Grilled Zucchini and Corn Salad with Sour Cream and Lime Dressing
The day zucchini hits the grill has come to symbolize a yearly shift in my dietary habits, marking a return to fresher meals cooked and enjoyed outdoors. Zucchini has long been one of my favorite vegetables to grill and pretty much without fail, my grilling season really kicks into gear at the same time this summer squash starts to be available in abundance. This year I had originally planned for zucchini to adorn some grilled vegetable tostadas, but it felt like it would have been out of place with the other toppings of red onion and cabbage, so instead I chose to use it for a zucchini and corn salad that, when eaten alongside those tostadas, provided a great bridge from one seasonal eating to the next.
While I do love zucchini a lot, it's not a hard hitter in the flavor department, so my recipes usually focus on ways to dress it up in some manner. I was going to use corn to bring in sweetness, but that alone would not deliver a very well rounded side dish, so I crafted a dressing to pair with those two main ingredients. Sour cream felt like a fitting base here, and I upped the tang factor by way of lime juice. Then for the undertones that I thought would compliment well, I went with garlic, chili powder, and cumin.
I made a last minute addition to my originally crafted recipe while out shopping when I saw Anaheim peppers and thought fruity heat would do this salad well. This did present a little more effort than I was originally considering though because I needed to char, rest, and then peel and chop the peppers. I wasn't quite sure how many peppers I would need, so I cooked up two, but ended up only needing one in the final salad, especially since these two were spicier than the average Anaheim.
While zucchini season had started, it wasn't corn season yet, so I knew that these would not be the sweetest of the sweet corn, but they did their job never-the-less. The corn actually played a more important role in delivering an enhanced grilled tilt since I cooked the ears directly over the coals until they developed good charring all over. This brought in a welcomed smokiness to the salad that I hadn't originally envisioned.
I often slice my zucchini thinly for cooking over the flames, creating more surface area for more grilled flavor, but I've found this method doesn't always work well for salads where the tender squash can easily fall apart when mixed. So I kept the zucchini in thicker one-inch slices for this recipe, cut on a bias to make each piece longer and easier to manage on the grill. The thicker size meant they took a bit longer to become fully tender than in other recipes, but they were still pretty quick cooking, only needing a few minutes per side.
Once the zucchini was done, I cut each piece into quarters and tossed them in a bowl with the chopped peppers and the kernels I had cut off the cob of the corn. I then added in cilantro, scallions, cotija cheese, and dressing to taste—I didn't end up using all the dressing I had made. Next, after moving the salad into a serving dish, I merely added some more cilantro, scallions, and cotija to give it a finished look.
This was a salad that was after my heart, and totally won it. Zucchini is already an all time favorite grilled vegetable for me, and corn is close behind. Those two worked well together, but the heat from the pepper sealed the deal. The bright and creamy dressing felt very apt for the pairing of these three grilled ingredients, while the cilantro and scallions introduced notes of freshness to contrast against the grilled components. My first tastes were a bit light on the saltiness, but instead of reaching for the salt, I tried upping the cotija first and liked how that panned out, so made the appropriate adjustment to the final recipe so it should be just right when you all make it or if I grill it up again, because this is definitely a side that deserves repeat appearances.
