Summertime Corn Salad

During our weekly vegetable safari at Fraiser’s Farms grocery store Saturday, I came across the first sweet corn of the season.  And it was pretty reasonable at 6 ears for $1, plus it was nice and big and fat.  So I just had to get some.

I’ll put up with the aftereffects of corn the morning after for that sweet, roasted crunchiness the night before.  And this was some tasty stuff.  But then I got the bright idea of making one of my favorite warm weather salads to go with grilled chicken yesterday, and I even remembered to take a few photos (kind of after the fact but I still got some good pictures to share).

Now, this isn’t the cheapest of Cheap Bastid recipes, but it’s a good one.  The reason it’s not real cheap is that you’ve got to buy some mozzarella cheese which runs about $5 a pound but that’s OK because tomorrow night we’re going to make my favorite grilled cheese sandwich for supper—grilled mozzarella and tomato with basil on sourdough bread.

So here’s a simple and fast summertime salad for grilled dinners, picnics or any other occasion:

Recipe: Summertime Corn Salad

Summary: Simple, fresh and really tasty. This corn salad is great at home or on a picnic

Ingredients

  • 1 ear of sweet corn
  • 2 Roma tomatoes–chopped
  • 1/3-1/2 cup chopped red onion
  • ½-3/4 cup mozzarella cheese cut into appx ¼ inch cubes
  • 2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1-2 tbsp chopped basil (fresh is best or dried)
  • Salt & black pepper

Instructions

  • Stand ear of corn up on a platter or in a shallow dish and cut the kernels off with

    Tip: Wrap a rubberband around your fingers and scrape down the corn to remove the silk.

    a sharp knife. (Jab a fork in the top or use a “cob knob” to hang onto the ear of corn).

  • This will give you about a cup and a half or so of corn kernels.
  • Chop onion and tomato and cube mozzarella.
  • Put everything in a bowl, add basil and balsamic then salt and pepper to taste.
  • Put covered into the fridge to cool down for about a half hour.

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time:

Number of servings (yield): 4

My rating 5 stars:  ★★★★★ 1 review(s)

Serve as a side dish.  And double the recipe if you’re having more than 3 or 4 people or want lots of left overs.  This is really easy and is really tasty.  Give it a try.

Cheap Bastid Test:  Corn was $.17 per ear and the tomatoes cost about $.40.  I used maybe $.25 worth of onion and about $1.50 worth of mozzarella.  Total cost:  about $2.50 with the balsamic and basil.  A bit pricey and if I weren’t planning on using the mozzarella up this week I might have taken a pass.  But this is just so tasty, that I had to make it as a treat.

That’s the Cheap Bastid way:  Eat Good. Eat Cheap. Be Grateful!

About Walter Blevins

My wife started to call me Cheap Bastid a while back because I enjoyed coming up with dinners that cost next to nothing--and making them taste good. Yeah, I love to cook. And I love to cook good food cheap. I'm not a chef and I'm definitely not anything close to a gourmet. I'm just a home cook who grew up in a home where cooking was from scratch and was a little bit Midwest and a little bit country. That's because my Mom was from Michigan and my Dad was from Kentucky. I started sharing recipes when my daughter called me in 2006 and asked for my recipe for Swiss Steak. That year for Christmas I put together a cookbook for my 2 kids called "Dad's Everyday Cookbook and Kitchen Survival Guide". And I heard back that they both use it regularly. It was full of basic recipes that I had cooked for them when they were growing up. I work hard at creating recipes that are original and creative and inexpensive. You won't find a foo-foo foodie approach to my recipes and style. I believe that it's OK for food to go up the side of a plate. Food is for eating--it doesn't have to be pretty. And I write about my cooking and my recipes so that I can share them. I hope you enjoy these posts. Leave me a comment--that you liked something or that you didn't, it doesn't matter. I'd love to hear from you.
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