What could be better than a Saturday afternoon potluck picnic in June? Of course there must be fried chicken – at least in the South - but everything else is just a happy surprise. I took beaten biscuits and country ham, my mom’s recipe – but I cheated and used the food processor to mix the dough (05/12/12). My cousin Liza made her grandmother’s tomato sandwiches with homemade mayonnaise.
There was a lot of picnic tradition represented. It was tempting to take a dessert too, but all picnics need a few salads and I knew this crowd would come through with plenty of sweet treats. (I was not disappointed.)
My salad needed to be delicious both cold and at room temperature since picnic foods tend to sit for a while. Butterbeans are a favorite in my family and kind of unexpected in a salad, so that was my pick for the main ingredient. Sometime we just cook butterbeans, cool them and add olive oil, lemon juice, and fresh tarragon or basil, but for a picnic crowd pleaser, a little bit more of a show is required. It is June, and corn is at the farmers’ markets making it a tasty choice for the next ingredient. And for a touch more flare, I grilled the corn - those little browned bits are so sweet and smoky.
Of course a bit of chopped red onion and red pepper makes any salad so much more festive.
Add the chopped tarragon, and you have a gorgeous salad that everyone will want to taste. I don’t really bother to mix up a dressing for this salad, but just add directly to the bowl- olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a small pinch of sugar. The measuring method of preference is to taste until you love it! My salad was a hit even though it competed with lots of yummy choices.
Wait, did I imply that I made choices – I tasted some everything and didn’t regret it for a minute. I came home with lots of good recipes, but I’m still holding out for the pound cake and balsamic strawberries – that would make a great future blog recipe. Thank you picnic friends!
Butterbean and Grilled Corn Salad
Ingredients
2 (12 oz) bags of frozen butterbeans
4 ears of corn, husks and silk removed
¼ cup chopped red onion
¼ cup chopped red pepper
2 Tbsp chopped tarragon or basil
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup olive oil
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
Directions
Cook butterbeans according to package directions.
Drain and cool.
Place butterbeans in a salad bowl.
While butterbeans cool, grill corn just to blacken a bit- if a grill isn’t handy, just cook corn briefly in boiling water.
Cool corn and cut kernels off of cob.
Add corn, red onion, red pepper, and tarragon or basil to the butterbeans.
Stir in lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and sugar – taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Salad will keep in the fridge for a few days and only improves with age.
