Poll Results: Summer Cookin, Had me a Bla-ast...

The Ultimate Summer Food is:
Anything Made on a Grill, Outdoors: 3 Votes
Corn on the Cob, Slathered with Butter: 3 Votes
Ice Cream. Preferably from a Musically-Challenged Truck: 0 Votes
A Vat of Frozen Margaritas: 4 Votes
Summer Food? I eat the same foods all year round because I'm BORING: 0 Votes
Nothing. It's too Friggin Hot to Eat.: 0 Votes

So apparently you're all a bunch of lushes. No surprize there. Who isn't. I say combine the three top answers and you've got yourself one heck of a summer evening. Or afternoon. Or hell, morning--It's summer!! Along these lines I'd like to share a little salad creation that really screams Summer to me. And is almost as corny as the title of this post. And is most definitely as corny as the pun I just made. AND, the Boo can eat it!!



Simple Spicy Summer Corn Salad

4 Ears of Corn
1 jalapeno
1 tomato (salmonella optional)
2 cloves garlic
1 small red onion
Juice of 1 lime
Olive Oil
Pat of butter (optional)
kosher salt
cayenne pepper
black pepper
parsley or cilantro for garnish

1) Cut the kernels off the 4 ears of corn. Stand the corn on one end, with some sort of receptacle at the other end or the kernels will go flying everywhere across your kitchen, and slice straight down as close to the cob as possible. Do a second scrape down to get out the milky starchy good stuff that's left behind.
2) Add a few glugs of olive oil to a large sautee pan over medium heat.
3) Toss in the minced garlic cloves and let them sautee a bit.
4) Add the corn and stir so its all coated in the oil.
5) Add finely chopped red onion.
6) Mince up as much of the jalapeno as you choose, according to your spice preference and toss that in (see guacamole entry for what NOT TO DO when cutting a pepper).
7) Chop up the tomato discarding as much of the seeds and liquid as you can, and add to corn.
8) Squeeze the juice of one lime into the pan and stir.
9) Add kosher salt, a bit of black pepper and some cayenne pepper to taste. Keep tasting so you can catch the corn just as it's fully cooked and delicious--probably about 10 minutes.
10) Chop up some parsley or cilantro (or chives, now that I think of it), and sprinkle over the top. Serve hot, warm, or cold. Yum.

If you're not the Boo and therefore can eat normal people food (tee hee), you can add a pat or so of butter and stir to melt it in. If you wanna go crazy, you could sprinkle some queso fresco in as well. If you want to take it a step further and make this a whole dinner, you could throw some shrimp in or some shredded chicken and maybe even some quinoa if you're crunchy like that.

ps. That lovely picture you see was taken by the incomparable Iracel Rivero!