Pan-Roasted Corn and Tomato Salad
Frequently, tomatoes and corn are teamed with basil, garlic and balsamic vinegar — as if it were somehow an Italian creation. Though it isn’t, it’s both gorgeous and delicious that way. If this kind of salad has any roots at all, they are Californian. Made as described above, it smacks of the Bay Area in the 1980s, when American ingredients were heralded but the cooking was most strongly influenced by classic French and 20th-century Italian. All of which makes my version here a tad more authentic: it marries our native corn and tomatoes with chili and avocado, two other New World ingredients. It also uses cilantro and lime, neither of which are native but both of which have become staples of Mexico, the American Southwest and much of the rest of the hemisphere. Enough of the justification: this is just plain good. At the end, you’ve got meaty smokiness from bacon; that incredible sweetness of corn; the fruity acidity of tomato; the tender, smooth fattiness of avocado, and the sharpness of chili. It’s a summer winner, one that you shouldn’t even try after the first frost.
1/4 pound bacon, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
4 to 6 ears corn, stripped of their kernels (2 to 3 cups)
Juice of 1 lime, or more to taste
2 cups cored and chopped tomatoes
1 medium ripe avocado, pitted, peeled and chopped
2 fresh small chilies, like Thai, seeded and minced
Salt and black pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, more or less.
- Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to render fat;
- Add onion and cook until just softened, about 5 minutes
- Add corn
- Continue cooking, stirring or shaking pan occasionally, until corn begins to brown a bit, about 5 more minutes
- Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes
- Drain fat if you wish
- Put lime juice in a large bowl
- Add bacon-corn mixture
- Toss with remaining ingredients
- Taste, adjust the seasoning
- Serve warm or at room temperature.