Hello Beautiful People! I hope you all are feeling great! Me? I’m fab, but HOT! Actually its more humid then anything. Anyway this heat has me wanting to share my newest and latest favorite salad in the whole wide world. Its FRESCA! Main Ingredient? Corn! RAW CORN! Oh my gosh, why did we ever cook our corn? We should neva eva! I remember loving barbecued corn smothered with butter from the Del Mar Fair in San Diego. But why I ask?? Why? Why did we torture our poor corn? If you have never tried fresh raw corn off the cob…then you are so missing out. It is sooooooo YUMMY and FRESH and CRUNCHY and SWEET! If you have tried raw corn and you weren’t really feeling it, try it again! Seriously, I think most of us are trained to think that veggies need to be cooked, and it is SO not the case.
My latest obsession with raw corn led me to a recipe called Mexicali Corn Salad and it’s found in The Raw Gourmet book by Nomi Shannon. Can I just say I love this book. I sort of forgot about it and since revisiting it, I see that shes got some really nice recipes. They are so fresh and light. Just so perfect for this Hot Humid season we are getting into here on the island. I’m really trying to eat lighter to keep my energy levels up.
Ingredients:
2 cups fresh corn kernels
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped scallion
1/4 cup cilantro
4-5 green olives, sliced (I skipped this)
Dressing: (you can use this one or just use your favorite dressing)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Braggs liquid aminos
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
pinch of cayenne pepper.
This corn salad has totally become a staple for me. I usually double up on the recipe and use it on everything!
Heres a few ideas for you to play with….
1) It’s awesome on it’s own (obviously), with a little dressing.
2) Sprinkle a handful or 2, over a big green salad. Use it as a topping. Use it as a topping.
3) Sprinkle a handful or 2, over a fresh blended soup. mmm with Gazpacho!
4) Add it to a lettuce wrap. Grab a large Romain lettuce leaf or collard green and smother with some sunflower seed cheese then toss a handful of this mixture on top, with a little dressing. SO fresh and crunchy!
5) Scoop a dallop of Sunflower seed cheese on top and mix it in. I did this last night and just used the sunflower pate as the dressing.
I’m thinking I should add the recipe to the Sunflower Seed Cheese too, instead of just talking about it. This pate is also a staple of mine and almost always found in my fridge. This recipe was found online, but I didn’t bookmark the link so I’m not sure who to give credit to. Sorry Sunflower Seed Cheese Maker!
Ingredients:
1 cup soaked sunflower seeds (soak them for at least 4 hours, I usually do overnight)
1/2 cup water
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
juice of 1 lemon or 2 ( I usually do just one)
1 garlic (I use 2 or 3)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Pour Braggs liquid aminos over once all this is in the blender. (I don’t measure, so lets just go with a 3 second count)
1tablespoon of tahini (not included in original recipe, but this is how i do it)
Strain and rinse seeds first, then throw everything in your Vitamix. Blend til nice and smooth, pour into bowl and sprinkle lightly with cayenne and fresh or dried dill. Now… I’ve tweaked this recipe to suit my taste buds so definitely tweak to suit yours. I personally love the heat found in cayenne and I can NEVER get enough garlic. I added the tahini to this recipe because I like my pates to be thick!
This recipe is totally satisfying. Use it as a dip with crackers celery, carrots, or throw a dallop on zucchini rounds or even cucumber rounds. You can even use bell peppers to dip OR stuff the bell pepper with the pate. mmmmmmmmm!
xox, Ibis
