Name: Vibrant Mexican Salad
Ingredients: 1/2 Red onion (diced into 1 cm pieces); 1 large Red bell pepper (1 cm dice); 1 Courgette (1 cm dice); 1 Small head romaine lettuce (2 cm pieces); 2 Corn cobs; 1/2 teaspoon olive oil; 1 Can Cooked beans (400g, drained (Kidney beans works well, as do black beans)); Cherry tomatoes; Fresh cilantro; Tortilla chips; 1 lime (juiced); 2 tbsp honey (Agave syrup works too); 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; 1/2 tsp cumin; 1 clove garlic (finely minced); salt and pepper to taste (Remember, this is the seasoning for the whole salad, so it should taste a bit salty.)

Vibrant Mexican Salad

I first made this Mexican Salad as part of a Tex-Mex cookout I did for one of my younger brothers a few years back. Whilst I have gotten a lot better at dressings and balancing seasoning than I was then, it still marked an important change with my experimentation and confidence whilst cooking. One of my new-found secrets with cooking is leaving onions in freshly squeezed citrus juice whilst I prepare the other ingredients. This macerates the onions, taking away some of their harsh onion flavour, and leaving them delicious, even though they are raw.

If you're reading this Ben, I'll make this for you again at some point, and I promise it'll taste a lot better this time!

Course Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 4

Ingredients

Salad

1/2 Red onion diced into 1 cm pieces
1 large Red bell pepper 1 cm dice
1 Courgette 1 cm dice
1 Small head romaine lettuce 2 cm pieces
2 Corn cobs
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1 Can Cooked beans 400g, drained (Kidney beans works well, as do black beans)

Optional

Cherry tomatoes
Fresh cilantro
Tortilla chips

Dressing

1 lime juiced
2 tbsp honey Agave syrup works too
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1 clove garlic finely minced
salt and pepper to taste Remember, this is the seasoning for the whole salad, so it should taste a bit salty.

Instructions

Add onion to a small bowl, squeeze half a lime’s juice onto it and toss to combine. Leave to sit and macerate whilst preparing other ingredients.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, and add the corn cobs, rotating every so often until the corn has gained some nice browning.
Dice all the other ingredients and add to a large bowl, ideally a wide, shallow one. (This helps to prevent the dressing pooling at the bottom of the bowl)
Once sufficiently browned, take the corn out of the pan. Use a large knife to carve the corn kernels off of the cob. Add the corn to the bowl.
Add the onions, and the macerating lime juice, into the salad bowl.
Combine all of the ingredients for the dressing and add to the salad.
Give the salad a good toss, and serve with some tortilla chips.

Keyword Raw, Summer

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