Grilled Corn Salad with Lime Vinaigrette

I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of our first corn of the season.  So, I was delighted to see three beautiful ears of white corn in today's box.  Corn is best eaten as soon as it's picked.  The sweet sugar begins to turn to blander starch almost immediately after the ear is plucked from the stalk, so always buy the freshest corn you can get and eat it right away.

I've been thinking about corn salads for weeks.  When I came home this afternoon, I turned on the grill, pulled the husks and silk off the corn, rubbed the ears with a little olive oil, and put the corn on the hot grill for about 10 minutes, rotating the ears two or three times during cooking.  Then I took the corn off the grill and let it cool.

In the meantime, I finely chopped a little red onion, pasilla pepper, and fresh chives.  Pasilla peppers can be hot, but the hotness is in the seeds, so use as much or as little of the seeds as you like.  If you prefer something completely mild, you can substitute red or green bell pepper.

I also chopped up some cilantro.  If you don't care for cilantro, you can substitute fresh Italian parsley or basil.

Then I mixed up a simple lime vinaigrette using just 2 T of extra virgin olive oil and 2 T fresh-squeezed lime juice.

When the corn was cool enough to handle, I cut the kernels off the ears into a bowl and mixed in the finely chopped red onion, pasilla pepper, chives, and cilantro.  I poured the vinaigrette over the corn salad and seasoned it with salt and pepper.  And that's it!

Here are the amounts that I used:

3 ears fresh white corn
2 T finely chopped red onion
2 T finely chopped pasilla pepper
2 T finely chopped green chives
2 T chopped cilantro, or to taste
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T fresh-squeezed lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Follow the directions above and use these amounts to make four side servings.

I nibbled a little corn when I took it off the grill and it was bursting with juicy sweetness.  This corn is so delicious, you don't need to do anything to it.  So, if corn salad is more work than you want for a mid-summer weekend, just cook the corn on a grill or in a pot of water and sprinkle it with a little sea salt, or decadently slather it with butter while it's hot, or squeeze some lime juice and sprinkle some finely-ground hot pepper over the warm ears, or try a little grated parmesan cheese on the hot ears.  It's all good.

Today's bounty included:

From Jaime Farms:  Romaine, chives, basil, white corn, and eggplant;

From JR Organics:  Tomatoes and green beans;

From Sage Mountain Farm:  Patty pan squash, rainbow carrots, arugula, purple scallions, and yellow candy onions;

From Silver Lake Farms:  Basil or squash seedlings;

From Sweet Tree Farms:  White nectarines and flavor king pluots; and

From Weiser Family Farms:  Melons.

Enjoy!

Shelley