Summertime was one of my favorite seasons as a kid. Not just for the obvious, there was no school, but because we ate corn on the cob and sliced tomatoes for dinner. It was a refreshing change from the weekly standards of spaghetti and red sauce, chili and meatloaf with mashed potatoes.
What really sticks out about this summertime meal was the sauce that we’d drizzled on the sliced tomatoes. It was a thick, homemade dressing, something that my dad had concocted, years before I was born. I can remember when I was ten or so, I’d watched, as my older sister, Kathleen, prepared it.
This homemade dressing (I don’t think there was as name for it) was made in large quantities. In the large silver bowl that we’d used for everything from mixing meatloaf to boxed cakes, Kathleen would mix a 50-50 ratio of Kraft Catalina and French dressings, then she’d plop a couple of large spoonful’s of Miracle Whip, a few shakes of Worcestershire, shake in a lot of celery salt and then onion powder. Then she’d add a few shakes of Morton’s salt and McCormick’s fine ground black pepper and stir it well with a wooden spoon. She’d then stick her index finger in the dressing, coating her finger halfway down, then plop her orange-colored finger into her mouth, just before the dressing dripped back into the bowl. It took about a tenth of a second for this maneuver. This was to make sure it was okay, or maybe to tease me, because I’d have to wait to taste it at dinner. I’d do the exact taste-test years later when it was my turn to make the dressing. The result was a thick and creamy, tart yet sweet, salty, pale-orange sauce. It was perfect. My mouth watered every time I’d watch her make it and every time we ate it.
Now that I’m mid-life, I still relish summer, corn on the cob and sliced tomato dinners. I don’t make the dressing of my youth, but instead I try to keep things a little on the healthy side.
This year, I joined a CSA, and it’s summertime, which means sweet corn and tomatoes. I get more in that half basket than we can eat, every week.
When I get my fill of boiled corn slathered with butter, and sliced tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper, I freeze some of the corn. I suppose I could can the tomatoes, but I normally don’t have a problem eating the tomatoes.
But I cringed everytime I put that corn in the freezer. It’s never any better than when it’s plucked from the stalk, shucked and cooked.
I created Bi-Colored Corn & Tomato Salsa. It makes the most of both corn and tomatoes, and has become yet another, refreshing change.
Eaten alone, as a side, or paired with wild King Salmon, it’s a perfect recipe for summer corn and tomatoes. However, you could whip up that special, unnamed dressing I mentioned above, slice some tomatoes and grill the corn. Or you could remember your own childhood food memories and see where that takes you. Either way, I hope this story and my easy-to-prepare Bi-Colored Corn and Tomato Salsa recipe stirs something inside of you.
Bi-Color Corn & Tomato Salsa
Yield: about one cup
Ingredients
- ¾ cup cooked corn, cut from two cobs
- ½ half of a medium red tomato, or ¼ cup, diced
- 1 tablespoon red onion slivers
- 1 teaspoon minced jalapeño pepper
- 1 teaspoon capers
- ½ teaspoon lime juice
- ½ teaspoon toasted coriander seeds, ground finely
- ~sea salt, to taste
- ~cracked black pepper, to taste
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Directions
- In a medium bowl, add all ingredients except the olive oil. Stir to blend the ingredients evenly. Drizzle olive oil over the vegetables and stir again.
- Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Store up to two days.
