Black Bean and Corn Salad

Apparently, we post in August these days. Oops. Anyway, we have now made a black bean and corn salad twice, and we like it a lot. I made it up based on a similar salad I had when we were at MathFest this year (except that one had cilantro in it, and I despise cilantro. If you like cilantro, you should probably add it to your salad. Unless you're going to feed your salad to me or anyone else who can't stand cilantro. Then have a heart, and don't send us home with a metallic soapy taste in our mouths). So, anyway, here's somewhat of a recipe (when I say I made this up, I'm serious, so of course I didn't measure):

some cans of black beans, rinsed (number depends on size of group you're serving)
some corn (the better the corn, the better the salad), cooked/unfrozen
some onions, chopped (browned if you're like me and have trouble with raw onions)
some green and/or red peppers, chopped (or another color; these can be browned with
the onions if you so desire)
some tomato, chopped
juice of a lemon or lime (or more than one, depending on how much of the previous
ingredients you're using)
some olive oil (as in, a few tablespoons)
some vinegar (I've been using white--probably 1/8-1/4 cup)
some cumin
some garlic powder or pressed garlic if you want it stronger
some cayenne pepper
some salt

Mix all the dressing-type ingredients together and pour on top of the other ingredients. Mix well; refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

If you like spicy (we do, in case you weren't aware), I think some jalapeños or jalapeño juice would be a nice addition. Of course, I forgot that I think that this morning when we were making the salad. Green onions could work, too, as could jalapeño-pickled carrots.

Green Salsa

We have been strong devotees to Santa Barbara brand green salsa, but it has been a while since it has been on sale. Tomatillos, jalapeños, onions, green peppers, and spices area all on sale though, so I thought it was about time I attempted green salsa.

The first step was to halve the tomatillos and broil them (that's what that setting on the toaster oven is for) on something that can catch all the juice (i.e. not on the bars). I read that they should broil until the skin is lightly blackened. While it was broiling I chopped up jalapeño, green pepper, and onion and grilled it all while adding cumin salt and garlic. Once the tomatillos were done I added the juice to the pan, then chopped up the more solid parts (it was kind of mushy) and added that to the pan. As the consistency started to dry out I added some water and let it all boil some. While that was going on I added some lime juice and got out the blender. Things were still pretty chunky so out of the pan and into the blender plus a little working of the puree button and I had some hot green salsa. I tasted some of the residue from the blender on some chips and I’m fairly optimistic that it will be tasty, but not Santa Barbara level at this point.

There are probably better ways to evenly roast the tomatillos and maybe the order should be blender then pan. Once it has cooled and had a chance for the flavors to really blend I’ll let you know how it turned out (with pictures).

Hot Peppers

Here's the last (probably--there was a frost Saturday night) of our crop of "hot" peppers--some of them are hot and some are not; we have no idea how to distinguish which are which because we've gotten hot ones and not-hot ones from the same plant. Oh, and there are a few jalapeños in the corner; they fall in the not-so-hot category. We've put them in black bean soup, lentils and sausage, taco salad, burritos, and spaghetti and on pizza (and probably some other things that I can't remember). We discovered the secret to gardening: put the plants right in front of one of the sprinkler heads. Our green pepper plants have not been nearly so productive, but we're getting some bitty peppers from them. Someday we may have a real garden.