Ingredients:
1 medium-large head cauliflower, broken into florets
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons Mexican crema or sour cream
1 tablespoon TAJÍN seasoning
1/3 cup finely crumbled Cotija cheese
1/4 cup chopped green onion (green parts only)
lime wedges

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with foil. Lightly coat the cauliflower in olive oil and arrange in a single layer on the baking sheet. Roast 30 minutes or until lightly browned and fork-tender. Allow to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, stir together mayonnaise, sour cream, cheese, TAJÍN seasoning, and green onion in a large bowl until well combined. Pour over the cauliflower and stir to evenly distribute. Divide into bowls. Sprinkle more TAJÍN seasoning and Cotija on top as desired. Serve with lime wedges.

My thoughts:

Mexican street corn aka elotes, and its salad cousin, esquites, is corn-on-the-cob (or off the cob for esquites) spread with mayo, Cotija cheese, lime and chile powder. I love it but corn isn’t in season now. I had cauliflower in my cart when I came across a huge bag of crumbled Cotija (at Aldi of all places) and we thought it would be fun to dress up roasted cauliflower elotes style.

When I’ve made it in the past, I’ve used ancho, chipotle or even just chili powder but I had some
TAJÍN seasoning leftover from another recipe and used that instead. Traditionally used on fruit, TAJÍN seasoning is a mix of chile peppers, lime, and salt, exactly the same ingredients you need to make elotes so it seemed like a no-brainer to use that on my elotes inspired cauliflower. If you don’t have it, up the lime juice, add a sprinkle of salt and sub in your favorite chile powder.

I love how it came out, cauliflower can be a bit of a blank canvas so the flavors really stood out and I love the squirt of fresh lime. It was spicy, creamy and tart all at once. An inspired side dish as we move towards warmer weather.