Black bean, corn, and poblano salad.

I adore bean salads. I think part of it is because I grew up with a mother who served a green leaf salad with every meal. It was so terribly healthy and terribly, terribly boring. She would usually serve it undressed, which meant we could choose from an array of old dressing bottles in the fridge. Don't get me wrong, my mother can make a mean salad, but the day to day was less than appetizing.

Now every time I eat a meal that has no green leafy salad, I still feel a modicum of guilt. Crazy right? When I spent six months in Chile during college, it really opened my eyes that we Americans have such a limited view of salad. Salad in Chile usually consists of a small plate of two to three vegetables, often dressed in different combinations of lemon, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

I still remember my favorite combination, porotos verdes, tomate, y palta or essentially equal parts green beans, tomato, and avocado doused in salt and pepper, fresh lemon juice, and oil and vinegar. Yes, Chileans think of avocado as a vegetable in its own right! Bless their hearts. But it's not just Chile, the definition of "salad" in most countries is nothing like the high pile of green leaves, perhaps topped with tomato and a thick mayonnaise-based dressing that we have learned to appreciate as salad (and don't get me wrong I do appreciate it at times - a certain kale salad with cherries and pecans comes to mind).

The main problem with our view of salad is that it gets old. There are only so many fruit and cheese and nut additions you can make to mixed greens. Summer is the time to break out, to celebrate non-leafy-green salads with coleslaw, potato salad, and of course beans.

This is a beautiful bean salad, but it also contains other vegetables worth celebrating. One of my good friends' mothers makes a black bean salad which has come to represent summer to me, and when I saw a recent blog post about a corn and pepper salad, I had to combine them. And add cheese, of course. The original recipe is more of a salsa, but the beans and cheese and change in dressing make it hearty enough to stand alone as a salad. I won't be at all offended if you choose to eat it with tortilla chips, though.

Black bean, corn, and poblano salad
Adapted from Alexandra's Kitchen

1 large or 2 small poblano peppers (this can be increased if you like heat)
2 ears of corn, shucked
1 large red onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick
4 oz cotija cheese, crumbled (salty, hard, Mexican cow's milk cheese that is very similar to ricotta salata)
1 red pepper, diced small
1 can black beans, rinsed
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
salt
pepper

Pre-heat grill to medium-high heat. Rinse poblano peppers well with cold water, making sure to remove any dirt around the stem. Drizzle olive oil lightly over poblano peppers, sliced red onion, and corn and then season with salt and pepper.

Grill vegetables over medium-high heat. Corn will require the least amount of time, but should be turned at least four times, basically every 1-2 minutes for 5-6 minutes. Red onion can be flipped once, after about 4 minutes, with another 4 minutes until done. Peppers also should be turned every 2-3 minutes, and overall may require up to 10 minutes. Corn should just have some blackened kernels, onion should be glossy and soft, and peppers should be fully charred and soft. It is especially important to cook the peppers to a char in order to remove the skins easily.

Once done, place peppers immediately in a small bowl and place a plate over top to seal in the heat and moisture. The steam from the peppers will help remove the skins. Once corn and onions are cool enough to handle, using a sharp knife cut the kernels off the corn and place in a large mixing bowl. Chop the onions coarsely as best you can (they're slippery) and add to bowl. Now the easiest way I found to remove the skins, stems, and seeds is to rip a seam down the side of each pepper, remove the stem and seeds, and then lie the flesh flat to remove the skin - which should peel off easily if you have properly charred the peppers. Coarsely chop peppers and add to mixing bowl. Finally, add black beans, red pepper, crumbled cotija cheese, and chopped cilantro reserving a small amount of cilantro for garnish. Add olive oil and vinegars and stir entire mixture until well combined. Taste for salt and pepper. Garnish with remaining cilantro.