We’re under an extreme heat “dome” here in SoCal.
An hour ago Alexa told me the temperature was 104 degrees F. Just now, with a little more cloud cover, Alexa says it is 84 degrees F. Is that kind of precipitous temperature drop even possible?
I suspect the extreme heat here in Southern California is affecting Alexa’s judgment. Don’t get me wrong; Juliet and I will take what we can get. We’re hating this heat. It is so hot and uncomfortably-humid here that even the bouncy little squirrel who lives in the tree in our backyard has lost his customary perk. He normally torments Juliet and leaps from branch to branch in the tree. This morning he is stretched out on one of the limbs with his sweet little “arms” dangling over the sides and a “What The $#&!” look in his beady little eyes. It’s that hot.
Since we are in the midst of this heatwave, I opted for a recipe for a raw corn and chiles salad rather than revving up my stove. It is a Lidey Heuck recipe from The New York Times and it is cool and wonderful.You can find the original recipe here.
Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. I didn’t have shishito chiles and it was too hot to drive to a market to search for them, so I substituted a large green pasilla chile.
Spicy Corn and Chile Salad
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 T. olive oil
- 3 T. fresh lime juice
- 1/4 t. ground cumin
- Kosher salt (to taste)
- 1/3 C. diced red onion (plus more to garnish)
- 1 garlic clove (minced)
- 3 C. fresh corn kernels
- 1 fresh pasilla chile (diced and seeded) or 6 oz. shishito peppers (diced and seeded)
- 1 large jalapeno (seeds removed, diced)
- 1 ripe avocado (cut into chunks)
- 1/4 C. grated Cotija or crumbled feta cheese (optional)
- 1/4 C. chopped fresh cilantro (plus more to garnish)
- Diced red pepper for garnish
Directions
- Step 1 To make the dressing, combine 2 T. olive oil, lime juice, ground cumin and salt in a small bowl. Whisk to emulsify. Set aside.
- Step 2 To prepare the chile, heat 1 1/2 T. olive oil in a medium skillet. Add pasilla chile, jalapeno chile and a pinch of salt to the hot skillet. Saute until the peppers are tender and slightly browned.
- Step 3 Put the corn, the cooked peppers and the dressing in a bowl. Toss. Gently stir in avocado chunks and cilantro.
- Step 4 Cook’s Note: While you can serve this salad immediately, I found that it was better after a few hours when the corn had had time to marinate in the dressing.
- Step 5 Garnish with cheese (optional), diced red pepper, additional chopped cilantro and additional chopped red onion at the time of serving.
