By Arizona is surging. COVID cases are spiking — the highest per capita in the country, the news says, and the fire department is feeling it. At Station 19, we are running more respiratory calls than any time since March. The hospitals are filling. The ICUs are at capacity. The exhaustion on the faces of the ER nurses when we deliver patients is something I will carry for the rest of my life. These people are fighting a war with their hands and their hearts and they are losing people and they keep showing up.
I am cooking for the ER staff. Once a week, on my day off, I make a massive batch of food — forty portions, individually packaged — and deliver it to Banner Desert Medical Center. The first week: green chile stew. The second week: carnitas tacos. This week: smoked pulled pork sliders with my BBQ sauce. I leave them at the nurse's station with a note: "From Station 19. Thank you." I do not stay. I do not need thanks. I need them to eat. I need them to have one moment in a twelve-hour shift where someone has thought about them, cooked for them, cared about them through food.
The cost is adding up. Jessica and I sat down and recalculated the food budget — between the family meals, the drive-by feeding circuit, and the hospital deliveries, we are spending $400 a month more than normal on groceries. Jessica, the accountant, looked at the numbers and said, "We can afford it." Then she said, "We cannot afford not to." I married the right woman. I have said this before. I will say it forever.
Summer heat is brutal — 115 this week, the kind of heat that makes the pandemic feel like a secondary concern because the primary concern is not dying of heatstroke between the truck and the front door. Sofia and Diego are in full summer confinement. The house is their world. The backyard is their kingdom. The grill is my therapy.
I made ceviche this week — shrimp, lime juice, tomato, onion, cilantro, avocado, serrano from the garden. Served cold on tostadas. The food of summer, of Mexico, of a man who needs something bright and cold in a season of heat and heaviness. Sofia helped me chop the cilantro. Diego ate a lime wedge and made a face that Jessica photographed and that I predict will be his senior yearbook photo in sixteen years.
The ceviche was for me — something cold and sharp and alive when everything around us felt heavy and still. But the next night, with the grill already hot and Sofia and Diego hanging off the back porch railing, I went in a different direction: elote, the Mexican street corn my grandmother made at every summer gathering, because some food is not just food but a reminder that there have been good summers before this one and there will be good summers again. It cost almost nothing, it took twenty minutes, and it made my kids forget, briefly, that the world outside our fence was on fire.
Elote (Mexican Street Corn)
Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 20 min | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 4 ears fresh corn, husks removed
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon chili powder, plus more for garnish
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1/2 cup cotija cheese, crumbled
- 2 limes, halved (1 juiced, 1 cut into wedges for serving)
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
- Kosher salt, to taste
Instructions
- Heat the grill. Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to medium-high heat (about 400°F). Clean and lightly oil the grates.
- Grill the corn. Brush each ear of corn with melted butter and place directly on the grill. Cook, turning every 2–3 minutes, until kernels are charred in spots and tender throughout, about 8–10 minutes total.
- Mix the crema. While the corn grills, stir together the mayonnaise, sour cream, juice of 1 lime, chili powder, smoked paprika, and cayenne (if using) in a small bowl until smooth. Taste and season with salt.
- Coat the corn. Remove corn from the grill and immediately brush each ear generously with the crema mixture, covering all sides.
- Add the toppings. Roll or sprinkle each ear with crumbled cotija cheese until well coated. Dust with an extra pinch of chili powder and scatter cilantro over the top.
- Serve immediately. Plate the corn with lime wedges on the side. Eat outside if you can stand the heat — the char smell is half the experience.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 7g | Fat: 21g | Carbs: 27g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 380mg