Roasted Corn and Sweet Pepper Chopped Salad with Tomatoes, Black Beans, and Summer Squash

Made with sweet fresh corn and roasted sweet peppers, this may be the ultimate summer salad. It's great as a side dish, or when you want something easy and light yet filling, a summer main dish. 
 

This salad recipe includes a vinaigrette of garlic and shallot, citrus, honey, toasted cumin, and extra virgin olive oil. You can toss everything together or serve it in parts, letting your guests make up their own salad with their favorite additions. 

I've been craving a corn salad and I also needed a way to use fresh summer vegetables. Right now, fresh corn is so sweet, and fresh sweet Italian-style peppers are plentiful. Plus, there's the generous amount of fresh summer squash available. 

Add some black beans, either canned or home cooked, and you have a super nutritious and tasty salad, the summer version of a Three Sisters dish, such as soup or succotash. 

Ingredients: 

Fresh Corn on the Cob. 

Sweet Long Peppers or Italian Sweet Peppers: I used a red, orange, and yellow pepper. You could also substitute red or orange bell peppers. 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil. 

Juices: Fresh lime juice and orange juice. 

Fresh Garlic Clove: Minced. 

Shallot: Finely chopped. 

Honey: I used hot honey. 

Cumin: Roasted and finely ground. 

Tomatoes: I used Villagio Marzano Tomatoes, which are a mini version of San Marzano tomatoes. You can also use grape tomatoes. Both are easy to chop due to their shape. 

Summer Squash: I used a combination of zucchini and yellow squash. Chop into 1/4 inch pieces. 

Black Beans: You can either use canned black beans, rinsed, or cook your own black beans from dried beans. 

Salt and Pepper. 

Cilantro: For garnish. 

To Make This Salad:

First, roast the corn and the peppers in a 425 degree F oven for about 20 minutes. Let the ingredients cool and then remove the skin from the peppers and chop them into small pieces. Strip the kernels from the corn. 

Next, combine the dressing ingredients and shake to emulsify. 

After that, in a bowl or on a platter, arrange the corn and pepper mixture, beans, summer squash, and chopped tomatoes. You can either arrange them separately so that your guests can assemble their own salad, or you can serve the ingredients all mixed together. Garnish with chopped cilantro with the dressing on the side. 

Recipe Variations:

You could also add a chopped avocado just before serving this salad. Chopped jicama would also add a nice crunch. 

While I used hot honey in the dressing, standard honey will also work. 

Make-Ahead and Storage:

This salad is easy to make ahead and will last up to three days in the refrigerator. You can store it either mixed or each ingredients separately. 

Serving Suggestions:

This salad is wonderful as a side for grilled fish or beef. It's also great with tacos, enchiladas, or other Mexican fare. 

Cooking with Corn:

This week, the Sunday Supper group is sharing recipes with corn. 

• Culinary Cam: All the Summer's Darlings Salad 
• Mayuri's Jikoni: Cachapas, Venezuelan Corn Pancakes 
• Sneha's Recipe: Corn Patties /Corn Potato Chops 
• Food Lust People Love: Elotes - Spicy Cheesy Grilled Corn 
• Sid's Sea Palm Cooking: Fresh Corn Relish Salad 
• Karen's Kitchen Stories: Roasted Corn and Sweet Pepper Chopped Salad with Tomatoes, Black Beans, and Summer Squash 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Smoky Southwestern Corn Salad with Chives
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Succotash Salad (our host)

Roasted Corn and Sweet Pepper Chopped Salad with Tomatoes, Black Beans, and Summer Squash

Yield: 8 servings

Author: Karen Kerr

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 50 Min

Made with sweet fresh corn and roasted sweet peppers, this may be the ultimate summer salad. It's great as a side dish, or when you want something easy and light yet filling, a summer main dish. 

Ingredients

For the Salad

• 4 medium ears fresh sweet corn
• 3 long sweet peppers, sliced lengthwise, stems and seeds removed
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 heaping cup, about 10 ounces by weight, grape-style tomatoes, cut into 1/4 inch dice
• 2 small summer squash, preferably one zucchini and one yellow squash, cut into 1/4 inch dice
• 1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

For the Dressing

• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 2 teaspoons minced shallot
• 1 tablespoon hot honey (or regular honey)
• 3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and then ground
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

To Prepare the Salad

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place the corn and peppers on a foil lined baking sheet and coat them in the olive oil, salt, and pepper. The peppers should be skin side up. Bake the corn and peppers for 20 minutes, until the peppers and corn are lightly browned around the edges. Let cool and then peel off the skin from the peppers.
2. Remove the kernels from the corn and cut the peppers into 1/2 inch dice. Combine the corn and peppers in a bowl.
3. For the Dressing, mash the garlic and the salt in a small bowl. Add the juices, shallot, honey, and cumin. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking constantly to emusify. Add pepper, salt, and honey to taste.
4. Assemble the salad with the corn mixture, tomatoes, squash, and black beans.
5. Garnish with the cilantro.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

193

Fat (grams)

10 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

1 g

Carbs (grams)

24 g

Fiber (grams)

5 g

Net carbs

19 g

Sugar (grams)

8 g

Protein (grams)

6 g

Cholesterol (grams)

0 mg

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