Cook Something: Three Bean Salad and Fresh Corn Cakes

So...remember when summer vacation meant lounging around lazily and doing whatever your heart desired?  Yeah.  I haven't seen any of that y et.  My first month of summer has been filled with 2 cite checks, summer school, and tons of other school stuff.  Still waiting on some real free time.

But summer has meant that I've been home at night to cook.  I'm really working on minimizing our meat consumption, because...well it's a little out of hand.  Summer produce really is a beautiful thing, which makes basing entire meals off of it a piece of cake.  Corn cake, in this instance.

To my vegetarian friends, this one's for you.

So on the plate tonight is a three bean salad and fresh corn cakes.  I followed this recipe and they turned out wonderfully.   They had a fantastic sweet/savory balance and weren't too heavy or dense.  She served hers with a very cute tomato and avocado salad.  But as the boy constantly reminds me, "if I'm not going to feed him meat, then I have to serve something with a little bit of heft."  So I perused a hodge podge of various bean recipes I found on the internet and ended up coming up with my own.

Three Bean Salad

• 1 14 oz can each black, pinto, and kidney beans.  Drained but not rinsed.
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion, soaked in a couple tablespoons of red wine vinegar for approximately 10 minutes.
• the kernels from 1-2 ears of fresh corn
• 1/4 cup avocado tomatillo salsa (recipe below)
• 1 avocado roughly chopped
• 1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 serano finely diced (optional)

Mix everything except the avocado in a large bowl.  Immediately before saving add the chopped avocado and gently mix.  I wait to add the avocado until serving to prevent browning.

Avocado Tomatillo Salsa

• 1 lb tomatillos, husked removed and cut in half
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 1-2 jalapeños/seranos
• 1 avocado, roughly chopped
• 1/2 a medium red onion, roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup of fresh lemon juice

Roast the first 3 ingredients  under a broiler until slightly charred and softened, around 10-15 minutes.  Add to the bowl of a food processor along with the onion, avocado, and lime juice.  Pulse until smooth.  This should keep in the refrigerator for approximately one week, but I like to eat it with chips and on salads...so it doesn't last that long in my house.

This truly was a simply and very satisfying meal, even without any meat.