Enselada de Elote

For easier eating than on the cob, try this!

Elote means “corn,” but it’s synonymous with how corn is prepared at markets and fairs all over San Diego. If you’ve seen the tables near the corn on the cob at the fair, covered in condiments and wondered what they hell they were for, they were for dressing your corn up, Mexi-style. Now in a salad!

Ingredients

1/2 c. mayo (use vegenaise if that's your thing)

1 lime, juiced

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 c. grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano (omit to make vegan)

1/2 bag of frozen corn (thawed)

1/4 red onion, diced

2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

Salt to taste

Procedure

In a large bowl, add mayo, lime, chili powder, garlic and cheese. Stir to combine.

Add remaining ingredients and gently toss to mix through and coat with mayo mixture.

Transfer to plates or a serving dish and AAAAAAAWWWWWW YEEEEEEEAAAAAH!

ProTips

• Great to make up to 1 day ahead and take to parties.
• Trader Joe’s sells awesome frozen grilled corn, highly recommended for this application.

Mango & Cucumber Spears with Lime, Chile & Sea Salt

Spicy, sweet, crunchy, tangy, AND salty!

Refreshing fruit salads like this are often available at farmer’s markets here and from street vendors in Mexico. They often are served sticking out of red solo party cups and can include watermelon, jicama, pineapple, melon, and papaya too!

Ingredients
1 cucumber, seeds and skin removed
1 large mango, seed and skin removed
1 lime
cayenne pepper to taste
sea salt to taste


Procedure
Slice cucumber and mango into spears and lay out to receive seasoning evenly. Sprinkle with lime juice, then add cayenne, then salt.
Tip: Add salt and spices from high above the food to distribute it better.
Gather up your spears and serve sticking up in a cup like a bouquet of flowers.

Elotes (Mexican-Style Corn on the Cob)

Mexican street vendors sell corn boiled in their husks from carts stocked with toppings that you can dress your corn up with (kind of like a hot dog cart!). They're also available at most of the Farmer's Markets in San Diego, and indeed, I got my ears of corn from the Little Italy Mercato this week to dress up at home.
Generally the husk is just peeled back so you can use it as a handle to eat the corn, but unless I'm serving it in the backyard, I usually just remove it entirely. This recipe includes my favorite toppings and is vegan if you use the fakey mayo (I can't tell the difference in this recipe between the Vegenaise and commercial mayo, so why not?).


Ingredients
2 Ears of corn, still in the husk
Mayonnaise (I used Follow Your Heart Vegenaise)
Lime
Tapatio or Cholula hot sauce
1 tsp rough chopped cilantro


Procedure
Microwave corn on high for 5 minutes (you will need to increase time for more than 2 ears of corn) and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Shuck the corn (Corn will still be very hot, so you may want to let it cool a little more if you are burning yourself)
Rub all over with lime halves, thinly spread on mayo, sprinkle with or roll in cilantro, and drizzle on hot sauce.
This is often served topped with Kraft parmesan that comes in the green cardboard can, but to veganize, you can sprinkle some nutritional yeast on. I just didn’t bother, it was delicious enough already.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Flourless Chocolate Cake with pansies from JR Organics at the Little Italy Mercato (Farmers' Market)

There are a mere 3 ingredients in this "cake":

• 1 lb chocolate chopped into small chunks
• 1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted ROOM TEMPERATURE butter
• 6 large very fresh eggs

This absurdly short ingredient list has 2 implications:

1) Start with the best ingredients to set yourself up for success- if your butter smells fridgey or your chocolate is not something you'd want to eat by itself or your eggs are old, you can do everything correctly and still blow this recipe.

2) How do you turn 3 liquid ingredients into something that's cakelike in appearance? It's all about technique. Screw any of that up and you're doomed. So now the recipe sounds hard- it isn't. It's what I make when I'm pressed for time because it comes together very quickly without too much fussing. Just follow the directions and you can't go wrong.

Preheat oven to 425 and set a kettle of water on to boil.

Prepare a 8" springform pan by locking in the bottom, spraying with nonstick cooking spray, and lining the bottom with a circle of parchment paper (not wax paper, or your cake will taste like crayons, and that's gross). Then cover the bottom with foil to prevent water from seeping in from the water bath you'll bake the cake in. Don't skip that step, you'll be really disappointed if you do. Put the prepared springform in a larger pan that will act as a water bath- make sure there's enough room for you to comfortably pour the boiling water without worrying you'll get any in the cake.

Melt the chocolate in a big bowl in the microwave by zapping for 30 seconds the first time and stirring, and then 15 seconds and stirring, repeating the 15 seconds and stirring procedure until some lumps of chocolate remain but it's mostly melted.

Add the butter and stir to combine until no lumps of butter or chocolate remain. You may need to zap the butter chocolate mixture for 15 seconds one more time. The goal here is to not f*ck up your chocolate- there's two ways of doing that- getting it too hot (which is not really very hot, chocolate scorches at a temp you'd consider warm) or getting a drop or two of liquid in it. So don't rush and zap for longer because it doesn't seem "hot" to you. Trust me.

You can also do that whole procedure in a bowl over a simmering pot of water, but now you're asking for trouble with the drop or two of liquid thing and you have to stand over it and stir...and this is supposed to be easy. I prefer the microwave.

Once your chocolate and butter are velvety smooth, move on to the eggs. Crack them into the bowl of your standing mixer (cake robot) and set it over a pot of barely simmering water. Whisk by hand until the eggs are warm to the touch, which takes about 6 minutes. Don't leave them alone for a second, you have to whisk constantly or your eggs will have little lumps of scrambled egg in them. Ick.

When the eggs are warm, hook the bowl up to the mixer with the whisk attachment and whip on high for about 5 minutes. The eggs will have tripled in volume and will reach the soft peak stage.

Fold 1/3 of the egg into the chocolate until almost uniform in texture. Then fold in 1/2 of the remaining mixture very gently until almost uniform in texture. Fold in the remaining egg very gently just until no streaks remain. Your goal here is to not lose any loft or volume from the air in the eggs but not to have a cake with streaks of egg or gooey chocolate.

Pour batter into the prepared springform pan and smooth with a spatula. Put the water bath pan/springform combo onto the middle oven rack and pour hot/boiling water into the water bath so that it comes up about 1 inch on the side of the springform, being careful not to get any on the cake.

Bake 5 minutes. Cover loosely with foil and bake an additional 11 minutes.

When it comes out of the oven it will look undercooked and wiggly. It's fine. Cool on a rack for 30 minutes then transfer to fridge for at least 3 hours before trying to remove it from the pan. Run a spatula/knife around the edge before releasing the spring or you'll crack the cake.
Serve at room temperature with fresh vanilla whipped cream.