Elote Corn Salad: Anticipating something

For HKL - for starting the obsession.

Sunday I found myself locked in the bathroom in order to talk to Friend RJC, who was locked inside her closet.  The two of us were essentially buying 10 minutes of privacy so that we could carry on a simple phone conversation.  In the midst of the conversation, she said, "Oh.  I think they are trying to karate chop the door down."  At some point, on my side, all 3 Children planted their mouths on the door and screamed "MOMMY" and I had to yell back, "I'm going to the bathroom. Give me a minute!"  (I wasn't, but was trying to buy some time.)  And as Friend and I laughed about the ridiculous measures we were going through to talk to one another, I found myself looking so forward to the next day.

Monday was the day that both Daughters went to camp for SIX HOURS.  That is the longest amount of time Daughter #2 has ever been separated from me for a school type event.  Six hours without both girls seemed like a dream - to have that amount of freedom from two people looking for me all day long.  I was excited and I was looking so forward to it.

Monday arrived and the girls went very happily to camp as I think they were just as excited to get away from me as I was them.  I managed to squeeze in a workout and then spent the rest of that time with Son.  We did some gardening and some work around the house, changing light bulbs, fixing drawers and just general minor home improvement things when I decided to celebrate this new found peace with some elote, a Mexican street corn.   I had had some over the last week with friend HKL who was seemingly obsessed with it and thought that I had just the right amount of peace and quiet to make it, only using frozen kernel corn and making it into a corn salad.  I had all the time in the world, and with only one child to deal with, preparation and execution was so smooth.  The salad itself is so easy even if all three Children were in my face, I know I would have been okay.

There are some seriously yummy flavor combinations going on here -the balance of fat, salt, acid, sweetness and heat all in a single bite means that you're going to be addicted.

Warm Elote Salad (Corn Salad)
5 to 6 servings

Ingredients
1 lb pack frozen corn kernels
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons cotija cheese crumbled or grated (subsitute parmesan if you can’t get cotija)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped scallions
½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Juice of half a lime

Method
Heat a heavy fry pan over medium high heat. Add olive oil and frozen corn all at once. Cook, stirring occasionally until corn is hot and a a few pieces even look charred.

While corn is cooking, mix together mayonnaise, sour cream, cilantro, scallions. Set aside.

After corn is cooked, add sour cream mayonnaise mixture. Stir to combine. Add cayenne pepper according to the amount of heat you want. Sprinkle with cotija cheese and squeeze lime juice over the entire mixture. Mix again. Serve warm.

Printable recipe 

something to look forward to