There was a potluck at work last week. Since I was leaving for New York late that day, I needed something quick that wouldn’t produce too many leftovers for Julian. I knew we had several odds and ends of corn in the freezer, so I decided to make a corn salad on the way home the night before.
I picked up a bell pepper, beefsteak tomato, and a bag of spinach at the fruit stand on the way home. After the dinner dishes were done, I microwaved about 2 pounds of frozen corn until the kernels were thawed. While the corn was in the microwave, I whisked together a quick olive oil-white wine vinegar-Dijon mustard dressing. I cut up the bell pepper, tomato, and a bit of onion while the corn was cooling. Julian suggested not adding the vinaigrette until just before serving. I also kept the spinach and basil out of the bowl until lunch time. The salad was a big hit, so much so that there was only about 1/3 cup left at the end of the potluck for Julian.
Given the success with my coworkers, I decided to try the recipe with a more challenging audience: My family. I had to do some adaptation, since my hometown’s grocery store didn’t have any fresh basil. The frozen corn I bought was more like what’s grown for cattle, but I used it anyway. I put tomato, bell pepper, celery, and onion into the salad, along with fresh oregano. I left out the spinach to keep the kids happy. Success again. My mother liked it, and she prefers canned to frozen corn. You can probably even use sweet corn cut off the cob, provided it’s not too starchy. You can add any fresh herb or dried seasoning you want, depending on the other components of your meal. And feel free to add any vegetable taking up space in your produce bin. One pound of frozen corn will probably feed 4-6 in a meal.
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