Skip to main content

Black Bean and Corn Salad

More than once I have gotten within half an hour of dinner time and had no idea what I was going to do about dinner. Nothing was planned, and I could not mentally survey my pantry and compound something easy. On days like that, there are only two ways to avoid a restaurant: spaghetti or having something in the fridge that I can scoop into bowls and call dinner. In the winter time that something is soup, but in the summertime it's tabbouleh or this easy to assemble salad. It also travels well to potluck lunches.

IMG_8403 photo by Rich Renomeron

2 cans black beans, rinsed OR 2.5 cups cooked blacked beans OR 1 ¼ cups dried black beans
16 ounces frozen corn (or fresh if you can get corn picked that day)
1 jalapeño pepper (optional)
¼ cup olive oil
2 bunches scallions
1 bunch cilantro
5 medium tomatoes OR a pint of cherry tomatoes
juice of 2 limes
salt and black pepper to taste

If you're starting with dried beans, cook beans until tender.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.

Seed and mince jalapeño if using, then mix corn, jalapeño and olive oil together, spread in a single layer on the baking sheet and roast for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until corn begins to darken. Remove from the oven and set aside until other ingredients are prepared. The roasting brings out the sweetness of the corn and mellows the heat of the pepper.

While the corn is roasting, hop the tomatoes and place them in a colander in the sink to drain. Wash the scallions and thinly slice the white and tender green portion. Wash the cilantro and chop the leaves and tender stems.

In a large bowl, mix all of the prepared ingredients, including the oil from the baking sheet, and add the lime juice. Stir to combine then taste and add salt and pepper as needed.   
Labels:

Comments

  1. MaudJuly 28, 2011 at 6:05 PM

    I just made this - ish - with corn, cherry tomatoes, and basil from the market today and a tin of beans. Nothing else, because I didn't have anything. A couple of cloves of garlic, just about. It was amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jennifer ThorsonAugust 1, 2011 at 11:18 AM

    I love these kinds of reviews: "I changed everything and it was great!" Glad you were inspired and that it turned out well. I need to make another batch of this.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Get up and eat, a Sermon for Proper 14, Year B, RCL

“Get up and eat!”   ( Click here to listen to the sermon. ) At the beginning of our reading from chapter 19 of 1 Kings the great prophet Elijah sits down under a Broom tree and asks to die. Does anybody know why Elijah, a man whose very name means “Yahweh is my God” would be in such despair that he would sit down in the dust and ask for death?  This is a real question. Put a hand up if you think you know. As you might have guessed from the name of the book, Kings tells the story of Israel in the years before the exile when there were Kings. You probably remember that the Israelites asked for a king when the prophet Samuel was an old man. God told Israel, through Samuel, that a king was a terrible idea and they shouldn’t do it but they were stubborn and demanded a king anyway so God and Samuel said “Okay, have a king. See how it goes.” It did not go well. By the time we get from Samuel to Elijah the kings of Israel have gotten well off track. The King in Elijah’s time was ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Precious and Beloved: A Sermon for the First Sunday after Epiphany, Year C RCL

 “Do not fear,” so says our reading from Isaiah.  ( Click here to listen to the sermon ) The book of Isaiah as we have it can be divided into three parts. The first part deals with the Babylonian exile. Our reading from today comes from the middle section, a collection of materials around the themes of hope, divine comfort, and an end to the exile. The period of punishment is over, and God will redeem Israel.  The God who created them, the God who calls them by name, makes a promise to bring them home. It is a forward-looking and hopeful message emphasizing God’s actions, and affirming God’s nearness and compassion.  The book of Isaiah is part of the biblical prophetic tradition focused not just on the historical prophet, but also on how the living tradition remained applicable across generations. So if you find yourself in the wilderness of our modern world, it might be helpful to look to Isaiah.  “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and the r...
Post a Comment
Read more

What to do

  I have been thinking about what to do with the toxic pieces of your family history: The bank letter of credit issued to the cotton merchant. The portrait of a man and wife who were on the wrong side of a war,  not the losing side  the wrong side. The letter crafted to convey the most pain in perfect rolling script. The hurt feelings that have no physical form but are  solid all the same;  weight that you carry. The heroic stories you believed when you were small But now you realize they have no heroes in them You can burn them,  store them in the attic,  put them in a box you give to your cousins at Christmas,  fling them without ceremony in a dumpster on the other side of town and drive away quickly,  keep them wrapped in archival tissue paper and take them out to show at family gatherings.  If anyone objects you can say that things were different then.  Offer no further explanation. You can weaponize them: use them to fuel ...
Post a Comment
Read more