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!

A "Pioneer" Evening

I found myself yesterday with a large cut of meat in my hands and no idea what to do with it. I had purchased a small chuck roast with the intention of figuring out how to cook it at some point, but it was now crunch time, and I still had no recipe. On top of that, it was starting to get into the afternoon, and a chuck roast takes several hours to cook properly, so I was really running out of time. So to the internet I went. I ended up on the page for Ree Drummond, otherwise knows as "The Pioneer Woman" and a page I have pulled recipes from in the past. Today I was led there by a search for a chuck roast recipe. As it is with the meals I have cooked from there in the past, this was a success.

Pot roast in the pot

As I normally do as well, I played with the recipe a little bit. I prepped the roast, onion and carrot pretty much how it was instructed, however I didn't have the fresh herbs that were called for, so I used dried instead. It ended up being fine - the flavors came through pretty well, but the cooking liquid was less clear. I also added a couple of extra items that I like in my own pot roasts - bay leaf and a cinnamon stick. The bay leaf is pretty standard, but the cinnamon adds an extra dimension that I really enjoy. Cinnamon doesn't usually get to be a part of a nice savory dish like this, and I think it adds a certain flavor that goes well with the rest of the ingredients. I also cut my pot roast in half to try to reduce the cooking time - seared both pieces in a coated cast iron dutch oven on all sides, and then into the crockpot with vegetable stock as a cooking liquid. I cooked on high for two hours and then on low for a final hour before removing the meal to a serving plate. This meal was fantastic. The carrots were cooked perfectly, the onions were mellow and sweet, and the roast melted apart in my mouth. All of the flavors complimented each other very well, and I was very glad I had added the cinnamon to the crockpot, as it gave a fuller dimension to the flavors in the dish. 

Plated pot roast with onion and carrots

The other thing that came out of this evening was an EASY recipe for buttermilk biscuits that came out fantastic. Also from the same website, this recipe gave me a quick tip on how to make buttermilk without actually having to run out and buy some every time a recipe calls for it. I definitely suggest trying these biscuits (using self-rising flour) but to save you a bit of reading I will tell you the trick to making buttermilk on demand: add vinegar. I was floored that it was that simple. Add one Tablespoon of plain white vinegar per cup of milk in the recipe and let it sit for about 10 minutes and you have buttermilk. It blew me away. The only thing was - for me - the bottoms came out a little too firm. They weren't burned, but I think I need to drop the temperature in my oven the next time I make them by a little bit - my oven really tends to run hot. I also made the 1/3 batch of the biscuits - and I am glad that I did. I ended up with way more than I even thought I might with even a third of the recipe, and we will have biscuits for a few days. 

"Pioneer" plate for dinner

Overall this meal was a resounding success. Fantastic meat, great veggies, nice fluffy biscuits, and not a whole lot of labor involved. I absolutely suggest you try these recipes and make a nice dinner for yourself.