Ever look at a picture or a magazine cover and decide you just have to make something? I do it all the time. I don’t always rush right into it, but the seed gets planted.

Like the cover on the July issue of Cooking Light magazine… The cover photo was BBQ chicken and grilled corn – two things I rather like.

The BBQ sauce was a Cherry Bourbon BBQ Sauce that I made last month. It was pretty darn good. The corn, however, would take some doing.

For one, I just don’t have the patience to cook corn, peel back the husks, remove the silk, tie the husks, dress the corn, and serve. Maybe for a monumental party or something I might consider doing it, but I sure as hell ain’t doing it on a Tuesday, know what I mean?!?

But over-the-top corn on the cob has been gnawing at me, so to speak…

Tonight, I decided it was time. I had some Cotija cheese in the ‘fridge that needed to come out and say ¡Hola! so I started work.

First thing was the corn was going to be boiled, not grilled. Easier.

The second thing was I wanted spicy.

I had jalapeños in the ‘fridge, as well, so they got chopped along with some onion. I put them into a pot with about a half-stick of butter, cumin, Mexican oregano, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. When the butter melted and started to bubble, I took it off the heat and let it cool. Right before serving I stirred in some chopped parsley.

When the corn was cooked, I slathered the butter mixture on and then sprinkled it liberally with shredded cotija.

Awesomeness!

The beef was a top round steak I sliced and marinated in cumin, jalapeños, Mexican oregano, smoked paprika, grapeseed oil, tequila, and salt & pepper. Quickly grilled. The rice was Goya Arroz Amarillo. Hey, Nonna will eat it.

Dinner really did come out good. It reminded me of how much I miss San Francisco and all the great Mexican food there…

One of these days…

In the meantime, I have to make do with what we have.

And I still have a wedge of Cotija…