While bittersweet, I love this time of year. End of the summer: the heat of July gives way to cool evenings and the glorious bounty of gardens - bushels of zucchini, tomatoes, finally!, fresh herbs, and sweet corn. I visit my favorite lake before the frosty nights signal the beginning of autumn, and putter around in the kitchen early in the morning, happy to have the sweet corn and zucchini from my daughter's vegetable garden. Suddenly, corn is everywhere, and when I found this recipe on Pinterest, I was intrigued.
As usual, I substituted what I had on hand to what the recipe called for - and for me, that usually means what I can snip in my small herb and vegetable garden, as well as the odds and ends from farmer's market days. The end result was a delightful and perky salad that works just as well as a side to the leftover chicken or steak from the grill, to standing nicely on its own. Today I had it for lunch with cottage cheese, tomorrow, I'm thinking it would be a wonderful filling for a cheddar cheese omelet.
First, the dressing. I substituted local honey for the sugar:
In a bowl, mix:
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons local honey
kosher salt and fresh pepper
Set aside.
For the salad, I used:
3 large ears of corn, shucked and cut from the cobs
3/4 cup sliced fresh scallions
1 large peeled and seeded cucumber, diced
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup sliced greens: I used spinach, sorrel, and celery leaves - I had no arugula but next time will definitely use it. Mushrooms would be delicious as well.
1 + cup sliced herbs - I used basil, mint, parsley
Place the vegetables and herbs in a large bowl, pour over the dressing, toss and serve.
Update: I found just a few tablespoons of dressing were plenty on this salad - it's very tart.
Enjoy the last days of August!
8 comments:
Love this time of year too but want to hang on to what's left for dear life:)
I think you swim in that lake right?
Your salad sounds so good..and I love replacing sugar with honey too.
I'm with you on hanging on to every summery moment, Nana! And I waded but, forgetting my bathing suit, did not swim. So peaceful and delicious....
It looks so clear Katrina..
Nana - it is! Unlike many of the ponds around here, it doesn't turn brown from the tannin in autumn leaves. It's a huge lake, fairly cold, fed by, I think, underground springs. Lots of people windsurf, sail, and canoe there.
Hi Katrina-YUM sweet corn and tomatoes! (and lots of other summer vwgetables that we wait for all year!). This salad looks like a winner, too.
That lake looks so pretty - enjoy it while you can. Summer flew by this year. I must say that every year!! But this one really seems to have zipped,on past in an instance. Yikes!
Thanks, Barb! Now that I think about it, the summer did fly - though that month of hot and humid weather nearly made me catatonic! But you know, even those days were appreciated, when I remembered the week of 15 below last winter. Or was it weeks:)
Corn in a good salad is one of life's little pleasures. As is wading in a beautiful lake like that. Fabulous!
Thanks, Miz Kelly!
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