Summer is the perfect time for salads and one of my favorites is Corn Salad. I made cooler corn for dinner last night as my parents and my sister joined us for a meal. Much to my surprise we had three ears of corn left over. So I made salad for tonight’s dinner!

The best part about Corn Salad is that you can make it whatever you want, add any vegetables you like or have on hand. Add a simple vinaigrette and you have a winner! Today’s version is three ears of corn, half a red onion, orange cherry tomatoes and chives.

 I recently came across this article about Cooler Corn and thought it would be fun to try. I had to bring corn to a party today and had 18 ears to cook. I was thrilled to get native corn at the Farmer’s market so I wanted to make sure it would be great (ie not overcooked!). So I scrubbed the cooler out and shucked the corn, put it in the cooler and covered it with boiling water. About 45 minutes later (it should be ready in as little as 30 minutes) it was perfect and stayed hot in the cooler. I love it! I will be doing it this way for many years to come. :)

This is so easy you can have it on the table in less than 20 minutes.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Corn Quesadillas

(makes 3-4)

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 tbs olive oil

1 small zucchini, shredded

1/2 cup corn kernels (frozen, defrosted is fine)

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp ground cumin

6-8 oz shredded monterey jack cheese

whole wheat flour tortillas

soft butter

Heat olive oil in a small fry pan, add garlic and then the zucchini. Saute over high heat stirring all the time. When zucchini is limp add the corn, cumin and season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Butter one side of a tortilla. Fill half with part of the zucchini mixture and top with cheese. Fold in half and fry on a hot skillet until both sides are golden brown. repeat until filling is used up.

Serve with guacamole and fresh salsa! See below for how to make these in a snap!

Guacamole (2 avocados, lime or lemon juice, garlic powder and salt to taste)

Fresh Salsa or Pico de Gallo (1/2 cup diced tomatoes, 2 Tbs minced onion,  1/2 tsp salt, cilantro, lime juice, tabasco)

This is the perfect time of year for this dish. All of the veggies are fresh and available at the farmers market. You can serve it as a side dish or, like I did, add it as a filling for quesadillas.

Succotash

1-2 Tbs olive oil

1 small onion, sliced into slivers

1 clove garlic, pressed or diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 zucchini or summer squash, diced

1 ear of corn, parboiled then kernels removed

fresh herbs (I used cilantro but anything is good!)

Heat oil in frying pan, add onions and garlic and saute for a few minutes then add red pepper. Stir and cook for a few minutes then add squash. After about 3 minutes add corn and herbs and season with salt and pepper.

After seeing this in the fry pan, my oldest son told me he wanted to have some in his quesadilla. He loved it! Yeah! My other kids had plain quesadillas and tried the succotash on the side.

Corn is plentiful at the farmer’s market these days and I must admit there is a limit to how many times a week I can eat corn on the cob. Because it was raining I decided on Corn Fritters as a good way to present corn with dinner.

Corn Fritters

4 ears of corn, zipped (see below)

2 eggs

1/3 cup flour

1-3 tsp sugar (depending on how sweet you like them)

1/2 tsp salt

a few grinds of pepper

Remove the corn kernels from the cob using my favorite tool, a Corn Zipper (or use a knife but that takes a bit of finesse!). In a bowl mix the corn kernels and the remaining ingredients.

Heat about 2 inches of oil in a sauce pan until very hot. Add a tablespoon-full of batter to the hot oil. I was able to fry 4 fritters at a time in my pan. Don’t over crowd them. Flip when bottom side begins to get golden (about 2 minutes). Remove once done with a slotted spoon and cool on paper towels.

I served these with soup and salad, they go quickly! My kids love them and everyone argues over who gets the last one!

This is a great thing to do when you know you will be pressed for time at a future meal time. Cook something that can be split into two meals. Today I cook some french lentils and decides to make a tapenade out of half, and a cold rice salad from the other half. The tapenade was great on French Bread (see an earlier post for the bread recipe) with Corn Chowder (I will post that recipe too) for dinner, and the rice salad will be our lunch.

French Lentils

1 cup french lentils (small green lentils)

water

Soak lentils in warm water for about 1 hour. Wash in several changes of water and then cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until tender.

Lentil/Olive Tapenade

1/2 batch of cooked French lentils

1/3 cup pitted olives (I used kalamata, but green would be good too)

2 tsp dijon mustard

2 tsp lemon juice

1 Tbs olive  oil

salt and pepper to taste

reserved cooking water

Place lentils and olives in Cuisinart and blend. Add remaining ingredients and blend until well mixed. Chill to develop flavor.

Lentil Rice Salad

1/2 recipe cooked lentils (above)

1 1/2 cups of cooked rice (I used a package of Frozen cooked Jasmine rice from Trader Joes, it is great, just 3 minutes in the microwave and it is done)

2 ears of corn cut off the cob (or use frozen defrosted, about 1/2 a cup)

3 Tbs chopped parsley

2 Tbs vinagrette dressing (I used the vinagrette posted earlier)

Mix everything together, serve room temperature or chilled.