Elote dip
At Three Maples, which opened in January in the Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, chef and co-owner Michael Felix makes this shareable take on Mexican street corn.
“I came up with the idea, but it was a team effort to hone the final product,” he said. “We tried different combinations of cheese and different styles of corn chips.”
They sweat white onions in butter and then add garlic just to release its aroma. Then they remove the onions and garlic to let them cool and then add more butter to the same pot, and then add corn kernels and sauté them until the butter browns slightly. The corn, butter, garlic, and onions are all blended into a purée and then some fresh corn kernels are added for crunch, plus a combination of cream cheese, pepper Jack cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream and salt.
That’s put into a baking dish and baked to order until the cheese starts to bubble, and then it’s finished under the broiler to give it some color.
Finally, it’s topped with cotija cheese, cilantro, and smoked paprika and served with freshly fried corn chips and a lime wedge.
Price: $8