Torta de Elote Salada Jalisciense

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Comal or heavy skillet for roasting chile poblano
• •Blender
• •9-inch clay cazuela or sturdy baking dish
• •Sharp knife for cutting fresh kernels from the cob

Instructions

1. 1

   Roast the poblanos

   Set the chile poblano directly over a gas flame or on a hot comal. Turn until the skins blister and blacken in patches. Put them in a covered bowl for 10 minutes, then peel, seed, and cut into thin rajas. Do not rinse them under water. You will wash away the roasted flavor, and then why did you bother?

2. 2

   Cook the rajas

   Heat 1 tablespoon manteca de cerdo in a skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced white onion and cook until soft and sweet at the edges, about 6 minutes. Add the poblano rajas and a pinch of the measured salt. Cook 3 minutes more. The onion should bend, not brown hard. This filling should taste roasted and mellow.

3. 3

   Prepare the dish

   Heat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch clay cazuela or a 9-inch baking dish with 2 tablespoons manteca de cerdo. Get into the corners. Corn batter sticks when you pretend fat is optional. La manteca es el sabor, and here it also gives you the browned edges.

4. 4

   Grind the elote

   Put 4 cups of the corn kernels in a blender with the eggs, crema, melted butter, salt, pepper, and baking powder. Blend until thick and mostly smooth, but not dead smooth. You want the batter to remember it came from corn. Scrape it into a bowl and stir in the remaining 1 cup whole kernels.

5. 5

   Fold the filling

   Fold in the cooked rajas, queso adobera, half of the Cotija or queso anejo, epazote, and cilantro. Use a spatula, not the blender. The cheese should stay in small pockets and the rajas should run through the batter in strips. If you beat it flat, you lose the texture.

6. 6

   Bake until set

   Pour the batter into the greased cazuela and smooth the top. Sprinkle with the remaining Cotija or queso anejo. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until the top is golden, the edges pull slightly from the dish, and a knife inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs instead of wet batter. Let it rest 15 minutes before cutting. Corn needs that rest or the slice collapses.

7. 7

   Serve for almuerzo

   Cut into generous squares and serve warm or room temperature with salsa de chile de arbol and warm corn tortillas. Coffee belongs next to it in the morning. For a heavier almuerzo, put a fried egg beside the slice and stop pretending breakfast has to be small.

Chef Tips

• •Use fresh white elote if you can. Yellow sweet corn from the supermarket will work, but it makes a sweeter, softer torta. That is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Queso adobera is the Jalisco cheese I want here. If you cannot find it, use a mild queso fresco that holds its shape, then finish with Cotija or queso anejo for salt. Do not use cheddar. This is not that food.
• •The batter should be thick enough to mound slightly when poured. If your corn is very juicy, add 1 tablespoon masa harina. Only one. You are correcting moisture, not turning this into cornbread.
• •Salsa de chile de arbol belongs on the table. Toast 8 chile de arbol and 1 chile guajillo, blend with 2 roasted tomatillos, 1 small roasted garlic clove, salt, and a splash of water. Sharp, red, direct.

Advance Preparation

• •Roast and peel the poblano chiles up to 2 days ahead. Keep them covered in the refrigerator and cut them into rajas when you are ready to cook.
• •The torta can be baked 1 day ahead. Reheat slices on a comal or in a 325F oven until the edges feel firm and the cheese softens.
• •Do not blend the corn batter the night before. Fresh elote oxidizes and throws water as it sits. Grind it the day you bake.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 230g)