Pickled Strawberry + Giant Corn Salad

The word “balance” is thrown out a lot in our lives.

You’re supposed to have a balance between work and play; we all need physical balance, especially when in a crow pose in yoga class or trying to balance our love of chocolate with our love of fitting into our jeans is always a challenge. When it comes to our food, that little word is thrown around like peanuts at a baseball game.

Balance in our cooking can sometimes be a tricky thing. Sure it’s easy to explain; for every sweet thing you want to balance it with something sour and for every soft thing you want to balance it with something crunchy.

But when you need a visual for this cooking 101 lesson just take a look at this Pickled Strawberry + Giant Corn Salad.

You have sweet strawberries which are then pickled to give them some brightness and allow them to dance on your tongue. You have a cool crunchy salad topped with buttery hot corn. And then everything is tossed in a dressing that hits you with sweet essence of coconut while being balanced out with acidic white wine vinegar.

Every flavor has its counterpart, with all textures and temperatures complemented; it’s all in perfect balance. Alright, lesson concluded, hand in your dishes to the teacher.

Now if only finding balance in the rest of our lives was this simple. Well at least we’ll have some tasty salad to sustain us while we figure it out.  

Pickled Strawberry + Giant Corn Salad

Makes 4 side salads, or 2 entrée salads

Honey Coconut Vinaigrette

¼ cup coconut oil

¼ cup white wine vinegar

¼ cup honey

¼ cup Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

½ + ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Pickled Strawberry + Giant Corn Salad

14 large strawberries, sliced to ¼ inch thick

¼ cup white wine vinegar

¼ cup water

1 tablespoon sugar

¼ teaspoon pepper

1¼ teaspoons kosher salt

½ teaspoon sumac

10 cups mixed greens (lettuce, sorrel, spinach, shoots)

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups gigante corn

Honey Coconut Vinaigrette

Whisk together the coconut oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, honey, mustard and Greek yogurt in a small bowl, mixing until well combined. Set aside.

Pickled Strawberry + Giant Corn Salad

1. Place the strawberries in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the vinegar, water, sugar, ¼ teaspoon of the salt, pepper, and the sumac. Bring to a slight boil and cook until the sugar melts – about 2 minutes. Pour the pickling liquid over the strawberries and let sit for at least 10 minutes.
2. Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat; add the gigante corn and ½ teaspoon of the salt and cook until slightly brown and crispy – 3 to 4 minutes.
3. To serve, add the dressing to the mixed greens and toss to coat. Divide the mixed greens among 4 small or 2 large bowls and then divide the strawberries and corn evenly atop each.

Notes:

• Coconut oil adds a unique tropical flavor but feel free to replace it with canola or olive oil
• Replace the gigante corn with butter beans or regular corn.
• You can add hard boiled eggs for a heartier salad
• Sumac has a tart berry flavor; you can use ½ teaspoons zataar and/or the zest of half a lemon instead or simply leave it out.

Make it Meaty: Serve topped with breaded chicken or pork croutons

 

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