Tex-Mex Grilled Corn & Tomato Salad

Hmmm….I was afraid I might have waited a little too late in the season to talk about all of the delicious late summer veggies. I really did think Fall was here. Boy was I wrong, not only has the mercury hit 85° F (29°C) around here but sounds like it is slated to shoot up to 88° F (31 °C) on Saturday. Really?!! Completely out of line Mother Nature! So, I guess it isn’t too late to talk about those summer veggies after all. I talked up tomatoes last time and today I will be talking about corn. I’m always happy to see corn on the cob at summer picnics and BBQs. Grilled up with this spicy marinade, you’ll think of it more as a treat than a vegetable!

We certainly ate a lot of this Grilled Corn & Tomato Salad this summer. (It was another vehicle for my plethora of cherry tomatoes!) Sometimes we served it as a side dish, but a few times we made a big salad, added a few strips of grilled chicken and then spooned this spicy corn and tomato mixture over the top as a zesty dressing.

If you have never grilled corn before, you simply must get started! Grilling it gives it a wonderful smoky flavour which goes along wonderfully with the natural sweetness of the corn.

Simply peel those husks back, remove the corn silk, brush the salad dressing over the kernels and then gently fold the husks back over the corn. Grill for 20-25 minutes. Believe me, you will have a hard time not gobbling all that corn up right off the cob before you can get it anywhere near the salad bowl. Delicious! Absolutely one of summer’s best!

Tex-Mex Grilled Corn & Tomato Salad

recipe from: Mom Foodie

Ingredients:

• 3-4 ears of fresh corn in husk
• 1 cup grape tomatoes (sliced in half)
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 jalapeno, (de-seeded & diced)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• ¾ tsp Kosher salt
• 1 tsp light brown sugar
• ¼ tsp chili powder

Directions:

Combine olive oil, lime juice, garlic, salt, brown sugar and chili powder in small bowl and whisk together. Separate dressing in half. Use half to baste the corn and the other half to dress the salad.
Preheat grill.
Peel back the corn husks, discarding all but a couple inner layers. Remove corn silk, then baste with dressing, and recover corn with remaining husk.
Grill on med-high for 20-25 minutes, turning 3-4 times during cooking time.
Remove the corn from grill and allow to cool a few minutes, then cut off stem end, place the flat cut end on bottom of large bowl, and use a corn zipper to strip the kernels from the cob. Or if you don’t have a zipper, run a small sharp knife down the length of the cob, slicing off kernels.
Add the tomato, cilantro, jalapeno and ½ the dressing. Mix well.
Serve at room temp or chilled.

Enjoy!