Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Recipe of the week ~ Tomato & Corn Salad


This will likely be my last post of the week. I know I know, what will all my readers (aka- my mother) do? Thankfully we can still chat by phone.

The family is packing up and heading out to the outer banks in North Carolina for a long weekend with some of our best friends. This will be my first time to the outer banks, that is if we make it through the six hour drive (yes that's right, I said 6 hours!). Eek gad just thinking about how many toys I'll need to keep our precious little one occupied is exhausting. Unfortunately, for DH and I he is not a good car napper.

Road trip aside, I'm mid-way through a 3 book series about ware wolves, vampires, fairies, warlocks and teen romance and can't wait to sit on the beach and finish. More about the series in my next book review.

As the end of August draws near, I'm reminded of all my favorite things about summer... bbqs, frozen limeade, fresh tomatoes, sweet corn, watermelon, strawberries and frozen custard. Interesting, all my favorites are food... well I guess its only fitting for a recipe post.

Today, I thought I'd share one of my summer favorites~ Tomato Corn Salad. As you may recall from my last recipe of the week post, a lot of my "recipes" aren't really recipes at all. They are just a gathering of tasty things that I've thrown together. This is definitely one of those, but it has been a favorite all season long and thought I'd share it with you today as I definitely plan on making it while we are at the beach this weekend.

Each Saturday morning, we trot down about 2 blocks to the Del Ray Farmers Market as they are opening to peruse all the fabulous treats and we inevitably leave with more than we can realistically consume, it all looks so good! So, this salad is something I came up with to try and get the most use out of the fabulous fresh produce sitting on my counter. It changes every week depending on what I've picked up but it mainly consist of tomatoes and corn, two things we buy EVERY week that we can.

Tomato & Corn Salad
Serves 4 *or 2 with tasty leftovers*

3 medium large tomatoes, diced (Heirlooms are great but any quality tomato will do)
2 large ears of sweet corn (cooked on the grill and cut off the cob)
1 large sweet onion, sliced thin (a mandolin cuts them as thin as possible)
3-4 small English cucumbers, diced (or 1 large regular cucumber)
1 or 2 limes, juice only
2-4 oz. crumbled cheese (Gorgonzola, goat, blue, feta are my favorite but use whatever you like) We are lucky to have a fantastic cheese shop down the street, I highly recommend Cheesetique if you are in the area.
salt & pepper to taste
Optional: olive oil and vinegar to taste. You really don't need to use these at all as the juice from the fruits and vegetables will work just fine but sometime it's nice to give it a kick with some kind of vinegar. Champagne, white wine and red wine are my favorites.

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate for 5 -10 mins for the flavors to combine before serving.

I hope you try this version or make your own this weekend, I promise if you've got access to good produce you won't be disappointed!

Until next week.... check out some of the other blogs I've linked to!

Cheers,
Ouiser















1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The roasted vegetables are awesome and a must for everyone to try!