This corn & avocado summer salad is the perfect Cookout side dish. Full of bright colors and delicious fresh ingredients. Make this for your next cookout and watch it disappear. The combination of creamy avocado and sweet corn is a fantastic collaboration of flavor and texture.
Let’s talk about the cookout staple side dishes. You’ve got your bbq beans, Mac & cheese, potato salad and coleslaw but all of those dishes can tend to be kinda heavy. This corn & avocado summer salad is a lighter alternative to those other side dishes that doesn’t lack in the flavor department.
The combination of fresh local corn and creamy tender avocados along with tomatoes, cucumbers and other fresh veggies make this a favorite with my guests at every cookout. I love to watch my guests and see which sides everyone goes for. Everyone loves the classic side dishes but they get excited when they see something new.
Every Cookout has a side dish that gets devoured first. This corn and avocado summer salad is the Cookout side dish champion every time we serve it. Being the Backyard BBQ Side dish champ is a big deal in our neighborhood and we don't take it for granted.
Obviously fresh corn isn’t available year round but when it is take full advantage. Living in Maryland I have access to fantastic local sweet corn in the summer and fall. If I see a roadside produce stand I almost always pull over to grab a dozen ears of corn. In the summer we eat corn on the Cobb a few nights a week and it’s not uncommon for my family to plow through a dozen ears in one meal..my 8 year old nephew is good for 3-4 ears himself.
If you can’t find fresh corn what are the best alternatives. This might sound crazy but I actually prefer canned corn over frozen corn. The kernels of canned corn are closer to fresh corn than frozen. I rinse the canned corn and then use it just as I would fresh corn. Frozen corn is fine if it’s all you have but I prefer to use frozen corn in soups, stews and hot preparations because the liquid seems to rehydrate the kernels.
We all know that the shelf life of a ripe avocado is about as long as an episode of Friends. If you have a few days it’s ok to buy under ripe avocados but if you want to use the avocados right away heat are a few things to look for:
Oxygen is the enemy of avocados. If you are only using half of an avocado leave the pit in the side you’re not using. This will keep the inner flesh bright green. You can squeeze a few drops of lemon juice on the exposed flesh then wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Vacuum sealing is also an option that will help but I think that might be a bit of overkill.
For dishes like this or fresh made guacamole take a sheet of plastic wrap and press it against the surface area of the entire dish so none of the ingredients are exposed to air. Then tightly wrap the container with a second layer of plastic wrap.
The myth of leaving the avocado pit in the guacamole only protects the avocado that the pit is touching. That’s why removing as much air as possible is a much better method.
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