Grilled Corn Salad

I am having really mixed feelings about my blog lately. On one hand this is my place to share and store my cooking ideas. It is really just for me. I refer back to my own recipes often, looking back on my life and what was happening at that time.

But, I love that I have regular readers and hope they enjoy the few minutes a week they spend here. It thrills me when someone leaves a comment. On the other hand, I am also a little disappointed in myself that I wasn't able to "step-it-up" when I had all those new visitors when my little blog got some press. Of course I secretly would love tons of readers and a little bit of fame. But, as someone pointed out, my photos suck. And good photos attract readers, because, let's be honest, food blogs are a dime a dozen. I am no photographer, a medicore writer, and an untrained cook. But, man, do I love to cook. :)

So all this is to say, thank you for reading my blog. And thank you for putting up with my crappy photos. I hope you at least like the recipes you try from here. :)

Okay, onward and upward!
This is a simple Summer salad that is worth the little extra work of cutting the corn off of the cob. I feel like a broken record, but I am constantly looking for easy, healthy, make ahead recipes these days. I found organic corn on sale 3/ $1 and I bought a huge armload of them. I adore good sweet corn. I grew up next door to a small farm owned by an amazing man, Mr. Miner. (I have written about him before).

During the summer my folks would put a big pot of water on the stove and send me out into Mr. Miner's corn field. He had taught me how to check for ripe corn by squeezing the top of the cob to see if it felt full of kernels and to make sure the silk was darkened and dry. I would collect an ear for each of us and race back to the yard. We would shuck them on the back step and drop them into the pot of bowling water. This corn was sweet as sugar and so fresh. Dripping with melted butter it was better than chocolate cake!

When I met Justin he introduced me to grilling corn. We just toss the unshucked ears of corn onto the grill.  Five minutes later they are perfectly cooked. I highly recommend trying this method of cooking corn if you haven't tried it.

This salad is easily doubled, tripled, etc and is great the next day! (It is a great way to use up leftover cooked corn too).

Grilled Corn Salad
4 ears of fresh corn, unshucked
large handful basil leaves, thinly sliced
2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
sprinkle of kosher salt

1. Over hot coals, arrange corn on the grill. Turn about each minute or until all sides of the corn leaves as charred. This should take about 5-6 minutes.  Remove corn from grill and let rest about 10 minutes until cool enough to touch. This will also let the corn steam a bit more.
2. Once cooled, peel back leaves and remove all the corn silk. Using a sharp knife remove the kernels from the cob. After the kernels are removed I like to rub the back of a knife back and forth on the cob to remove the corn "milk".
3. Toss corn with basil and vinegar in a bowl. Taste and add salt if you feel it needs some.

Hmmmm, Summer in a bowl!