Perfect Summer Meals

“This is the perfect summer meal!”

That is the way several friends have described the casual fare at our recent summer get-togethers. I’ve been serving a couple different salads along side some type of grilled meat or burgers at each of our summer barbeques. Salads are a great way to take in all the wonderful fresh flavours of summer and they help to ensure that you still have room for dessert!

I’m going to share some of my favourite summer salads over the next couple of weeks. As it’s the time of year when we are on the go–exploring cottage country and catching up with friends as much as possible–I’m going to be short and sweet in my posts.

So, getting straight to the point, here’s the salad that I made almost every weekend last year. It’s as flavourful as it is colourful–and if the truth be told, I could eat the entire bowl. I highly recommend this salad. I must warn you though, if you tell people that this is succotash, your guests may start to quote Sylvester the Cat (“Sufferin’ Succotash!”).

Summer Succotash — You’ll note that the photo was taken before I added the avocado

Summer Succotash

Adapted from In My Mother’s Kitchen by Trish Magwood

• Juice of 1 lime
• 4 ears of corn, cooked
• 1 sweet red pepper, diced
• ¼ red onion, diced
• 1 ½ green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 ½ cups halved grape tomatoes
• 1 cup shelled edamame, blanched and cooled
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 avocado, cubed

Directions:

Cut the corn off the cob. Add red pepper, red onion, green onions, tomatoes, edamame, olive oil, salt and lime juice. Stir well. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Add avocado just before serving.

Notes:

• To prepare the corn, I put the husked corn in a large pot, bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat and boil for five minutes. The original recipe included instructions to mix together the zest of one lime, with a bit of melted butter and cayenne — then brush this on the corn before grilling on the barbeque. I’ve simplified this and I don’t think the salad loses any flavour in the process. You could certainly try this if you have the time.
• I’ve made this the same day in a pinch. It still tastes great.
• Buying frozen shelled edamame is a huge time saver. I always use the frozen and I don’t blanch it.

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