Well, in this week’s recipe I decided to do a side dish. I mean I’ve done an entrée and I’ve done a dessert or sorts so why not a side dish, right? Which one to do though? Like many of you, given today’s economy, I have a small garden so I can get some of my own fresh veggies & herbs without always having to run to the grocery store for them & being the typical picky eater I am I stick pretty close to just the basics, especially corn. I love corn on the cob but I always end up with way more than I can eat so I freeze a bunch but what to do with it? I mean, just heating up corn is fine when it’s meatloaf night with mashed potatoes and gravy but what about when I want to mix it up and do something different with it? Then what do you do?
I came across this recipe when I first started playing with peppers after a trip to Texas several years ago. It’s been evolved overtime. One of the biggest advantages to something like this is the versatility of it. I can throw in some wild rice & maybe a bit of chicken and suddenly you have a 1 pot meal or I can leave it itself as a side dish or switch it up a bit and use it as a salsa to go with tacos or burritos. It can be served hot or at room temperature. It’s not too strong that it’ll overtake chicken but it’s also not too weak that it can’t stand up to a well-cooked piece of steak. Like I said, it’s versatile.
Southwestern Roasted Corn
- 8 cup corn (cooked)
- 1 red bell pepper (diced)
- 1 green bell pepper (diced)
- 1 cup red onion (chopped)
- 1 tbsp dried cilantro
- ½ cup olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic (peeled, minced)
- 1 ½ cup lime juice
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp hot sauce
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Place the corn on a large sheet tray lightly buttered.
- Preheat oven at 350.
- Place corn on the preheated grill. Cook, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes, or until tender and heated through. Remove from heat, cool slightly.
- Place in a medium bowl. Mix in the red bell pepper, green bell pepper, and red onion.
- In a blender or food processor, mix the cilantro, olive oil, garlic, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Blend until smooth, and stir into the corn salad.
One additional note to this recipe, for those cheese heads out there you can add ½ cup queso fresco or your favorite cheese crumbles
Now I can’t take credit for creation of this recipe. Like I mentioned before, I’m a picky eater so I’m not overly adventurous so I tend to take a recipe change and modify it to my tastes and then slowly work it back to the base recipe I started with over time. I’m honestly not sure where this one originated but it’s one I make often enough that I felt it was worth passing it on. Enjoy!