huitlacoche

Grilled sweet corn brushed with huitlacoche puree, garnished with grated cotija cheese and hot pepper makes for a striking take on a classic dish. 
Makes at least 8 ears of corn

Huitlacoche Elotes

oz fresh huitlacoche *(see note) (coarsely chopped)

oz yellow onion (diced ¼ inch)

garlic (minced)

jalapeno

epazote,

cumin (or to taste)

unsalted butter oil

Hot water (as needed to make a thick puree, a splash)

sweet corn

oz cotija cheese

Fresh chopped cilantro (to garnish, optional)

Limes wedges (for serving)

chili

Sweat (do not brown) the onion, jalapeno and garlic in the butter on medium-high until translucent a few minutes, then add the huitlacoche, epazote and cumin and cook until wilted, about 10 minutes.

Transfer the mixture to a food processor and puree until as smooth as possible, drizzling in a little water as needed to make a velvety puree (I use a highspeed Vitamix blender here, but I recognize many people don’t have one, if you do, or if you have a similar one like a ninja, do use it for the smoothest, silkiest puree.)

If you add too much water and the mixture is loose, it’s no big deal, transfer it to a pan and bake at 325 for 30 minutes or so, whisking occasionally to dry it out, then reserve. Keep the puree warm. The most important part is that the puree is smooth enough to slather on an ear of corn.

Transfer the puree to a bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. The puree should be very rich, possibly slightly bitter, almost too rich to eat by itself—don’t worry, slathered over piping hot sweet corn it will be good.

Huitlacoche puree

Cut the stems off the corn to leave an inch or so to make them easy to tie after roasting.

Roast (or grill) the corn in it’s green husk at 400 for 15 minutes, or until hot throughout, then remove the husk and tie (this is purely cosmetic, you can just cut it off and put the cobs on a skewer to make them easier to hold if you don’t feel like the presentation).

Elotes

Using a brush, liberally slather each ear of corn on every side with the huitlacoche puree, then generously sprinkle the cheese over the top, garnish with a dusting of chili powder and fresh cilantro, and serve with the lime wedges on the side.

Assembling and serving

Nice but I think I ate too much and feel a little nauseated can the corn smut make you nauseated?

You can serve these on corn or flour tortillas. Corn would be more traditional, but you would want to use good ones. Here&#39;s how to make corn tortillas at home.

Huitlacoche Quesadillas

lard

onion

Anaheim, poblano

garlic, (minced)

minced epazote or cilantro

salt

mozzarella, Oaxaca or other melty cheese, (shredded)

corn tortillas

Heat the lard in a large pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion for a few minutes, then add the huitlacoche and roasted, chopped green chiles. Sauté this for a good 5 to 7 minutes, then add the garlic. Drop the heat to a simmer and let it cook gently.

At this point, heat up all your corn tortillas on a flattop, griddle or comal, keeping them warm in a tortillero or in a cloth.

Mix the epazote or cilantro into the huitlacoche and add salt to taste.

Put some shredded cheese in a tortilla, fold it over and heat it on the comal until the cheese starts to melt. Open them, add some of the huitlacoche mixture, then re-close and flatten them on the comal. When the cheese starts to brown a little, flip and cook the other side. Repeat with the other quesadillas.

If you want, you can set a rack over a baking sheet and put that in the oven. Set the oven to &quot;warm&quot; to keep them all hot while you make the rest.

Are you still working on that mexican cookbook? I sure hope so!

I have repeatedly successfully grown Huitlacoche using fresh AND frozen stocks of Huitlacoche. I whizzed some up in 90 percent water, 10 percent milk and injected the presumably spore rich solution into young rapidly growing backyard corn. Great results but possibly even better if done with various heirloom Oaxacan corn or perhaps Peruvian giant purple corn. Under the right high moisture summer conditions, it will infect your entire corn harvest so be prepared for a lot of Huitlacoche if you have a large corn planting. And it can come back next year if you continue to plant corn in the same soil.

This looks amazing and I'll be on the hunt for in our local markets.    My wife introduced me huitlacoche in Mexico and I've been a fan ever since.      Can't wait to actually make it.

Growing up next to corn fields of the Midwest, I became very allergic (immunologists tested) to the corn smut that grew on some of the ears.  Some need to be careful about eating this fungus.

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Huitlacoche Elotes

Huitlacoche Quesadillas

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