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Hello, elotesI knew someone who would never touch summer corn until August. July corn is too early, she’d sniff, a bit like Lucy Van Pelt’s view on December snowflakes. Personally, I start gobbling fresh corn as soon as I see it and don’t stop until the end of September. Even so, I can never manage to cook through all the delightful corn-filled dishes on my list. So many summer corn recipes, so little time. There’s one recipe I cook all summer long, though, and it’s probably the simplest: elotes. Based on the Mexican street food snack, they’re a snap to make. Just coat boiled or grilled corn on the cob with some combination of lime, chile, mayonnaise and grated cheese. Being an elotes maximalist, I use them all, combining everything into a thick and creamy dressing that, though untraditional, is easy to apply. Elotes make a perfect summer appetizer or side dish, paired with whatever else you’ve got going on the grill. You can use frozen corn in most of the other corn dishes I’ve listed below. But for elotes, there’s just no substitute for fresh, sweet ears of corn. Featured Recipe Elotes (Grilled Corn With Cheese, Lime and Chile)Other corn-y food for thoughtGrilled corn and avocado salad with feta dressing: If your elote-making leaves you with leftover grilled corn, use it in Sue Li’s hearty salad. The combination of juicy corn kernels, velvety avocado and crispy romaine gives this an especially exuberant texture. Spicy corn and coconut soup: This vegan soup from Sarah Jampel gets its sweetness from the corn, coconut milk and sautéed shallots, and its kick from garlic, ginger and serrano peppers. Fresh lime juice right at the end brings everything together. Sheet-pan tofu with corn and chiles: Crispy tofu, sweet corn and spicy chiles cook together on the same pan in this easy weeknight recipe. After I made this a few weeks ago, my 17-year-old asked me to teach him how to cook it. A first in our house! Smashed chicken with corn and cabbage: Pressing chicken thighs onto a hot skillet as they cook is the key to the ultracrispy skin in Ashley Lonsdale’s delightful weeknight recipe. Then, to make the thighs even more irresistible, she serves them with a cabbage and caramelized corn salad tossed with a creamy, pickle-spiked dressing. Sweet corn pudding: Here’s another place where fresh corn is indispensable. This dish from Eric Kim is his take on majarete, a pudding of corn, milk and cinnamon beloved in Latin America. Bonus treat: You get to eat the milk-poached corn on the cob as a snack once it has done the work of flavoring the pudding. That’s all for now. If you’re in need of any kind of technical help, email the folks at cookingcare@nytimes.com. And I’m at hellomelissa@nytimes.com if you want to say hi. I’ll be back on Sunday. For a limited time, you can enjoy free access to the recipes in this newsletter in our app. Download it on your iOS or Android device and create a free account to get started.
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