elote: mexican street style grilled corn

Anyone else out there ever waited in line at some sort of fair or farmers market for some elote, also known as Mexican street style grilled corn and wondered what on earth they season it with because it is so effing delicious?! It's usually served on a stick from some sort of food truck and is seriously good. We had the grill fired up for baseball opening day (honey, if you're readying... go Giants!) for a classic ball park style dogs BBQ and with the sun shining and summer grilling on my mind for the first time this season I decided to step up the side dish game and give elote a try. I'm happy to report that after reading into ways to season and testing it out it is super easy and fool proof to make it yourself. Anything that seems a little fancier than the norm, is low effort on my part, and a crowd-pleaser is a total win for me! 

INGREDIENTS:

• Corn Cobs, as many as you plan to make. 
• Butter - 1 tbsp per cob
• Limes (or lime juice) 1-2 limes per 4 cobs
• Chili Powder, about 1 tsp per cob
• Cilantro, finely chopped, about 1 tbsp per cob
• Cotija Cheese, a couple tbsp per cob. 

​​*Please note that the ingredients for this recipe are not exact so don't worry about actually measuring everything out, they are just guidelines to help you make sure you have enough on hand to make your elote!

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat grill up to a medium cooking temperature. Place corn directly on the grill, husks on, and grill for 15-20 minutes, rotating every 5 minutes to cook all sides. 
2. While corn is grilling prep your toppings: grate up your cotija cheese (as much as you think you will need, you can always grate more), chop cilantro if needed, slice limes in half in preparation to squeeze juice onto cobs, get your chili powder, and lastly melt your butter. Do these in any order but make sure you wait to melt butter until corn is about done so it is still liquid when you are ready for it. 
3. Remove corn from grill and remove husks. 
4. Baste each husk in butter, squeeze on a little lime juice, and then sprinkle on chili powder, cotija cheese, and cilantro (exact amounts at your discretion)!
5. ENJOY!