Roasted Corn with Lime and Cotija

I totally got scooped on this recipe earlier in the week. I hate it when that happens and, oddly, it seems to happen more often than you would think. I suppose it’s not that surprising really. I mean, I read certain blogs not only because I love the writing, but because I love the FOOD; because I look at those blogs and almost every post makes me think “I wanna make that”; because I think we share the same food soul. So obviously, were reading the same magazines and obviously the same recipes talk to us. That’s ok with me. Those other blogs are so much more than mine will ever be and I’m happy to in some way resemble them. When I saw this recipe posted earlier this week, my initial response was “damn it!” and my second was “oh well.” I was making this no matter what and, zomg, thank god I did.

Apologies for these pictures; they’re only slightly better than terrible. It was a lovely day today, but by the time I got around to taking pictures, the skies had turned black as midnight (it was ~6:30 PM) and all the light was lost. It was a pretty impressive spectacle. As I was watching the storm roll in over the Chrysler building (my view is actually pretty sweet), every fiber of my midwest-bred being wanted to react: bring the dogs inside, close the windows, check the batteries in the flashlight in the basement. Unfortunately, I:

a) No longer have a dog, nor a yard

b) Do not own a flashlight (I should probably fix that)

c) As far as I know, have no available basement attached to my 7-floor building, in which I reside on the top floor

At least I could close the windows. I do love love love a good summer storm though. Nothing, but nothing, smells like they do.

What was I talking about? Oh right. Freakin’ awesome corn.

Good lord is there anything better than summer sweet corn?! Roasted corn, coated in butter, lime zest and salty cheese? With jalapeño for pep? I say no. Not tonight anyways. I ate the entire bowl while watching the apocalypse roll in and it was such a perfect summer melange of flavor and weather and, oh, hello Friday, thank you for finally dropping by.

I followed this recipe exactly, except that I subbed cotija for the manchego. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted manchego, but my queens grocery store didn’t feel like carrying it that day. I figured cotija, a friend to lime and corn alike, would be just lovely. It grates like a charm and gets just a wee bit melty. It was a good sub and makes this dish just a lil more Mexican. The corn is roasted just long enough to cook it and start to caramelize the sugars, then it’s stripped from its cob and pan roasted to really brown those juices. Summer corn is so sweet and packed with sugar that I, no joke, ended up with a caramel-coated pan in the end…one that kinda smelled like…popcorn. From that point on, its just mix mix mix. Melt the butter, sprinkle the lime zest (zingy, perfect, amazing lime zest), mix in the cheese and devour the bowl. The whole bowl. As a main course. Don’t share. Just don’t.

Roasted Corn with Lime and Cotija

Adapted from Bon Appetit. Serves 6, unless you halve the recipe, and you’re me, in which case, it serves 1. 

6 ears of sweet yellow corn, unhusked
2 T olive oil
2 T (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 jalapeño, seeded, finely diced (I used about half of this)
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 c thinly sliced chives
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest (~2-3 limes)
1/2 c finely grated Cotija cheese
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges

• Heat oven to 450°F
• Roast the corn in their husks for ~15 min, turning sporadically, until heated and crisp tender. Let cool, then cut off the cob (I let mine cool for approximately 3 minutes. They were hot but I was hungry)
• Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over high heat
• Add the corn to the pan and cook until heated through and starting to brown in spots
• Dump the corn into a large bowl, stir in the butter until melted and season with salt and pepper to taste
• Add about half of the jalapeño, all of the red pepper, all of the chives,  all of the zest, and half of the cheese. Mix!
• Top the corn with the remainder of the jalapeño and cheese. Squeeze the lime juice over it. Try not to eat the whole bowl.