The plan was for Juliet, a scary and wicked witch last year, to be Juliet Sparrow, the brave pirate, this year, but, blimey!, we had to scuttle that plan. All the pirate hats were way too big.
Halloween Plan B: Here’s Juliet, the Sweet Sea Dog, rocking a saucy sailor hat that, after a lot of looking, turned up at Petco in a bag with a cat costume. Shhhh…Sea Dog Juliet doesn’t need to know that she is wearing a cat hat! Trust me, there is no need to rock that boat.
In the spirit of Halloween and as a paean to corn (candy or not), here is a great Mexican corn recipe. It is pretty and very flavorful. It is easy, too. You could easily whip this up before the ghouls, goblins and sea dogs show up at your door on Monday night.
Corn, by the way, was domesticated in Mexico 7000 years ago. Columbus brought corn to Europe as part of the historical Columbian exchange that, for example, brought sugar to the Americas and potatoes to Europe. Today, corn is the world’s third largest food crop behind wheat and rice.
This recipe is adapted from one of Melissa Clark’s recipes in the NY Times. A link to the original recipe appears at the bottom of this post. There is even a video with Clark’s recipe that shows you the process.
Ingredients: Grilled Corn with Cheese, Lime and Chile
6 ears fresh corn (shucked)
3 T. mayonnaise
2 limes (zest one of the limes)
1/4 t. ancho chile powder (more as needed–I added a generous pinch of chipotle powder, too)
Fine sea salt
Pepper
1/2 C. cotija cheese (crumbled. You may substitute feta or ricotta salata)
Chopped fresh cilantro and lime wedges for garnish.
Directions: Grill corn, turning occasionally, until corn is done and you have some char on the corn.
Meanwhile, combine mayonnaise, lime zest, chile powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
Generously spread mayonnaise mixture on corn. Sprinkle with cotija cheese. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro. Squeeze lime juice onto corn and enjoy.
Here is the link to the original NY Times recipe:
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018269-grilled-corn-with-cheese-lime-and-chile-elotes
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