Yes, more corn.  But I tell you what, this recipe is probably my favorite one so far. Better yet, my wife even made it…which in my house, as of late, has been a rarity.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to cook and most times prefer to cook because I enjoy it so.  And, my wife did just have a baby 3 months back and is homeschooling our children and is working the tech stuff for our business and blah, blah, blah…but, all of the ‘yes, my wife is the bomb fan club stuff aside’, it is nice when she cooks.  I’m still a man and us manly men like to see our wives in the kitchen, right?  I at least had the barefoot and pregnant thing going for me, why not the trifecta?

OK,all fun aside, the Black Bean & Roasted Corn Salad is just a preview to next week’s menu.  One of my wife’s best friends visited us from D.C. and they whipped up an awesome dinner.  The Black Bean & Corn Salad was the side dish.

The main component, you ask?  Wish Tacos!!!

What are these, you ask again?  Well, you’ll have to wait until next week…sorry.

Nothing better than friends visiting you and helping to cook.  All I had to do was sit back, enjoy some wine and watch Laviyah and her girlfriend act silly and be giddy all night long.  What is it about women?  They haven’t seen each other in almost 3 years.  They get together and immediately start acting like middle school girls gossiping about boys.

If it was me and my friend… we’d say ‘what’s up’, grab a beer and watch the game on TV.  Then we would eat, say ‘good seein ya’ and I’d fall asleep.  Mars & Venus, I guess.

Back to the matter at hand.  My one complaint is that Laviyah isn’t used to the whole meticulous documentation of photographing recipes step by step by step.  So, you will notice most of the photos involving her recipes currently are beginning, middle and end shots.  I’ll do my best to detail everthing.  In the end, you’ll have an easy time replicating her creations.

Alright let’s get started.  We will be assembling this in 4 stages: Stage 1 – Preparing the Black Beans; Stage 2 – Preparing the Roasted Corn; Stage 3 – Preparing the corn mixture; Stage 4 – Adding the Black Beans.

Stage 1:  We made the Black Beans the day before and chilled overnight.  Sorry, no pics, but here’s the recipe:

Black Beans Ingredients:

• 2 cups black beans, soaked at least 12 hours
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 10 cloves garlic, rough chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
• 1/4 large, 1/2 medium or 1 small red onion, diced

Black Beans Preparation:

• In crock pot or slow cooker, combine all ingredients w/ 3 cups of water and cook on high for 6 hours.  You want the beans to hold a slight firmness and not get too soft or mushy.
• Strain the beans to remove excess stock
• Put beans in container and cool

Stage 2:  For the Roasted Corn, follow the recipe link.  It is the same application we posted yesterday.  For this recipe we are using 5 ears of that fresh and delicious corn. First, add 1 tablespoon vegetable margarine to a medium to large size mixing bowl.  Once the corn is roasted, and still hot, remove all the kernels from the cob into the mixing bowl using a pairing or smaller knife.  The warm kernels will melt the margarine.  For the play by play as to how to do scrape the corn, refer to the explanation in our Skillet Corn recipe.  Once the 5 ears of corn are scraped mix with the margarine to evenly distribute.

Stage 3:  Oh my, a picture!  Way to go Laviyah, it only took you two stages to get yourself together.

Corn mixture Ingredients:

• 5 ears of corn, roasted, scraped and mixed with 1 tablespoon vegetable margarine (See stage 2)
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/3 of a bunch of cilantro, chopped fine
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (if desired, add more to taste)

Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl and mix.

Stage 4:  Add 3 cups of your pre-cooked and chilled black beans, mix and your done.

In four simple, yet timely, stages, you have prepared a fantastic dish.  The Black Bean & Roasted Corn Salad can accompany your entree or be eaten happily by itself.  Believe me, this salad is tasty and will make you happy.  The Black Bean & Roasted Corn Salad has a hint of spice but chiefly adds a nice coolness to your plate, especially on these soon to happen hot summer days.

That makes any plate look great.  What’s that on the left of the Black Beans & Corn…ooh baby, that’s a little peak at the Wish Tacos! topped w/ a Cilantro Cole Slaw.  This salad went perfectly with this meal.  UMMMM, UMMMM!!!!  Don’t worry, next week you’ll have the entire recipe to complete this outstanding meal.

For now, you have some delicious Black Bean & Roasted Corn Salad.  Make it ahead of time, so you can dive right in to the next level of mouth wateringness next week.