Summer Salad
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Corn and Basil. They say summer to me. And if you make one salad this summer it should be this Corn Basil Quinoa Salad. With the first day of summer approaching I thought it would be fitting to make a summer salad. I came across a recipe recently for a corn mint quinoa salad, which was what I intended to make, but the other day I just wasn’t into eating mint in a salad, I still had some basil on hand from the Beet Stacks and it was just sounding a whole lot better. You can use plain quinoa or a quinoa and wild rice mix which is what I had available, and it worked really well, I liked the combined textures. Most importantly, you will want to use corn fresh off the cob for full flavor. There’s just no way around that. There is very good frozen corn available but it just won’t have the texture and flavor that you get from the cut cob.
I suspect this will be our go to salad of the season. It tastes so fresh and wonderful you will just keep loading it up on your plate. This is where healthy tastes awesome!
Corn Basil Quinoa Salad
- 6 ears of corn
- 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 2 cups quinoa
- 1 roasted red pepper, chopped
- 3 large scallions, finely sliced
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Salt + pepper to taste
Husk the corn and place in large pot of water covering the ears, bring to boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes or until it smells good (this is the only way I know how to cook corn is by smell), set aside to cool.
Rinse the 2 cups of quinoa very well in a strainer, place in pot and add 3 1/2 cups of water, bring to a boil and simmer covered for about 20 minutes. Fluff with fork and allow to cool.
Whisk together lemon juice and olive oil. In a large bowl combine corn, scallions, basil and red pepper then add the dressing. Add the quinoa until well combined. Serve chilled or room temp.
