Roasted Corn Salad

In the unending quest to make new side dishes (other than the stand-bys of potatoes, rice, and pasta), I recently decided to try my hand at a corn salad. I’ve seen a couple different recipes made on the Food Network recently and figured that it looked easy enough to make without a recipe – and I wasn’t thrilled with the addition of bleu cheese in Flay’s recipe anyway.

I put together the dish in a pinch…roasted whole naked ears of corn (husked and without anything on them and not wrapped in anything) – and no, I didn’t soak them in water first – that just takes too long- cut up some red onion and cilantro (from my herb garden!), rinsed some canned black beans, and made a quick lime vinaigrette. I cut the corn right off the cob then tossed everything together. It really was that easy and the salad turned out simply delish! Roasting the corn really brings out the natural sweetness in the corn and to do this, it’s necessary to allow the corn to char a bit – even if it means that it sounds like you’re popping corn on the grill. 🙂 We served the salad along-side some smothered steak that Kyle whipped up – seared sirloin tips topped sautéed onions and cheddar cheese then put under the broiler for a couple of minutes to melt the cheese. You can see a pic of this below the recipe – not a great pic but that’s what I get for waiting until there was almost no light left before taking the pic! We’ll definitely make this again, especially as local corn season starts up here in the next few weeks.

Roasted Corn Salad

source: Smells Like Home

• 3 ears fresh corn on the cob, husked
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 7 oz (half of a 14-15oz can) canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• handful fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 lime
• olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Roast the corn until charring begins. Cut corn off the cob with a sharp knife.
2. Combine corn, onion, black beans, cilantro, and pinch or two of salt and pepper in a bowl.
3. To make vinaigrette, juice the lime into a bowl. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Add about 1 tbsp. olive oil to the bowl and whisk until the mixture emulsifies.
4. Add more olive oil if necessary and whisk again. Pour the vinaigrette over the the salad and toss to combine. Sprinkle with extra cilantro for garnish if desired.