Avocado Corn Salad via Moosewood Collective

     Last summer was brutally hot. So hot that there were times I didn't even want to turn on the stove for fear of raising the temperature in the house. When it's hot like that, salads are always a great option. I don't normally turn to a recipe book for salads, but I had this one cookbook, Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, for a long time and had never made anything from it. It's a good cookbook. It's predominantly vegetarian friendly and is full of interesting, healthy recipes.  The salad we chose wound up being filling and more importantly, refreshing on a wicked hot day. My only complaint was the dressing was a touch bland. Next time I will tweak the  dressing to give it a little more punch. As always, changes and notes are in blue.

Avocado Corn Salad
via Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home

Ingredients

Dressing:

• 1 cup fresh or frozen cut corn
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• pinch of cayenne or red pepper flakes (optional)

Salad

• 1 medium avocado, preferably Haas (I'm not made of money, I'm using whatever avocado is currently on sale for fifty cents each)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice
• 1/2 medium red bell pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced red onion
• salt to taste
• dash of Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce (optional)
• whole or chopped cilantro leaves (optional)
• 1 hard boiled egg, sliced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
• Assorted lettuce (I don't know exactly what we used, we just grabbed a bunch out of the garden. Use whatever lettuce you want)
• Anything else you think would be good on this salad. Olives, anchovies, chicken, tuna, whatever. There's a lot of wiggle room for extra goodies here. 

Directions

1. In skillet or saucepan, combine corn, oil, water cumin and optional cayenne or red pepper flakes. Cook, covered, on medium heat for 5 minutes or until corn is tender. Uncover and cook for an additional minute or two to evaporate excess moisture. Set aside to cool.
2. Slice the avocado in half length-wise, and gently twist to remove the pit (I suppose you could leave the pit in if you're a big fan of broken teeth and dirty looks from your dinner guests). Make length-wise and cross-wise cuts in the flesh every 1/2 inch. Scoop the avocado cubes out of the shells and into a large bowl (I am terribly amused at how much direction they gave here. Here's my amended directions for this step: split and pit avocado. Scoop out from shell. Cut into cubes. DONE). Gently stir in lemon or lime juice. 
3. Cut pepper into 1/2 inch or smaller pieces and add to bowl. Stir in red onion and cooked corn. Add salt and optional Tabasco sauce to taste. Top with cilantro if desired. 
4. Serve on bed of assorted greens. Top with egg and tomato slices and whatever else you determined needed to go on this salad.

Good times!