How to make grilled corn and zucchini salad with jalapeño dressing

What this salad should accomplish

This Mexican Grilled Corn and Squash Salad, as written by the cook Janette, combines grilled corn and zucchini with raw red onion, canned green chiles and cilantro, then coats everything in a smooth blended dressing made with lime, honey, cumin and a green jalapeño hot sauce. The grill does most of the flavor work. The corn and zucchini should come off charred. They are then cooled and cut, so the finished salad has smoky vegetables and the sharp bite of raw onion and fresh cilantro.

This method is different from calabacitas cooked in a covered skillet. In those dishes the squash and corn simmer together in the pan. Here the vegetables are grilled separately and mixed only after they cool. Choose this version when you want charred, grilled flavor in a salad rather than a warm, softened skillet side dish.

Ingredients

Vegetable base:

• 4 corn cobs
• 2 zucchini, sliced lengthwise
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup canned green chiles
• 2 1/2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• Vegetable oil, for brushing the corn and zucchini

Jalapeño dressing:

• 1/2 cup olive oil or avocado oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• A large handful of cilantro
• 1 1/2 tablespoons green spicy jalapeño sauce
• 2 tablespoons honey

About the hot sauce: Janette's write-up talks about red hot sauce, but her recipe card calls for a green spicy jalapeño sauce. The ingredient list above follows the card. The green sauce also fits the "jalapeño dressing" named in the title.

Equipment

• A hot outdoor grill or a grill pan
• A brush for oiling the vegetables
• Tongs for turning
• A cutting board and sharp knife for cutting kernels from the cobs and chopping zucchini
• A blender for the dressing
• A large bowl for tossing the salad

Step-by-step method

• 1. Heat an outdoor grill or a grill pan until hot.
• 2. Slice the zucchini lengthwise. Brush the zucchini and the corn cobs with vegetable oil.
• 3. Grill the corn and zucchini, turning them as they cook, until they are charred.
• 4. Take the vegetables off the heat and let them cool.
• 5. While they cool, make the dressing. Put the oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, lime zest, lime juice, cumin, salt, cilantro, green jalapeño sauce and honey in a blender. Blend until smooth.
• 6. Once the vegetables have cooled, cut the kernels off the cobs and chop the grilled zucchini.
• 7. In a large bowl, combine the corn kernels, chopped zucchini, red onion, green chiles and chopped cilantro.
• 8. Pour on the dressing and toss to coat.

Janette's recipe gives no grill temperature or cooking time. Use the char on the vegetables to judge when to pull them, not the clock. Her stated dressing yield is also unreliable, so this guide doesn't say how much of the dressing to add. Start with part of it, toss, and taste. Add more until the vegetables are coated the way you like, and keep any extra for another use.

Judging progress and the finished salad

• On the grill: the corn and zucchini should show visible char. Turn them so the char spreads around the cobs and across the cut sides of the zucchini, not just one face.
• Before cutting: let the vegetables cool before you cut the kernels and chop the zucchini. The method calls for cooling first, and the salad is assembled from cooled vegetables.
• The dressing: blend until the cilantro and garlic are fully broken down and the dressing is smooth, with no visible pieces.
• The finished bowl: you should see charred corn kernels and zucchini pieces mixed evenly with raw red onion, green chiles and chopped cilantro, all coated in the green-flecked dressing.

There are no dish-specific safety steps beyond normal care around a hot grill and a sharp knife. Hold each cob steady on the board when you cut the kernels off.

Substitutions and scaling

• Grill: a grill pan works in place of an outdoor grill. Either way, you still cook until charred.
• Dressing oil: olive oil or avocado oil, as written on the card.
• Hot sauce: the card's choice is a green spicy jalapeño sauce. Using a red hot sauce, as the write-up mentions, changes both the color and the flavor of the dressing.

Example of halving the vegetable base: 2 corn cobs, 1 zucchini, 1/4 cup red onion, 2 tablespoons canned green chiles and 1 1/4 tablespoons cilantro. This is only arithmetic on the ingredient list. It doesn't tell you how many servings the smaller batch makes.