Mexican sweet corn

Ingredients

3 ears sweet corn
1 1/2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 1/2 Tbsp sour cream or créme fraiche (optional)
1 tsp chipotle chilli powder (or 2 tsp of sauce)*
1 lime or lemon (optional)
salt to taste
1/4 C cheese (Replace the traditional Panela with a crumbled feta. I’ve used grated pecorino, also good!)>

Summary

Golly, here’s a thing worth sharing.  Not that there’s anything wrong with a simple supper of fresh corn and cracked pepper.  Not at all!  We’re just saying perhaps these spicy, cheesy, tangy ears of grilled corn are calling us all.  Thank you Mexico and thank you summer sweet corn.

Mexican sweet corn
Adapted from this recipe and inspired by the street corn of Oaxaca.

Shuck the ears of corn (do you say ‘shuck’ for corn? Are they like oysters?) and blanch for a minute in a pot of boiling water. Remove, then continue to cook them on a hot bbq plate or a cast iron kitchen griddle or pan so they’re extra smokey and charred.

Combine the mayo (plus sour cream or créme fraiche if using) and chilli with a squeeze of lime/lemon* and a pinch of salt. Check the taste and tweak to your liking. *Note, lime/lemon is not traditionally added, see customer comments below!

Smother the cooked corn cobs with the mixture, add a teeny sprinkle of more spice for good looks, then roll in the cheese. Devour, margaritas optional.

Hints and Tips

*Chipotles are smokey jalepeno chillies, found as whole chillies, ground or tinned. The chipotle powder here can be replaced with a combo of 1 tsp smoked sweet paprika with 1/2 tsp of cayenne powder.

Alternatively, find imported tinned Mexican chipotle in adobo sauce, and add a spoon of the addictive sauce to the mixture until it suits your taste. (remaining chillies and sauce will keep for ages in a jar in the fridge – I use them to cook black beans and spicy salsas).