It was a gorgeous morning here yesterday. The weather is just starting to cool down, and you can smell fall coming. By the afternoon, the sun is blazing, but there are these moments where you can feel a little chill creep through the air. It’s just magic! I was cooking for some of our friends and decided that the right salad to go with our achiote pulled pork would be this easy charred corn salad with red onions, jalapeños, and herbs.

This recipe for a flavor-filled late summer salad is incredibly simple; there are just a few steps to it, and the results are mouth-wateringly good.

To make it easy for everyone, I’m using corn kernels cooked on a stove in the recipe below, but if you have your grill going, I highly recommend you shuck your corn and grill it over high heat just long enough to add some color and charring to some of the kernels. Then, cut the corn off the cob and follow the remaining steps (you don’t have to cook the corn again).

This charred corn salad will work beautifully next to just about anything you might have going on the grill this summer.

Charred corn salad with onions, jalapeños and herbs

Ingredients:

• 2# fresh corn kernels
• 1/2 red onion, sliced thinly (a mandoline can make this quick and consistent)
• 4 jalapeños, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp salt (more to taste)
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 bunch parsley, minced
• 2 sprigs of mint, minced
• 1/2 bunch scallions, sliced
• Cilantro, picked (to taste – totally optional)

Method:

Place the red onion into a bowl and toss with the salt and lime juice. Set aside for 10 or more minutes. The salt and acid will cook the red onion, and it will become very soft and pliable.

Bring 2-3 qt. salted water to a boil. Prepare an ice bath (just ice and cold water in a bowl.) Add jalapeños to the boiling water and blanch and refresh them. Basically, when the water comes back up to a boil, drain the jalapeños and put them in the ice water right away. Don’t breathe in the steam!!! It’s spicy! You can totally use freshly sliced jalapeños and skip this step, but I have found that most people appreciate the spiciness being dialed back a bit, and this helps that out nicely.

When the jalapeños are cool, drain them and add them to the onions. Mix together with the maple syrup, the cider vinegar, the olive oil, and some black pepper.

Get a cast iron pan (or whatever sauté pan you have) almost smoking hot. Add enough corn to cover the bottom of the pan in one layer. You are trying to char the kernels, so it’s easier if you don’t use oil and you don’t move them around a lot. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the corn and wait for 1-2 minutes to stir them. They will start to jump around like popcorn! Give them a stir, wait 1-2 minutes more, and then add them to your onion mixture. They don’t all need to be black; just a fair number of them need a good dose of color.  Keep going with the rest of the corn!

Once the corn is done and you’ve got everything well mixed together, add your herbs, taste it for seasoning, and enjoy!

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