Spring Salad Recipes — The Corn and Black Bean Salad That Tastes Like August Ending

I have spent this week preparing for a school year unlike any I have experienced in forty-one years of teaching. New protocols: temperature checks, contact tracing, one-way hallways, no shared supplies, hand sanitizer at every desk. I attended a faculty training via Zoom on Wednesday in which a twenty-six-year-old administrator explained to a room of veteran teachers how to manage a classroom during a pandemic, and I listened politely and did not say what I was thinking, which is: I have managed classrooms through budget cuts, school shootings, September 11th, and the year the heating system broke in January. I can manage a pandemic. I do not need a PowerPoint. I need a plan. Give me the plan and I will execute it with the same precision I bring to a brisket, which is to say: with complete commitment and no tolerance for shortcuts.

Gloria called. She wants to come back — her parents have stabilized, she's comfortable with the risk, she misses Marvin. I said yes with a speed that may have seemed desperate because it was desperate. Gloria coming back means I can go to school without leaving Marvin alone. Gloria coming back means three mornings a week of someone else watching him, someone else making sure he eats, someone else being present so I can be absent, and the absence — the blessed, necessary, guilt-inducing absence — is what keeps me functional. I need to leave this house. I need to be Mrs. Feldman in a classroom, not just Ruth in a kitchen. Both are me. I need both to survive.

I made a corn and black bean salad — a colorful, crunchy, lime-dressed thing that is the kind of food you make at the end of summer when the corn is still good and the garden is still producing and you want to eat something that looks like August tastes: bright, warm, almost over. The summer is almost over. The school year is about to begin. Marvin is here. Gloria is coming back. I have a plan. The brisket — the metaphorical brisket, the plan — is in the oven. Let it cook.

This is the salad I made at the end of that week — the week of Zoom trainings and Gloria’s phone call and the slow, welcome settling of a plan. I wanted something that required no oven, no hovering, no patience I didn’t have left. A spring salad, really, stretched into August: raw corn cut straight from the cob, black beans, a sharp lime dressing, everything tossed together in under twenty minutes. It looked like the season tasted — vivid and almost gone — and it fed me in exactly the way I needed to be fed that night.

Spring Salad Recipes: Corn and Black Bean Salad with Lime Dressing

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 15 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 2 ears fresh corn, kernels cut from the cob (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced small
• 1/4 red onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced (optional)
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

1. Prep the corn. If you prefer a slightly sweeter, more tender kernel, blanch the corn ears in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, then cool under cold water before cutting. For a fully raw, crunchy salad, cut the kernels directly from the raw cob.
2. Combine the salad base. In a large bowl, combine the corn kernels, black beans, cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeño if using. Toss gently to distribute evenly.
3. Make the lime dressing. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, cumin, salt, and black pepper until well combined.
4. Dress and toss. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss thoroughly to coat. Taste and adjust salt or lime juice as needed.
5. Rest briefly and serve. Let the salad sit for 5 minutes before serving so the flavors can come together. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled. This salad holds well in the refrigerator for up to 2 days; stir before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 210 | Protein: 8g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 30g | Fiber: 7g | Sodium: 310mg