Grilled Potato and Corn Salad

Summer solstice week. The longest day of the year, June 21, and in Hartford that meant daylight until 8:40 PM and the kitchen finally warm enough to cook with the windows open, and the morning walks with Eduardo actually pleasant, not a survival exercise. Summer is my third-favorite season after fall and early spring, but summer in Connecticut is the season where I come closest to forgetting I live in the north.

This week I made a cold soup — not a proper Spanish gazpacho, but my version, which uses a cucumber base plus tomato plus red pepper plus a little of the scraped corn from four ears of summer corn because corn is peaking, and a chiffonade of basil, and a swirl of olive oil on top. I served it in small bowls as a first course at Sunday dinner, and my children looked at me like I had betrayed them ("Ma, this is cold, this is not a proper soup") and then they ate it and asked for more, and Miguel Jr. said, "Is this gazpacho?" and I said, "No, it is Delgado-cold-soup, I made it up, you like it, now eat." He ate three bowls.

Sofía is one week into nursing school and already exhausted. She came over Tuesday and slept on the couch for two hours while I cooked dinner. When she woke up she said, "Ma, the reading is insane." I said, "Mija, the reading is what you signed up for. Do you want me to make you café con leche?" She said yes. I made it strong. She drank two cups. She drove home with the energy of a caffeinated person who has taken a nap and been fed, which is the energy Delgado women require to do anything difficult. Wepa.

Mami has had a good week. Three good days out of seven, which is as many as she has had in a row in a month. She asked Wednesday night about my job, which she has not asked about in a while. I told her about the cafeteria — the new summer menu, the fresh fruit rotation, the thing I am piloting with local produce from farms in Bloomfield — and she listened and she said, "You are good at that job." Simple. True. Her approval does not need flowers. It is enough that she said it.

Thursday night I sat on the porch with Eduardo and we watched the fireflies come out. Hartford fireflies are the one thing Hartford has over Bayamón in the summer. Puerto Rico does not have fireflies, not really, not the way a Connecticut backyard has fireflies at 8:45 PM in late June. I watched them blink and I thought: okay, Hartford, I will give you this one. You have something I love. The fireflies. The long days. The husband in the lawn chair next to me. The baby in nursing school. The mother still alive in her apartment three miles away. Wepa.

The same four ears of corn I scraped for the cold soup left me with kernels to spare, and on a week when the days were this long and this golden, it felt wrong not to use every bit of them. This grilled potato and corn salad is the other side of that same summer solstice instinct — a little smoke from the grill, a little char, something you can eat outside at 8:30 PM while the fireflies are just starting and Eduardo is still in the lawn chair. It is the kind of dish Mami would have called honest food. I will take that.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 40 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs small Yukon Gold potatoes, halved
3 ears fresh sweet corn, husked
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 clove garlic, minced

Instructions

Parboil the potatoes. Place halved potatoes in a pot of salted cold water. Bring to a boil and cook 8–10 minutes, until just fork-tender but not falling apart. Drain and pat dry.
Heat the grill. Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to medium-high heat (about 400°F). Brush grates clean and lightly oil them.
Season and grill the corn. Rub ears of corn with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Grill, turning occasionally, 10–12 minutes until kernels are charred in spots. Remove and let cool slightly, then cut kernels from the cob.
Grill the potatoes. Toss parboiled potatoes with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Place cut-side down on the grill. Cook 5–7 minutes per side until grill marks form and edges are crisp. Transfer to a large bowl.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl whisk together remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, smoked paprika, minced garlic, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until emulsified.
Assemble the salad. Add grilled corn kernels, red onion, and parsley to the bowl with potatoes. Pour dressing over everything and toss gently to coat. Taste and adjust salt and vinegar as needed.
Serve. Serve warm, at room temperature, or slightly chilled. This salad holds well for up to 2 hours at room temperature, making it ideal for porch dinners and Sunday spreads.

Nutrition (per serving)

Grilled Potato and Corn Salad — The Corn Was Peaking, and So Were We