Cal Mex Black Bean and Roasted Corn Salad
Triple digit heat here, folks. Triple digits. Summer is here. It is the season of salads! This Cal Mex Black Bean and Roasted Corn salad is the perfect side dish for grilled tacos or barbecue of any kind.
Know what is super easy to get a hold of in the stores right now? Corn. Yellow, white, sweet, whatever your pleasure – corn is cheap, fresh, and plentiful right now.
Do yourself a favor this weekend, please. Go buy however many ears of corn you need for a meal and grab two extra. You are about to make a summer salad that will blow your flip flops off. Cal Mex Black Bean and Roasted Corn salad is fresh, easy, healthy, and sides to just about anything you want to throw on the grill from chicken and beef to fish.
Now, do yourself another favor, please, I’m begging you… don’t shuck that corn. Don’t open it up and smear it with whatever and then wrap it back up, don’t wrap it in foil, and, for the love of all that is summer goodness, DO NOT boil your corn.
Roasted corn is a simple, summer pleasure that is at its best when cooked right in the package nature gave it!
Do we have that straight?
Here’s what you’re going to do, take that gorgeous, fresh corn and put it on your grill. That’s it. Don’t touch it, don’t baste it, don’t salt it, just cook it out there and let it steam in the package Mother Nature gave it, right there, preferably over coals, but propane will do (maybe, toss in some pecan or hickory chips) and cook up those sweet, yellow, cobs of sunshine.
Now, hide those two spare ears, would ya? I’m telling you, sometimes you have to go full-blown kitchen ninja just to make sure you have a couple of ears of roasted corn handy. And, please, don’t go substituting canned corn. I guess you could, but good grief, it won’t taste as good.
I have the most delicious salad/salsa hybrid you’ve ever puckered your lips around. Just trust me, and follow the recipe. Double it, if you want, but give it a shot as-is your first time through this bowl of summer awesomeness.
Now, I say that because Mike gave me a ration of b.s. over my choice in beans. This isn’t a “Cowboy Caviar” and it’s not a bean salad. We don’t need pinto beans, black eyed peas, or chickpeas.
Serve this salad with frickin’ anything. Tacos, grilled chicken, tri-tip, whatever.
There are lots of variations, but, you can’t beat fresh summer produce and lime juice. It’s perky with a lovely sweet, roasted flavor from the corn (corn you GRILLED instead of using something out of a can or boiling it!) and the summery, herb-y zip from the cilantro.
Ingredients
- 1 30oz can of black beans (drained and rinsed in cold water)
- 2 ears of roasted corn (cut off the cob)
- 4 Roma tomatoes or 2 big tomatoes (diced)
- 1/2 a medium RED onion (diced finely)
- 1 jalapeño (diced finely, don't seed it, wimp!)
- 1 bundle of green onions (chopped)
- 1 bundle of cilantro (chopped)
- 4 limes (juiced)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Dice or chop all the ingredients per the ingredient list. Try to remove as much of the cilantro stems as you can, they tend to be tough. Dump it all into a bowl. Pour over lime juice and add salt and pepper to taste. Toss and chill in the fridge until you are ready to eat. I usually make this an hour or two before we plan to eat.