RAW CORN AND BLACK BEAN SALAD
I have to give my new roommate, Mia, props for helping me out big time with this one. Her and I are masterminds in the kitchen and we just work so well together to come up with the craziest, most delicious dishes ever. And this one sure didn't disappoint. We just sat out on our back porch one cool summer night, drinking some Boordy wine and chopping up veggies to throw into the mixing bowl et voila! You can choose to cook the corn (steam, boil, grill) if you want, or just skip that step entirely and just throw it in raw!
INGREDIENTS:
(For one large bowl's worth)
3-4 ears of corn,
1 can of black beans, drained and washed
1-2 green peppers, chopped
Few tablespoons of scallions, chopped fine
1 small onion (red or white), chopped
Few handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
LOTS of fresh squeezed lime juice
~2 tablespoons extra virigin olive oil
Few tablespoons of chopped cilantro
Few dashes of cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS:
1. Carefully shave the corn off of the stalk with a serrated knife and place into a large bowl.
2. Add in the chopped peppers, scallions, onions and have fun getting messy mixing it with your hands!
3. Add in the tomatoes, olive oil, cilantro, cumin and salt/pepper, and squeeze in lots of fresh lime juice. Adjust seasonings as necessary and ENJOY!
PANZANELLA (Italian Bread Salad)
I first saw a few of the food network stars (Giada, Tyler Florence, Rachel Ray.. pretty much all of them) make this salad on TV a few years back, and so I had to try it at home. And let me tell you - I've been hooked ever since. I know that having huge chunks of bread in a salad that doesn't even have lettuce in it is kind of a strange concept in the US, but apparently this is an Italian classic, and I think the Italians got it right on this one. The flavors and colors of this salad are the epitome of summer to me and I'm pretty sure I could eat this dish every day for the rest of my life and be a happy camper. What's great about this salad, as with the corn salad above, you can't go wrong with the proportions of ingredients and you can throw in whatever summer veggies you've got. That's the way I like to cook! Seriously- you gotta try it!
INGREDIENTS:
(for a large bowl's worth)
1/2-1 loaf of day old bread (any kind will do.. a GREAT way to use old bread!)
3 large tomatoes (any color.. I have gorgeous yellow ones in this picture)
2 large peppers (again.. any color. The more colors the better!)
1/2 red onion
2 cucumbers
LOTS of basil
1/2 cup feta cheese
2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tblsp red wine vinegar
Salt/pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS:
1. First make the croutons, starting by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Cut up the loaf of bread into chunks (I like having big chunks, but any size is fine) and spread onto a baking pan. Lightly toss with olive oil, salt/pepper and bake for about 20min or until golden brown and crispy.
2. While the croutons are baking, chop up the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and onions into roughly the same size chunks as the bread (This is supposed to be a rustic, chunky salad) and toss into a large bowl.
3. Chop up lots of fresh basil and add to bowl, along with feta cheese and salt/pepper.
4. Once the croutons are done and have cooled slightly, add them to the bowl. Toss into salad and add olive oil and red wine vinegar. The croutons will soak up all the great flavors in this delicious, hearty, healthy, one-bowl meal! ENJOY!
