Mexican-American Esquites

On one particularly memorable spring break, my girlfriends and I took a quick hop-skip-and-jump to a little place called Tijuana Mexico.  Why?  Why not.  We were close, it sounded fun and in those days, I was notorious for deciding to do things like jump in a car and drive to Oklahoma at midnight or finding our way to New Orleans.

More often than not, boredom got the best of us in college and we did a lot of random things.

I digress.  Tijuana was great.  Although we only spent a few short hours there, we did have time for a drink and some food.  I remember eating this snack on from a road-side stand of fresh corn.  Perhaps it was because I was starving and seriously hungover (maybe still drunk?) but that corn was freaking amazing.

Years later, I learned that this traditional treat was called Esquites.  Yum-o.  I've made it over the years in the traditional fashion, but recently had a craving for it and decided to spice it up.  The outcome-WAY more delish than the traditional version.  Traditional esquites calls for mexican queso, but since I rarely have that on hand, I use a mild feta cheese.

I eat this as lunch or a snack--but you can serve this as a side disk as well.  I promise, it'll save you a trip to Tijuana and will leave you feeling just as satisfied.

Ingredients:

2 ears frozen corn ears.
4 cups water
2 tbs sea salt
1 tbs miracle whip
1 tbs butter
1/4 cup mild feta cheese
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp paprika

Directions:

In a large pot, bring water and sea salt to boil.  Toss in corn ears and boil  until cooked--about 10 minutes.

Remove corn from water, pat dry and slice nibblets off with large knife.  Add to bowl, discard ears.

Add butter, miracle whip, feta cheese, garlic salt and paprika. Stir well.  Before serving, sprinkle paprika over top for color.

Enjoy!