OK. I admit it. I love summer and I love having my kids home all day everyday, but it makes me tired and a little bit grumpy. There are times when after swimming lessons, baths, library trips, park expeditions and yelling at everyone to practice piano, that all I want to do for dinner is pancakes. This makes me feel bad because I am passionate about good food and it is summer, the best time of the year to be a chef in my own kitchen.
This salad brought everything back into perspective for me. Thirty minutes with fresh summer corn, tomatoes, mint and a bit of diced onion, the combination just different enough that I couldn’t stop complementing myself at the dinner table. Almost as easy as pancakes from a box, but more spectacular. Plus the recipe used up some of the monster mint plant in my garden, so double win.
You should make this. Tomorrow. Just grill up some chicken with olive oil and salt and pepper, or buy the rotisserie chicken for an even easier, pat-yourself-on-your-own-back type of meal.
This recipe comes from the appendix of my Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion
. The appendix! If the afterthoughts are this delicious, I must cook through the rest of the book.
7 small ears of corn or 5 large ears, husks and silk removed
1 pint of grape tomatoes, or 2 regular tomatoes, whichever is fresher
1/2 red onion
2 tablespoons mint
1 lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
pinch of red pepper flakes
Heat the grill to medium-high. Rub the corn cobs with olive oil, then place the corn on the hot grate and cook for about 8 minutes, rotating every two minutes until some of the kernels are dark brown and the rest are deep yellow. Remove the corn from the grill and let cool.
When the corn is cool enough to handle, take a knife and cut down the cob removing the kernels. Place the kernels in a large bowl.
Cut the grape tomatoes in quarters or dice the regular tomatoes. Dice the red onion and the mint. Add to the salad bowl.
Dress the salad. Juice the lemon and add the juice to the bowl. Pour in about one tablespoon of olive oil and stir. Season with a pinch of salt and pinch of red pepper flakes. Stir until combined.
Serve with grilled chicken, steak or fish for a perfect summer meal.
- 7 small ears of corn or 5 large ears, husks and silk removed
- 1 pint of grape tomatoes, or 2 regular tomatoes, whichever is fresher
- ½ red onion
- 2 tablespoons mint
- 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- pinch of red pepper flakes
- Heat the grill to medium-high. Rub the corn cobs with olive oil, then place the corn on the hot grate and cook for about 8 minutes, rotating every two minutes until some of the kernels are dark brown and the rest are deep yellow. Remove the corn from the grill and let cool.
- When the corn is cool enough to handle, take a knife and cut down the cob removing the kernels. Place the kernels in a large bowl.
- Cut the grape tomatoes in quarters or dice the regular tomatoes. Dice the red onion and the mint. Add to the salad bowl.
- Dress the salad. Juice the lemon and add the juice to the bowl. Pour in about one tablespoon of olive oil and stir. Season with a pinch of salt and pinch of red pepper flakes. Stir until combined.
- Serve with grilled chicken, steak or fish for a perfect summer meal.