Corn, Tomato, Feta Salad
I made a really easy salad earlier this summer, well before I leaned hard into corn and tomato season (it’ll be over soon, so just enjoy it). The recipe caught my eye because the cook time said 5 minutes.
It consisted of raw corn, fresh tomatoes, feta cheese, fresh mint, olive oil, salt and pepper. I loved it in theory, but my taste testers all hesitated. “It wasn’t bad,” they kept urging, but that didn’t make me feel any better.
We quickly realized it was the fresh mint. While people enjoy this flavor in certain cocktail and dessert settings without blinking, they pause when it’s in a savory dish. It was simply too strong.
We decided that the salad would be better with cilantro instead. And when I think of cilantro, I naturally want to add lime and jalapeno. So, here is my shaken up version of the recipe.
Charred Corn, Tomato & Feta Salad
Serves 4 as a side dish
3 ears of corn, freshly cut off the cob
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 lime, juiced
2 ripe tomatoes (if tomatoes aren’t super ripe, use the Campari ones)
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
4 oz feta
How to make it
Heat a cast iron skillet on medium high until it’s smoking. Add a small amount of olive oil and then add your corn. Cook until the corn is charred throughout.
Remove the corn from the skillet into a medium-sized bowl and let cool completely before adding anything else to it.
When the corn is cooled, add the jalapeno, lime juice, tomatoes, cilantro and feta. Stir to combine.
Season to taste with kosher salt and black pepper.
Serve with a nice cut of grilled meat, like this beautiful skirt steak with this citrus-cilantro dressing.
