Sunday, July 3, 2011

Southwest Corn Salad



Serves 8-10

Ingredients:
6 ears of fresh corn
1 European seedless cucumber
1 orange pepper - diced
1 container of grape tomatoes
1 can of black beans
1 avocado
2 limes
2 TBSP of Olive oil
1.5 TBSP of chopped cilantro
1 TBSP of chopped chives
1.5 tsp of cumin


1. Shuck corn and clean all of the threads from the ears. Heat 4 quarts of water in a stock pot. Once the water holds at a steady boil, submerge the corn and cover. Cook the corn for at least 12 minutes.

2. Once the corn is cooked, remove and allow the ears to cool - about 20 minutes. Using your knife, cut the end of the corn so that it creates a flat end of the ear. Put the flat end on a plate and while holding the corn steady, run your knife down the side of the ear removing the kernels. You will get some broken kernels as a result of your knife not making a clean cut, this is the sweet starch from the corn that makes the salad sweet.

3. While the corn is cooking, halve the cucumber. Using a spoon remove the seedless pulp at the center of the cucumber. Next, cut the cucumber into strips and dice. Cut the pepper in half, remove the seeds and stem and chop as well.

4. Remove grape tomatoes from package, wash the tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in half longitudinally. Season tomatoes with salt and set aside. You can use cherry tomatoes if you prefer.

5. Cut the avocado in half. Using a chef's knife, drop the center of the blade on the avocado pit. Holding the avocado half in one hand, twist the knife with the other hand and pull the pit out of the avocado. Next, peel the avocado keeping the two halves intact. Once peeled, slice each half and chop. Since the flesh of the avocado is delicate and will "mush" easily in stirring, set aside in a bowl to be the last ingredient added.

6. Open the black beans and dump them in to a colander. Rinse the beans to remove the liquid.

7. Cut two limes in half and juice limes. You can choose to keep pulp or remove it. I choose to remove the pulp. Add 2 TBSP of olive oil and mix.

Assembly:

In a mixing bowl add your corn, pepper, cucumber, tomatoes and black beans. Add the lime juice, olive oil, chives, cilantro and cumin as well as salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients. Once mixed add the avocado and gently stir the salad from top to bottom being careful to not use a lot of pressure to avoid mashing the avocado.

Allow salad to refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

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