One of the many (many, many, many...) things that I love about summer is that I can eat a just salad for dinner. Not that I couldn’t do this any time of the year, of course... but when you live in a state where it’s winter practically half the year, you tend to something heavier and warmer. But not in August. Not that I can eat a bowl full of lettuce and feel satisfied - far from it. In fact, I’d say that the lettuce ratio in most of my salads is well below half.
Anyways, today was one of those miraculous days when by fridge was full of all my favorite ingredients. Okay, fine... maybe it wasn’t magic. Maybe it’s just that I bought groceries yesterday and haven’t had time to eat all of the things I bought, but that’s not the point. The point is, instead of digging around my fridge for something (anything!) that sounded appetizing, I found myself yanking out an unreasonable number of ingredients: red pepper, goat cheese, limes, black beans, corn, and cherry tomatoes. Seriously.... yum.
It all sounded delicious, and I was determined to use all of it in my dinner, and since I really didn’t want to eat anything hot, salad seemed like an obvious choice. Anyways, I hope you decide to give this a try!I promise, it’s as delicious as it looks - more so, actually. And I think it all would have come together quite quickly if I hadn’t been so scatter-brained about throwing it together... I was too busy “sampling” all my delicious ingredients along the way... oops!
Recipe - from my own head
1 red bell pepper
1 can black beans
2/3 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup water
zest of one lime
juice of two limes
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
red leafed lettuce
handful of cherry tomatoes
1/2 small onion
2 oz goat cheese
First, to roast the pepper, wash and apply a thin coat of olive oil to the skin, using your hands. Place the pepper on a foil-lined roasting pan, then broil on high for about 5 minutes or until the top of the pepper is charred. Using tongs, rotate the pepper and continue broiling and rotating until all sides are charred. Remove the pepper from the oven and immediately place it in a sealed plastic bag or a bowl with a lid. Let the pepper cool - keeping it sealed during this process will make it easier to peal. In about 20 minutes, peal the charred skin from the bell pepper - this should be fairly easy after it has cooled. Cut the pepper into quarters and remove seeds from the inside. Slice into salad-sized bites.
Meanwhile, rinse the beans, then add them to a saucepan along with the corn and water. Simmer over low until the corn is heated, then rinse in cold water, and drain well to dry. Mix the lime zest, juice, oil, salt, and cumin. Taste and adjust salt accordingly - the dressing should be quite tart to balance out the earthiness of the black beans. Pour over the beans and corn, and allow this to marinade for a few minutes.
Wash and dry the lettuce. Chop into salad-sized pieces and layer in the bottom of a shallow serving bowl. Top with the beans and corn, creating a mound in the center. Use some of the remaining marinade as a dressing for the lettuce, and reserve what you don't use for later. Chop the onions and tomatoes, the use these and the roast pepper and goat cheese to top the salad. Enjoy!
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