Elote Pasta Salad

Elote Pasta Salad

Mexican elote is a fairly perfect dish - charred corn, slathered with crema, and dusted in spices, finished with cheese and lime. I have combined the flavours of elote, and esquites, a Mexican street corn dish, and incorporated that into a pasta salad.  For the creamy element, which is usually Mexican crema, I’ve opted for an avocado cream, accented with lime, jalapeno and coriander (cilantro).

Fresh corn is best for this salad, but frozen works too. If you don’t have or like mayonnaise, substitute with yoghurt or a vegan cashew cream.

Serves 4
for gluten free, use GF pasta, vegan

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 450g (1 pound) short pasta such as farfalle, fusilli or penne extra virgin olive oil
• 3 ears of corn, kernels removed (3 cups kernels, about 500g / just over 1 pound)
• sea salt and black pepper
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, plus extra for serving
• 1/2 teaspoon ancho chili flakes or red chili (pepper) flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 handfuls rocket (arugula) leaves
• 1 lime, halved
• handful coriander leaves

Avocado cream

• 1 ripe avocado, seed removed
• 3 tablespoons lime juice (from 1-2 limes)
• 1/4 to 1/2 jalapeño, roughly chopped
• 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup (80g) vegan or dairy mayonnaise
• small handful coriander (cilantro) leaves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions. Drain, refresh under cold water until cool and drain again

2. Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan (skillet) on medium high for 2 minutes. Drizzle with olive oil and add the corn, season with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Add the garlic, smoked paprika, chili flakes, cumin and toss to combine. Cook undisturbed for 2 minutes to allow the corn to char, then toss and leave to cook undisturbed for another 2 minutes until there is nice colour on the corn. Turn off the heat.

3. To make the avocado dressing, add the avocado, lime juice, jalapeño pepper, garlic, mayonnaise, coriander (cilantro) leaves, olive oil to a small blender or food processor. Blitz until smooth. Add salt and about 3 to 4 tablespoons of water and blend again. The cream should be pourable - if it is too thick, add more water, a splash at a time, until it is loose enough to pour.

4. To a large bowl, add the pasta, corn, avocado cream and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat the pasta. Add the rocket (arugula) and toss again. Taste and make sure the seasoning is correct, adding more sea salt and black pepper if needed.

5. To serve, squeeze over some lime juice, sprinkle over a little smoked paprika, and top with coriander (cilantro) leaves.