Grilled Zucchini and Corn with Tomato Grain Salad

Hello! I have a recipe! And some life updates!

I had all of the intentions of being better about blogging, sharing recipes, and staying engaged with this platform this year. But then, food styling jobs started picking back up. Like intensely back up. For April, May and June, I was only home a handful of days each month. Along with Lola’s softball travel schedule, freelancing, and trying to stay mentally balanced there was just some things that I needed to put aside. That’s the thing with being self-employed. When it’s busy, it’s BUSY. And when it’s not, you are a mix of emotions between grateful to have time off along with a heavy panic of when the next job is. 

Luckily July has been a nice mix of creative projects, feeling inspired (and having time) to get back into the kitchen, a few family trips to Bend Oregon, and working on my garden. Which for those of you that don’t know, our garden was completely demolished while we were on vacation by the free-range cows. Not one of the perks of country living. Luckily I was able to stabilize a few of the tomatoes and zucchini, along with the potted basil. Which brings me to this recipe. A simple take on a grain salad, loading it up with summer vegetables, both raw and roasted, some crunchy bits, herbs, cheese, and a fish-sauce style vinageriette. 

This is by all means, sort of a no-recipe/recipe type of a meal. I’ll show you what I did, but really it should be used as a base to create your own combinations. From mixing up the roasted vegetables, the dressing, cheeses, which grains, what crunchy bits, possibly adding a protein. The most important thing is to taste along the way. Season accordingly. Does it need more fat? Salt? Acid? Crunch? I did not have any red onions on hand, but that would have been great. Stone fruit is delicious in this combination as well. Make it taste good to you! 

Roasted Zucchini and Corn with Tomato Grain Salad
2 servings

Salad
1 cup of kamut (farro, brown rice, barley, wheatberries)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 zucchini, sliced
1 ear corn, husked
1/4 cup corn nuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup feta cheese, shaved (ricotta salata would work great too)
Fresh basil for garnish

Dressing 
1 garlic, finely grated
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt + Pepper

Steps:
Using a medium saucepan, bring water and 1 tsp. kosher salt to a boil. Add in your grains, bring back up to a boil, and then reduce heat slightly. Stirring occasionally until tender, about 20-30 minutes depending on the grain. I like to set my timer for 15, taste, set my timer again, and taste again. Drain and set aside to let cool. 

Meanwhile, make your dressing in a large bowl that you will toss everything together in. Whisk together the garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, rice vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. Then slice your tomatoes and add to the dressing to marinate. This is where I would have added red onions or even a shallot if I had on hand. 

Next, grill the zucchini and corn. I use a grill pan for this indoors, but by all means if you are eating this salad along with some protein that you are grilling outside, feel free to use your bbq. I just tend to eat this meal for lunch and I find the grill pan faster and more manageable on time. Don’t have a grill pan or bbq? Just use a large skillet, or you could even roast them in your oven! 

Lightly oil your grill pan and place the sliced zucchini and corn in the pan over medium heat. I prefer to grill my vegetables, especially zucchini, dry, and then toss with oil/sauce/dressing afterwards. Let the zucchini get some good grill marks on them and then flip, adjusting heat so you do not burn anything. About 2-3 minutes per side. Continue to roll your corn around allowing it to get some color. 

Remove the zucchini from the heat and add to the large bowl. While the corn is cooling off, add your grains to the bowl and toss together. Here you can start adjusting the flavors of the dressing. 

Once the corn is cool enough to handle, cut off the kernels and add to the bowl. Toss everything together. Then gently combine in the feta cheese, chopped corn nuts and freshly torn basil to serve.