Summer Corn Salad

Most days I shop with a list & a plan but sometimes it all goes out the window. Some days I walk into the “bio laden” planning to pick up the basics & I leave with a kilo of blueberries and a heap of corn on the cob.Those are the days when I get to play in the kitchen & when lunch is extra fun.

Corn on the cob makes me think of summer. Of barbecues and long, hot car journeys through the French countryside. Growing up we spent every summer in France, for the first years packed into a caravan with a pop up top, and then later in a 150 year old farm house that my parents fell in love with.

The house is in the middle of the countryside, surrounded by working farms. Corn is a huge crop and yet strangely it is grown there as animal feed. During the summer you see huge piles of corn on the cob, drying in the heat of the midday sun, ready to be fed to cattle.We were always the “crazy English” that were willing to pay for fresh corn and my parents were the “crazy English” willing to feed their children animal food.

This salad turned is delicious. The corn is fresh & lightly grilled. The avocado gives it a creaminess & teamed with the coriander and lime makes me think of LA Mexican inspired salads. The chickpeas are optional but I like the bite that they give and also the extra density that they add.

It’s the perfect satiating summer salad. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Ingredients (serves 2)
2 corn on the cob

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 avocado

10 cherry tomatoes

1/4 red onion finely chopped

1/2 tin chickpeas (129g cooked chickpeas)

2 tbsp olive oil

Small handful fresh coriander

Salt & pepper

Juice 1 lime

Method
Preheat your grill or griddle plan

Chop the avocado & place into a bowl with the quartered cherry tomatoes & finely chopped onion

Rub the corn with rapeseed oil & place under the grill or on the griddle

Watch closely & turn every 3 minutes or as the kernels start to colour

Once fully grilled remove & set aside for 5 minutes

Holding one end run a knife down the corn to remove the kernels into the bowl with the other vegetables

Mix everything together

Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt & pepper

Finely chop the herbs & mix in with the dressing

Toss the salad with the dressing & eat immediately