The fourth of July is coming up this weekend and my favorite part about the fourth is hanging around at the lake and grilling out. My parents host an annual open house party for friends and family to stop by. Usually it turns out into a giant pot luck with everything bringing something. This grilled corn salad is great for a potluck because it can be served warm, cold or at room temperature and can sit out on a warm day because there is no mayo in it.
We just made up this grilled corn salad the other day when Derek was really craving some fresh sweet corn. We were bouncing ideas off of each other and came up with a fresh honey lime vinaigrette to go with grilled sweet corn, some grilled zucchini (because I love to grill zucchini), mini sweet peppers (because we had some in the fridge), scallions (for a light oniony flavor) and for the heck of it threw on some cotija cheese at the end which adds just the right amount of saltiness.
The beauty of this salad is the amounts of everything can vary based on what you have on hand at the time.
Here’s what you need:
Start by whisking up your vinaigrette, it’s just the juice of a lime or a lime and a half (taste and add more if it needs it), a tablespoon of honey, half a jalapeno, diced, 1/4 of olive oil, and 1 T of white balsamic vinegar.
Don’t be afraid to dip your finger in the dressing and give it a taste, you might like it a little more citrusy or sweeter than I do.
Slice the zucchini into planks – about a quarter inch or so thick. A mandolin works well if you have one. Then rub it lightly with olive oil.
Grill the zucchini over medium-high heat until charred as much as you like, about 2 minutes on each side. Dice the zucchini into pieces about the same size as corn kernels.
Grill the corn until moderately charred, about 6-8 minutes total.
Slice the corn off the cob and add to a bowl.
Add the diced zucchini.
Now slice the scallions thinly on an angle. Using the white and the light green parts. And dice the mini peppers (regular bell peppers of any color would work well too if that’s what you have).
Dice up some cilantro and add it to the same bowl. I used about a quarter cup.
Mix all the veggies together along with the vinaigrette.
Add a little cotija cheese.
Now stir it in – this will allow it to spread out among the salad almost like a sprinkle of salt.
Taste the salad and finish with a sprinkle of salt, some more cheese, or lime as needed to suit your tastes.
Serve garnished with more cheese and some cilantro sprinkled on top.
- 1-2 limes, juice of
- 1 T honey
- ½ jalapeno, diced
- 4 T olive oil
- 1 T white balsamic vinegar
- 3 ears sweet corn
- 2 small zucchini, sliced into ¼ in planks
- 4 scallions, sliced thinly on the bias
- 3-4 mini sweet peppers, diced
- ¼ c cilantro, diced
- 2-3 T cotija cheese
- Heat the grill for medium high heat.
- Whisk together the lime juice (start with the juice of 1 lime and add more to taste), honey, jalapeno, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
- Rub the zucchini lightly with olive oil. Grill the corn and zucchini until moderately charred. About 2 minutes per side for the zucchini and 6-8 minutes total for the corn.
- Dice the zucchini about the size of corn kernels. Slice the corn kernels off the cob.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the corn, zucchini, scallions, peppers, and cilantro. Stir in the dressing and the cotija cheese. Taste and add more cotija, lime or salt as needed.
- Garnish with more cotija and cilantro.
- Serve warm, cold or at room temperature.
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