{"id":6185,"date":"2012-09-05T17:09:02","date_gmt":"2012-09-06T00:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/?p=6185"},"modified":"2012-09-27T15:38:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T22:38:00","slug":"late-summers-culinary-pleasures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/late-summers-culinary-pleasures\/","title":{"rendered":"Late summer’s culinary pleasures"},"content":{"rendered":"

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After Labor Day, summer just slips away.\u00a0 Kids are in school, store windows are filled with sweaters, and the annual flood of Christmas catalogs begins.<\/p>\n

I usually start thinking about soups and stews and roasted root vegetables right about now. But summer is far from gone in the Northwest.\u00a0 The mercury is hovering in the 80’s and the corn is at its peak.<\/p>\n

With all the best summer produce just now flooding the farmers markets, the soups and stews can wait.\u00a0 Salads are what I want to eat right now.<\/p>\n

This Southwest-inspired salad is a natural for this time of year and you’ve probably eaten some variation of it over the years.\u00a0 Corn and beans are culinary soul mates after all.\u00a0 Throw in some crunchy red bell pepper, red onions and a medley of cherry tomatoes and who could resist?<\/p>\n

What set this dish apart, though, is the sprightly lime vinaigrette that brings all the flavors together.\u00a0 Lime zest, along with a little cumin and chile powder, contribute extra zip.\u00a0 Then crumbly Cotija cheese adds a salty kick. (Feta or dry Monterey Jack are good substitutes if you can’t find Cotija.).<\/p>\n

We brought this salad to a neighborhood block party last weekend and it was an instant hit.\u00a0 I’m such a fan, we’re likely to eat it several more times before the summer harvest draws to a close.<\/p>\n

CORN AND BLACK BEAN SALAD<\/strong>
\nServes 6-8<\/em>2 medium ears of corn, cooked and kernels removed (about 2 cups)
\n1 1\/2 cups home-c00ked black beans (or 15 ounce can, drained and rinsed)
\n1 medium red bell pepper, chopped in 1\/4-inch dice
\n1\/2 medium red onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
\n1 pint cherry tomatoes, stemmed and halved if large (about 2 cups)
\nZest of 1 lime
\n2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
\n6 tablespoons sunflower or other vegetable oil
\n1\/8 teaspoon ground cumin
\nPinch of chile powder
\n1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
\nSalt and pepper to taste
\nLarge handful cilantro, chopped
\nAbout 1\/2 cup Cotija cheese or more to taste<\/p>\n

In a medium bowl, combine corn, beans, red bell pepper, onion and tomatoes.\u00a0 In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk together lime zest, juice, oil, cumin, chile powder, garlic and salt and pepper to taste.\u00a0 Drizzle the lime vinaigrette over the salad, stir, and let set, covered, at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving.<\/p>\n

At the last minute, stir in the cilantro and sprinkle cheese over top. Serve.<\/p>\n

Aleta Watson<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After Labor Day, summer just slips away.\u00a0 Kids are in school, store windows are filled with sweaters, and the annual flood of Christmas catalogs begins. I usually start thinking about soups and stews and roasted root vegetables right about now. But summer is far from gone in the Northwest.\u00a0 The mercury is hovering in the … Continue reading Late summer’s culinary pleasures<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6185"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6208,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6185\/revisions\/6208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}