Elotes are almost all I want to eat by the end of the summer. The Mexican roasted corn slathered with mayo, spiked by chile powder, tart from lime and showered with cotija cheese has become the fleeting flavor of the season.
With dinnertime sunlight fading fast, sometimes the last thing I want to do is cook. Luckily across the street from my old brick bungalow in Chicago, a city park elotero makes elotes to order, on the cob or as kernels sliced into a cup. I want nothing more than an elote ear, eaten over steamed white rice, scooped into my favorite vintage Pyrex pie plate to better catch fallen, flavorful kernels.
That might be fine for a quiet solo meal, but an awkward translation to more sociable settings.
When I do want to make a dish to share at backyard potlucks, I'll bring my elote fried rice, creating a convergence of immigrant cultures. This is a very forgiving and adaptable recipe. Its base is my easiest fried-rice blank canvas, to which I add charred and roasted kernels of corn, then finish with all the garnishes of elotes, plus a riot of sharp scallions, fresh cilantro and crunchy chicharron. Altogether they are a celebration of summer.
