Smoke And Mildness before the Voluminous Coat of Snow.

Salads / October 8, 2013

Enjoying our warm spell? You know I am. Indian Summer, however long it lasts, is a beautiful time of year where the color of fall, and heat of September marry in a vibrant and hopeful pairing. So, what does it mean?

According to www.phrases.org.uk, Indian Summer is defined as the following:

Indian summer is first recorded in Letters From an American Farmer, a 1778 work by the French-American soldier turned farmer J. H. St. John de Crèvecoeur (a.k.a. Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crèvecoeur): “Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares it to receive the voluminous coat of snow which is soon to follow; though it is often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian Summer.”

What a beautiful and poetic description! Sounds like he could write a food blog. However, lucky for us, there probably won’t be voluminous coats of snow here in the Carolinas. Nevertheless, this week we are surely enjoying an Indian Summer. To celebrate, I created a quick, colorful and fresh Corn Salad that is a variation on a recipe I made up 20 years ago called, “Autumn Relish.” This one packs more of a punch, so I’m calling it my Indian Summer Relish Salad.

Full of fast ingredients, this definitely fits into the #fabin40. Enjoy!

Indian Summer Relish Salad

Prep Time: 20 min. Total Time: 200 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 can northern white beans, drained and rinsed 1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can yellow corn, drained
2 stalks celery cut into preferred sized chunks. I did a medium dice
1/4 medium red onion diced
1 loose cup of spring greens, with radicchio, rinsed, dried and julienned
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
1 small jalapeno, green part only, diced (I might use two!)
Mix all ingredients together. Add vinaigrette just before serving.
Tips: Add 2 cloves minced garlic if you like, for some pop! This is great with fresh fish, or over chicken, if you heat up.

Vinaigrette:

3 T lemon juice, fresh! 3 T rice wine vinegar 1 1/2 T white sugar
5 T sunflower oil
1 T fresh thyme, leaves only salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Whisk briskly. Set aside. Store in fridge until use.