Cool summer corn salad

One of the tricky things for me about summertime is that it stretches me outside what I like to cook. I am really big into heavy warm rich food that warms you from top to bottom. I love that kind of stuff - but a big pot of chili is REALLY not what you want to be sitting down to on a hot summer evening. You want something light and cool, not warm and heavy. I really have to look around a lot for ideas this time of year. Fortunately, one fell into my lap recently. Or more specifically, my email inbox. Yummly.com is a recipe site I have used from time to time to get ideas or recipes, and it really has some good ones. I subscribe to their email service, and I was scrolling through it when one recipe stuck out to me, a recipe for a summer corn salad. This recipe was really simple, and I found a few ways to make it my own. 

Grilled red peppers and corn 

First things first, I grilled the corn of course. Why use canned or frozen corn when I can buy some nice local corn and hit it with some serious heat and get way more flavor? The other thing is that I added red peppers to the mix, and I grilled those up too. I did these around lunchtime, so that they had time to properly cool before being used in a cold salad. Other than that, and the fact that I used raspberry vinegar rather than apple cider vinegar I pretty much followed this recipe from yummly.com. I would say the resulting dish was very light and refreshing as well as tasty.

Completed corn salad

The grilled corn and peppers gave the salad a level of additional flavor that would not have been there had I not cooked them beforehand, and the sweetness of the cherry tomatoes and fruit vinegar accentuated the corn and peppers and onions. This is certainly a great salad for customization. The standard recipe is pretty basic, so I feel like this is a great plate where you can add a multitude of ingredients. Like a spicy salad? Add some diced fresh jalapeños for a nice kick. Want things a little sweeter? Use lemon or lime juice instead of vinegar for the acid. I added peppers, but once could certainly add a mild cheese like Monterey jack or some avocado to add a creamy component. In short this is a easy base recipe to start off from, and add or subtract or substitute to suit the palate of those who are intending to consume this dish.

Did you change this dish, or did you like it as is?  Let me know in the comments below or on Facebook!