.
