Grilled Corn with Cilantro Cashew Pesto topped with queso fresco is a fresh, salty, and unique spin on mexican street-style corn. Perfect for cookouts or a summer snack! 

 
When we visit with my parents at their condo in the mountains, we fall into the “eating out” trap for almost every meal.

While I love eating out, it isn’t really budget-friendly in the Vail Valley to eat out for most meals – plus it’s kind of a pain with kids to eat out and expect good behavior meal after meal.

We almost never use their building’s beautiful patio that sits over one of the Gore River’s tributaries – so on our last trip to Beaver Creek, we decided to fire up the grill and make more meals at home.
 

My mom LOVES Josef Centeno’s (of Bar Ama in Los Angeles) take on cauliflower with pesto, but she’s changed up his pesto a bit to be her own- and we thought it would be a great salty, creamy topping for grilled street-style corn.

Be sure to check out my recipe for the best grilled corn ever too (this is a slightly different method since it goes on butter and salt on the corn as well- for this particular corn we’re just grilling it and slightly charring the husks for an extra smoky flavor.)

This corn is so addictively delicious- no butter and salt needed!

This corn is so good you’ll want to eat it for every meal- it makes a gorgeous side dish that will impress even the pickiest guests at a picnic or grill out!

I’ll be sharing a couple other recipes my mom made with this pesto – so be sure to stay tuned!

Yield: 6

Grilled Corn with Cilantro Cashew Pesto

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Grilled Corn with Cilantro Cashew Pesto topped with queso fresco is a fresh, salty, and unique spin on mexican street-style corn. Perfect for cookouts or a summer snack!

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Ingredients

• 6 ears corn
• ¼ cups unsalted raw cashews
• 1 bunch cilantro leaves
• 1 garlic clove, grated on a Microplane-style grater
• Zest of ½ lime
• ½ teaspoon seeded and finely chopped serrano chile
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ cup crumbled cotija cheese, plus 1/2 cup for topping

Instructions

1. Pull husks of corn down, without pulling them off, to expose silks.
2. Remove silk strings from corn.
3. Pull corn husks back up, and soak in water for 10 minutes.
4. Preheat grill to high.
5. Add corn to grill, cook on high, turning every 5 minutes to grill each side equally and prevent burning.
6. Gather other ingredients for the pesto, and set up a food processor.
7. Add cashews to food processor and pulse until finely ground.
8. Add other ingredients and blend until slightly runny and spreadable.
9. Taste- add sea salt if needed (the pesto has somewhat salty ingredients, so taste to find the perfect amount before adding in additional salt.)
10. When corn is soft to the touch, remove from grill and remove husks.
11. Generously slather pesto on corn, top with crumbled queso fresco.
12. Serve immediately.