Vacation blueberry corn salad

Since I was at the shore and on vacation with family I didn't have much of a chance to cook last week. While at the house all of the families take turns cooking for the days we are there, so apart from some help procuring knives I didn't have much to do in the afternoons and evenings. On the night that my family cooked, I did make one thing that I did I will share with you, and that is this blueberry corn salad that I made. It was easy to make and everyone really enjoyed it.

I will start with the basic recipe, because I expanded it by about 4 times so that I had enough to feed all of the mouths in our house:

• 6 ears of corn
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup red onion (minced)
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 6-8 leaves basil
• 1 tbsp honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Since I had a grill available I did grill the corn, though you could easily boil the corn if that is how you like it. This gives me the opportunity to share a great trick for getting the corn off the cob once you have it cooked and cooled enough to handle. Get a large bowl and invert a small bowl inside of it. Stand the ear of corn up on the bottom of the small bowl and slice down with a good knife. The corn will fall off into the large bowl and not go all over the place as it would if you just did it on a cutting board, and the inverted bowl keeps your hands and knife out of the large mass of corn that is already cut. It may not be super handy for one or two, but when you are cutting down 24 ears of corn like I was it is a necessary trick. 

Once you have the corn cut all that is left is some basic salad assembly. Put the cut corn, onion, and blueberries in a large bowl. Cut the basil into a chiffonade and add to the bowl. Next mix the honey, lime juice, and olive oil in a small bowl and whisk until combined, and pour over the salad to dress, and then salt and pepper to taste. 

If you're not sure about a chiffonade, it sounds fancy but is super easy. Take the basil (or mint or other large leaved herb) and make a small stack - no more than 6-8 leaves. Then take these leaves and roll them longwise into a tight roll, then run your knife through the roll. What you end up with is crosswise cuts of herb that make a great visual component to a salad, and a nice garnish too if you want to use the herb as a garnish. 

Cutting a basil chiffonade

Once you have all of that done all there is left to do is enjoy it! We served this as a salad to accompany our "seafood feast" of fresh fish and other seafood that is cooked by my family. My Dad does a wonderful job directing all of the cooking and everyone always looks forward to our meal each year. There really is nothing like fresh-caught seafood at the beach. What will you serve this salad with? Let me know in the comments below or on Facebook!