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.

Vegan Katsu Dinner

Japanese dinner comes together quickly if your freezer and pantry are well stocked

This dinner was made up of a bunch of little things. I prefer to eat this way, with just a few bites of each dish and lots of variety.

The revelation for me was using spicy boca chick'n patties as my katsu (cutlet). Once I heated the patty up in a skillet, toasting the breading in the process, and sliced it up with katsu sauce (kinda like a bbq sauce, recipe follows), this dish was exactly like regular ol' tonkastu- maybe lighter and less greasy!

I served my katsu with:

• Zaru cha soba - cold green tea buckwheat noodles. Be sure to rinse/wash well with plenty of cold water after cooking. This was simply tossed with sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds. 
• Inarizushi - the two pouches made of fried tofu skin, stuffed with sushi rice. (recipe follows)
• Seasoned Tomato - fresh tomato slices sprinkled with Penzey's buttermilk ranch herb mix- a weird choice, I know
• Seaweed salad with cucumber and red onion (recipe follows)
• Edamame with smoked sea salt - nuke frozen soybeans and a Tbsp. of water in a covered dish in the microwave
• Gari - young sweet pickled ginger, like you'd get with sushi
• Umeboshi - pickled plum with a strong flavor- I like to nibble a little before taking a bite of inarizushi

Katsu Sauce
Mix together:

• 1/2 c. Ketchup
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp. Dry Mustard Powder
• 1 tsp. Sriracha sauce

Sushi Rice Dressing
Mix together:

• 2 Tbsp. Rice vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 2 tsp. agave nectar 

Pour over 2 cups of cooked white short grain rice (I use Botan Calrose) and toss gently to coat each grain of rice with the dressing and cool it down quickly.

Seaweed Salad with Cucumber and Red Onion

• 2 Tbsp. sliced wakame or seaweed of your choice, reconstituted in cold water (5-10 minutes)
• 1/2 inch of cucumber
• red onion
• 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp. agave nectar
• salt to taste 

Shave red onion with the thinnest setting of a mandoline/japanese slicer until you have about 1 Tbsp of onion ribbons. Microwave on high for 30 seconds in a dish full of water. Drain and pat dry. This process takes a lot of the harsh bite out of raw onions.
Shave cucumber on the same setting.
Stir together remaining ingredients to make dressing and toss with seaweed, onion and cucumber.

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.

Actual Garden Salad

I truly love growing food at home. I get to choose to grow weird stuff I couldn't find at the store (many of the best tasting fruits and veggies are delicate so they don't ship well, or quickly go downhill after they're picked), I get to triumphantly watch seeds sprout, and I can run outside and collect ingredients for a meal, working with what's ready to eat- nothing could be fresher or more delicious.

I planted a patch of 25 "Berri Basket" everbearing strawberry plants (one of the few things that I was too impatient to plant from seed and is not an heirloom variety) in one of my 3' x 3' raised beds last spring and they really do produce throughout the year thanks to the gorgeous weather we enjoy in San Diego.

Berri Basket Everbearing Strawberry

The lettuces that I grow are a colorful heirloom mix from Seed Savers Exchange, and I sprinkle down a bit of extra butter lettuce because I love it. Lettuce is easy to grow and I sow it in succession, sprinkling a quadrant of the bed every two weeks, to ensure that I don't have too much lettuce all at once. I find it's best to pick it early here, before it gets mature and tough from any hot days.

Seed Savers Exchange Lettuce Mixture

The strawberries are amazing sliced in half and tossed with a little balsamic vinegar and cracked black pepper and besides being great on a salad, are wonderful on ice cream too. (yes, with the pepper!) My go to vinaigrette involves extra virgin olive oil, a splash of sherry vinegar, a tiny dab of dijon, some salt and a dash of Sunny Paris seasoning from Penzey's.

Actual Garden Salad, the berries were still warm from the sun