Obsessions begin so easily. First, it was cupcakes. Then, ice cream. And now, this corn. Fortunately for you, I think I can only squeeze one blog post from the corn.

It started at Kaya last September. One of my friends claimed she couldn't go to Kaya without having the corn - a grilled ear slathered with spicy cream, tangy cheese and squirts of lime. She offered to share, but sharing an ear of corn is a little awkward. So I watched, and salivated, and comforted myself with sweet potato fries.

Then, a few weeks ago, I went out to dinner at Kaya with this lovely photographer, and lo and behold, I was the one wholly obsessed with the corn. I'd been thinkng of it since that original luncheon, and it was finally my turn! Alli didn't want any, but I made her try it, despite the awkwardness of sharing a piece goop-covered finger food that smears itself on your face as you eat. Then I got tired of sharing and didn't protest when she told me to have the rest.

Four days later, I convinced Scheidt that we should make some. My method of convincing is constant, repeated, semi-pornographic groans like: "Ooooooooooh, this corn was so good!" And so, now that Michelle over at Thursday Night Smackdown has started her own round-up and the theme is GRILL, I had to share. If I had the capability, I would share a sound file of me eating this corn... but that would be at least a little dirty... and that's more Michelle's domain than mine.

Mexican Street Corn
Bootlegged from Kaya
Also influenced by this lady's beautiful cookbook

8 ears of fresh sweet corn
1 cup sour cream
3-4 chipotles in adobo, chopped
Handful finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup grated hard Mexican cheese, like cotija*
2 limes, quartered

Prep thy grill. You want 'er hot.

Peel back the husks of the corn but don't take them off. Strip the silks from the kernels, then rewrap the ears in the husks. Soak wrapped ears in cold water for 10 minutes.**

Place the corn on the grill and close the lid. Grill for 15-20 minutes, until corn is easily pierced with a knife but is still firm.

Meanwhile, make the chipotle cream by combining sour cream, chopped chipotles and cilantro.***

To serve, husk an ear and slather it liberally with chipotle cream. Sprinkle grated cotija all over it, then squeeze a lime quarter over it. If you do it right, you'll be breathing tangy citrus fire.

*Can you believe that PennMac didn't have cotija cheese? I didn't see any at Reyna's, either, but I didn't look as hard there because I was distracted by tortillas... but at PennMac, I was stricken speechless. The place has more than 100 varieties of cheese! Fortunately, the Dear Heart lady helped me choose a suitable replacement.

**Note to selves: apparently, if you soak the corn just like you would your cedar planks, it won't go up in flames on the grill. Imagine that.

***If you want it even spicier, put in a teaspoon or two of harissa. That'll teach you.

As a side note, I went back to Kaya yesterday to use my nifty Big Burrito birthday coupon, and the corn was off the menu! WTF! (This did not stop me from stuffing myself silly with paella and mojitos. Don't worry.) Apparently you can now get it at Mad Mex, but still... At least they made a fun corn game here.