Cheater’s Tomato, Corn, and Avocado Salad

Sometimes you need to take the easy way out. It can be hard to juggle friends, family, and work while still setting a little time aside for yourself as well. That’s why sometimes it’s okay to skip corners a bit and fall back on tricks that help you save time without anyone else noticing.

From time to time you can rely on packaged brownies for a bake sale as long as you sprinkle some marshmallows and nuts on top so they come off as looking like gourmet rocky road brownies. Or you can count a nice walk as your workout for the day. You can even tweak one of your old ideas slightly to make a new proposal for work.

While you know that you’re taking the easy way out, often times no one else will have a clue! This salad is one of those recipes that tastes delicious, yet it requires just 1o minutes of your time. Impress your family or your guests with this simple salad that relies on the delicious taste of seasonal produce and a combination of textures, not hours of slaving away in the kitchen. Because the taste of the produce matters so much in this recipe, I would not recommend making any time of year except for summer. Nothing can compare to vine-ripened cherry tomatoes and fresh corn at the peak of the season.

This salad is such an easy no-cook recipe, yet it’s such a tremendous hit at summer parties and backyard barbecues that my mom always requests it! Unlike most corn recipes, you don’t have to boil or grill it, simply marinate it (or not). Allowing the tomatoes, corn, and scallions to marinate overnight is purely optional, but it helps soften the raw corn, similar to the process that seafood undergoes in the ceviche-making process.

Tomato, Corn, and Avocado Salad

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 4 ear corn, husked with skins removed
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and diced
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• 4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 4 teaspoons olive oil or canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Directions:

1. For each ear of corn, stand it in a bowl and slice downward to release the kernels. Add the tomato, scallion, lime juice, oil, salt and pepper.
2. Gently toss the salad, then cover it with plastic wrap and allow the salad to marinate in the refrigerator over night. You can skip this, and allow it to marinate for just three hours, or if you’re in a rush, you can skip the marinating altogether.
3. Up to three hours before serving, add the avocado and more salt, pepper, or lime as desired.
4. Toss the salad once more, then serve and enjoy!

Quick and Easy Refrigerator Pickles

This weekend at the farmer’s market we bought some beautiful persian cucumbers, carrots, and sugar snap peas. A major perk of living in sunny California is getting beautiful produce year round!

Laura over at An Educated Palate inspired me to turn these beautiful vegetables into pickles with her Momofuku pickles a few weeks ago. My recipe does rquire quite a few more ingredients, but it is very adaptable, so use what you have on hand!

Feel free to add coriander, skip any of the spices you don’t have at home, use different types of vegetables, experiment with various types of vinegar, or make any other adjustments you want.In yoga they always say to “make this practice your own,” well now I’m telling you to make these pickles your own!

These pickles take a mere 20 minutes to throw together, and then they do all the work when the vegetables marinate in the brine for at least two days. Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Refrigerator Pickles

Adapted from Fine Cooking

Ingredients:

• 1 Tsp coriander seeds
• 1 Tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 1/2 Tsp celery seeds
• 1/4 Tsp fennel seeds
• 2 Cups distilled white vinegar
• 5 Cloves garlic, lightly crushed and peeled
• Three 1/4-inch-thick slices of freshly peeled ginger
• 1/2 Yellow onion, cut in half and then thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1/3 Cup sugar
• 2 Tbs salt
• 1 Tsp black peppercorns
• 1/2 Tsp ground turmeric
• 3-4 Dried chili peppers
• 1 Cup water
• 5-7 persian cucumbers (or any vegetable of your choosing)

Here is the vinegar-based brine coming to a boil, before being poured over the pickles

Directions:

1. Toast the coriander, mustard, and celery, and fennel seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally for about two minutes, until fragrant
2. Add the vinegar, garlic, ginger, onion, sugar, salt, peppercorns, turmeric, chili peppers, and water to the toasted spices, then bring it all to a boil
3. Pack the vegetables in a 2-qt. glass jar
4. Pour the hot brine over the vegetables and let it all cool to room temperature
5. Close the jar and refrigerate for 2 to 14 days