Elotes Locos

SHUCKS

We are deep in tomato season and I am eating them daily. A couple of weeks ago I made a delicious tomato galette for a garden friend, and planned to include it in this month's newsletter. That is until I realized I posted a verrrry similar tart recipe a few years ago. Then I thought about these incredible slow roasted tomatoes I made, that leave behind an herby and sweet olive oil perfect for dunking bread. But, yep, I have an equally similar recipe already on the site. I guess I know what I like!

It's just that, when I think back on my summer, few recipes came to mind. There has been lots of sliced watermelon, plums, corn on the cobb and charred eggplant. Not a whole lot of things with a nailed down recipe per se; I've been keeping it simple.

But twice, just for fun, I elevated our grilled corn and made elotes locos and both times it added just the decadence needed for an otherwise simple summer feast. Elotes locos, tomato salad, lettuce dressed with a simple tangy dressing and cornbread - summer in a nutshell. There is less of a recipe here, and more of a method and some tips and tricks I learned along the way. 

Elotes Locos

Grilled corn on the cobb
Chili mayo*
Cotija cheese
Cilantro chopped
Paprika or chili powder
Lime wedge
a couple thyme springs or basil leaves
freshly ground pepper

Fire up your grill and cook your corn. I like lots of blackened bits, but it's really a matter of preference here. Take the cotija cheese and blitz it in a food processor until it's in little bits. Cotija is really hard to break up by hand, and to get a nice coating to the corn pulverizing it seems to work best.

Set up your station. I have my corn, bowl of chili mayo (recipe below), plate of cotija, plate of cilantro and paprika or chili powder. Once your corn is done and cooled, lather a piece all over with chili mayo (a rubber spatula or butter knife works well), then roll all over in cotija, roll in cilantro and top with either paprika (mild) or chili powder (spicy). Do this to each ear of corn (if a whole ear is too much, cut it in half first, then do the topping process).

Serve with a wedge of lime to squeeze over the top.

* For chili mayo I mixed mayo with paprika (for color mainly, and some smokiness) and whatever chili powder I had on hand until it had my desired heat level. Just play around and adjust until you get a flavor you like.

Want more tomatoes? Check out the archive here.