Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

Perfect Pairing: Grilled dinner

Last summer I went to a food and wine festival at Lincoln Park in Chicago.  Chris gave me the tickets for my birthday and I was SO excited.  The morning of the festival I woke up feeling gnarly and not at all like going to a food festival, but I persevered because that is my mecca.  I saw demos from some of my favorite chefs like Rick Bayless and Stephanie Izard and tried lots of good food and wine.  Fortunately, I felt better as the day went on and we had a great time!

One of the best bites of food I had all day was a truffled Mexican street corn.  Holy corn Batman, it was delicious.  I may have gone back for seconds… and thirds.  It was a small piece of sweet corn rolled in some glorious mayonnaise mixture then topped with parmesan and shaved truffles.  I just can’t even describe it. 

Last summer my cousin’s wife made an extraordinarily good Mexican Street Corn dip for our annual Lake House Chef’s Challenge.  It was a serious crowd pleaser.  So, ever since the dip and the festival corn I have been wanting to try a variation on Mexican street corn.

Enter Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad!  Grilled corn and grilled scallions are mixed with pasta in a tangy sauce and then combined with cilantro, parmesan and avocado.  It is really tasty. 

If you have not grilled your scallions you are missing out.  It totally changes the flavor.  They are fantastic on tacos.

This salad is so not the typical summer pasta salad and would be a hit at any party.  There is some prep involved so I think it is paired best with a simple grilled entrée like hamburgers or brats. 

I wonder what else you can do with Mexican street corn.  Goals!

One year ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Simple Fruit Dip

Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Avocado and Strawberry Toast with Feta and Honey

Three years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Salted Peanut Bars

Four years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Fruit Pizza Cookies

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Kale, Butternut Squash, and Bacon Breakfast Burritos with Spicy Chipotle Sauce

Perfect Pairing:  Leftover adobo sauce recipes

These were so good.  It was the kind of breakfast that you wanted to eat again for lunch.  The combination of sweet butternut squash, crispy bacon, earthy kale, and spicy sauce was crazy delish. 

These are super filling, and a definite change from your standard breakfast burrito.  It would be easy to double the recipe and serve to a large group for breakfast or brunch.  I would let everyone build their own…. but I would have to put in my two cents in on exactly how I thought they should be made.

Start with your warm tortilla, a good amount of the chipotle sauce, and a scoop of squash roasted with cumin, coriander, and a dash of cayenne.

Top that with some kale that was sautéed in the bacon pan and simple scrambled eggs. Then finish it off with crumbled crispy bacon and fresh green onions.

I’m telling you, these are darn good breakfast food.

The chipotle sauce is made with adobo sauce from a can of chipotles in adobo.  That stuff is spicy so you don’t need much.  You will have a lot leftover.  Good news is that it freezes well, and it is a great ingredient to have on hand.  Here are some ideas on how to use the leftover sauce.

Spicy Mexican Chicken Lime Soup

Chicken Chilaquiles

Fajita Stuffed Potatoes

One year ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Prosciutto and Pineapple Grilled Pizza

Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Tomato Bisque

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Spicy Mexican Chicken Lime Soup

Perfect Pairing:  Tortilla chips, cilantro, onion, and avocado

I am obsessed with this soup.  Not only is it delicious and full of flavor, but it is also really quite healthy.  My version was actually very spicy because I threw in some extra adobo sauce from the canned chipotles.  That stuff has a kick!!  Since it is so spicy you rarely need an entire can.  I wrote a little bit on how to store the extras in the freezer on this Chilaquiles recipe. 

Anyway, if you want to tone down the spice just use less sauce in the soup. This recipe came together really quickly.  You can save yourself some time by using rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.  Speaking of chicken, be sure to add the chicken at the very end because the acid in the fresh lime juice can mess with the texture of the chicken.

The soup is great on its own but it is next level fantastic when you add some garnishes to the top.  Top off your soup with crunched up tortilla chips (the thick kind are the best here), cilantro, raw onion, and avocado.

One year ago on Perfecting the Pairing - Overnight French Toast
Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing - Healthy Pizza

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Jicama with Chile Lime Salt

Perfect Pairing:  Margarita Glass

We happened to be in Mexico for the Super Bowl this year.  We watched the game in our room because we didn’t feel like fighting crowds at bars for hours.  Also, the view from our room was pretty spectacular and we wanted to enjoy it.  The downside of this plan is that the game is shown with Mexican commercials, and let’s be honest, I usually watch for the commercials.  So that was a bit of a bummer.  Thank goodness for YouTube!

Of course we still wanted to have the requisite Super Bowl appetizers for the game, but with a Mexican flair.  My dad had just been fishing so I made ceviche with his fresh fish as well as pico de gallo and guacamole.  I think my favorite appetizer of the night was Jicama with Chile Lime Salt.  It is healthy, refreshing, and just three ingredients.  My parents had a version of this before I arrived at The Hacienda, a gorgeous restaurant in Cabo.  I loved the idea so much I made my own version.

You just need three things: jicama, limes, and chile lime salt.  Chile lime salt is one my favorite spices.  It is the “secret” ingredient in my favorite Chicken Vegetable Barley Soup.  I think jicama is an underappreciated vegetable.  It is crisp, kind of like a cross between a cucumber and a pear, and just slightly sweet.  A cup of this root vegetable is under 50 calories, has no fat, and 6 grams of fiber!  Don’t let the gnarly outside scare you. 

There is no better serving piece for this recipe than a margarita glass.  I was able to borrow one from the hotel with a little sweet talking to our friend Jorge.  I coated the inside of the glass with a layer of fresh lime juice and then sprinkled a generous serving of the chile lime salt.  The jicama sticks are piled inside and then topped with another squeeze of fresh lime juice.  This will definitely be going into my normal rotation.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day with your sweethearts!  If you are looking for a quick dessert for tonight’s dinner check out this simple Cherry Cheesecake I posted for Valentine’s Day last year.  I am fortunate enough to have dinner made for me this year.  Lucky me!

 

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Tortilla Soup

Perfect Pairing:  Your favorite salsa

Fall = Soup weather.  Am I right or am I right? 

I think it is safe to say that I have probably made this recipe more than anything else on my site.  Every time I make it I am reminded how delicious and easy it is.  You can have dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes with this recipe. 

I have been at the grocery store many times trying to think what to make for dinner and end up grabbing these ingredients because they are easy to remember, easy to find, cheap, and healthy.  Once you get the cans open you are halfway done.  It really is so simple.  I usually get rotisserie chicken from the store so I don’t even have to cook the chicken at home.

The fat free refried beans make this soup thick, so it feels decadent but it is actually full of fiber and nutrients.  It is incredibly filling and satisfying.

The Perfect Pairing for this recipe is your favorite brand of salsa.  I really like spicy food so I tend to go for the “hot” variety, but you may want to start out with mild or medium if you are not a fan.  The salsa adds a lot of flavor to the soup so it makes sense to find one that you really like and use that in the recipe.  I think my favorite is Paul Newman’s chunky hot salsa.  The last time I made this soup I was in a hurry at the store and somehow grabbed chunky peach salsa.  I didn’t realize it until after it was in the soup.  Not going to lie, it was tasty!  There was a bit of a sweet undertone to the spicy soup.     

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Turkey Enchiladas

Perfect Pairing:  Double batch

 

I decided that it is really hard to take a pretty picture of enchiladas.  While they may not be beautiful, they are really tasty.  I like to use lean ground turkey and fat free refried beans in this recipe to keep the fat down.  They are great served with sour cream and cilantro with a salad on the side.

I have never been a big fan of getting my hands or utensils really messy when cooking but I just have to deal with it in this recipe.  It is hard to not have sauce all over your hands and spoon. 

The trick is to coat both sides of the tortilla with enchilada sauce before filling it.  I use the same pan that I used to brown the turkey

The Perfect Pairing for this recipe is a double batch.  Once you have the assembly line going it does not take much time to make another pan.  They can be frozen and thrown in the oven for a great dinner when you are too busy to prepare something.  You could also freeze them in 8x8 dishes for a smaller crowd.

 

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