With fall weather just creeping in, it's a perfect time for being outside and continuing to fire up the grill. I was inspired to head out to the grill by a recipe for Grilled Chicken and Corn with Jalapeño-Lime Dressing in the August issue of Food & Wine. Something about the photo kept drawing me in each time I flipped through the issue, and a quick scan of the ingredient list convinced me this was a recipe I needed to try. Of course, I couldn't just make it as written; I tweaked it a little to include my garden bounty and some other ingredients I thought would work well with the jalapeño-lime dressing.
And then I made two versions of the salad. Both had the groundwork of chicken, corn, and scallions, but I added zucchini and tomatoes to mine and a cubanelle pepper to Jeff's. It's an easy salad to tailor to the likes and dislikes of those eating it.
I prepped all the ingredients while Jeff watched football, and at halftime we grilled up the salad components together. Then I combined, arranged, and garnished everything, and we dug in.
This might not sound like typical Sunday afternoon football food, but I thought it was a great way to ease into football season. I know I'll soon be spending my Sundays making soups, big pots of sauce, chili, and other heavier dishes. It was nice to kick things off on a lighter, brighter note, with the zippy lime dressing, a little hit of heat, and the nutty charred corn.
Grilled Chicken And Corn Salad With Feta And Jalapeño-Lime Dressing
(adapted from Food & Wine, August 2014)
Charred corn, grilled chicken, vegetables, and feta in jalapeño-lime dressing make a flavorful, kicked-up summer salad.
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Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients
Dressing
5 tablespoons lime juice
2½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoons minced jalapeño (with seeds if you like the heat)
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Salad
2 ears corn, all but last green layer of husk removed, and silk trimmed
1 small zucchini, cut lengthwise into planks
1 cubanelle pepper, stemmed, halved lengthwise, and seeded
1 bunch scallions, ends trimmed, halved
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and pepper
2 (6-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed
1½ teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
6 ounces assorted small tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
Crumbled feta
Chopped fresh chives
Lime zest
Preparation
Dressing
Whisk all ingredients together in bowl and set aside.
Salad
Prepare medium-hot fire in grill. While grill heats up, soak corn in water for 10 minutes and then drain.
In a medium bowl, toss the zucchini, cubanelle pepper, and scallions with 2 tablespoons oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Coat chicken with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper.
Grill corn, zucchini, cubanelle pepper, scallions, and chicken over medium-hot fire, turning occasionally, until vegetables are lightly charred, 5 to 15 minutes, and chicken registers 160 degrees, about 15 minutes. Let chicken rest for 5 minutes, then slice thin.
Cut scallions and zucchini into 1-inch pieces. Remove husks from corn and cut kernels off cob. Transfer vegetables to large bowl. Add tomatoes, basil, and half of dressing. Toss to combine. (Or you can divide the vegetables between 2 bowls as I did, if you’re serving this to people with different likes. I did one salad with scallions, corn, and cubanelle pepper and one with scallions, corn, zucchini, and tomatoes.)
Serve salad topped with chicken; garnished with feta, chives, and lime zest; and drizzled with extra dressing.
What are you making while we're transitioning to fall?