For some FOOTBALL!!!!  It is finally here…glorious college football season!  I have been patiently waiting since that very, very long week in January…the one where darling husband was in Peru (where it was summer) and I was snowed in for 5 days, with 4 kids…and an SEC team won the title for the FIFTH YEAR IN A ROW.  All you faithfuls are chanting “SEC…SEC…SEC…” in your head right now.

If you read Southern Living, you have seen multiple articles ushering in football season…if you don’t read Southern Living, you really should…you don’t have to be southern to read it!  I love the “Only in the South…” article!  Here you have to seriously consider the football schedule if you want a fall wedding…at least if you want your friends to attend :).  We definitely do college football best down here, if you don’t believe me…you NEED to try it out for yourself.

We won’t be attending many games…I just can’t imagine trying to keep up with all of the monkeys at a game…I nearly have a nervous breakdown just thinking about it.  It is hard enough to keep up with all of them as we leave the boys’ flag football games!  Can I just tell you how green with envy I am that darling husband is attending the season opener…my beloved Bulldogs vs. Boise State…I will be watching from home…alone, not like the kiddos care about watching…hopefully they will be in bed…or at least happily occupied in the basement ;).  You will probably hear me cheering them on.

In our house, Game Day starts with Kirk Herbstreit & the boys giving us the rundown on what to expect from the days games…I always love it when Corso picks the other team ;).  One of the bonuses of living on the West side of the U.S. was waking up to Herbie on Saturdays, now we have to wait until 10…sorry, I (heart) Kirk Herbstreit…even though he is a Buckeye.  Then the games start!  Gotta be ready for those noonish kick-offs!  I love to have grazing food…usually appetizer type stuff…the kind of food that you can dip into and out of all day long. 

Today I am going to share a recipe my football loving Momma shared with me…she had this dip at a fabulous restaurant in Sedona, Arizona called Elote Cafe…she loved it so much that she bought the cookbook.  The dip is named after the restaurant…the restaurant is named after corn-on-the-cob…YUM!  Can you guess what the main ingredient is???  Just checking to see if you are paying attention :).  No better way to bid farewell to one of my favorite fresh summer veggies!  (Chef Jeff Smedstad does say you can sub frozen corn if fresh is not available…but you’ve gotta try it with fresh!!!)

What you will need:

• 6 ears of corn (leave the husks on)
• 1 cup of mayo (here in the glorious South we have access to Duke’s…use it if you can)
• 1 tablespoon of Cholula hot sauce (I use the Chipotle flavor, it adds a nice smokiness…& I add extra, so do it ‘to taste’)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (if you don’t normally use kosher salt…you need to)
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ¼ cup chicken stock (I sub broth if I don’t have stock available)
• ¼ cup cotija cheese (this is kinda like mexican parmesean…yum!  I have found it in a regular grocery, but if you don’t find it at yours…go to a Mexican Tienda)
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• ground red chile to taste (I use cayenne)
• tortilla chips (my mom likes the ‘tostadas’ that come in a big stack, broken apart…darling husband prefers blue corn chips…whatever you like & have available will do)

Grill the corn, in husk…I trim mine up so it doesn’t catch fire as easy…and run it under water before putting it on the hot grill…

don’t forget to turn it…

and don’t burn it. 

If I were using frozen corn, I would try to do it in a grill pan (if it didn’t fall through the holes) to get the grilled flavor.  You will need to let the corn sit for a bit to cool enough to handle them. 

When cooled enough…shuck ’em.  For the record, this is our preferred way to cook fresh corn…grilling it makes it super easy to shuck…the silks (for the most part) come right off.

I have this handy-dandy tool for ripping the kernels off the cob, but you can use a knife.

The ‘Players’…in the back is some homemade chicken stock, I had just enough for this :).

When the corn is ready to go, mix the mayo, hot sauce, lime juice, salt, pepper, sugar, & chicken stock in a saute pan over medium heat…whisk it all together. 

Stir in the corn until heated through. 

Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with cheese, cilantro, and ground chile. 

Try to restrain yourself…it will be difficult…my husband and I fight over this dip…it is magnificent!  Can you believe I convinced him to take this picture of me getting first dip?!?

You will probably want to invest in Chef Jeff Smedstad’s cookbook…this is only the tip of the iceberg of deliciousness.  I would highly recommend visiting the Elote Cafe on your next trip to Sedona…one of the most beautiful places in the country.

Today’s secret revealed…my mom & I are VERY serious about football (my first blog was a football blog)…before I moved 2000 miles away from her, we used to meet for lunch every week to discuss rankings & how we agreed or disagreed with the polls…then we made our own rankings…ESPN really should hire us.