roasted corn peanut salad

**imagine gorgeous close-up photo here**

have you ever been to f2O? it's a casual fast-food fusion restaurant franchise that serves salads, sandwiches, etc. i went there for the first time a few weeks ago and ordered a wedge salad with the roasted corn peanut salad on the side. the wedge salad was okay, but the roasted corn peanut salad rocked my socks off. it was sweet, tangy, and salty but really fresh and crisp. the flavors complemented each other so well!

well, i've searched high and low for the recipe and couldn't find it. so i hacked it myself. a lot of this is to taste cause i just basically fiddled around with ingredients and measurements but i got the concept down and it turned out pretty damn good. it's a very satisfying side dish or snack on its own. without further ado...

Roasted Corn Peanut Salad


4-6 ears of fresh corn

1 big red bell pepper, finely diced

1 white onion, finely diced

3 medium carrots, fresh and julienned (or coarse grated)

2 or 3 cups dry roasted peanuts (more or less, depending on how crunchy you like it)

handful of fresh basil leaves (from your fabulous herb garden...)

1 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup agave nectar (or honey would probably work just fine)

2 tablespoons of toasted sesame oil

coarse ground sea salt and pepper to taste

1 lime, fresh squeezed to taste


okay, first thing to do is roast the corn. we ran out of propane on our grill so i just lightly brushed the corn with olive oil and broiled them in my oven. either way is fine! don't over-roast them, though - you still want the corn to have some fresh crunch to it.

finely dice the bell pepper and onion, combine with julienned carrots in big bowl. you could probably get really creative here and add fresh bean sprouts or maybe some fresh jalepeno if you want to add some kick. pretend you're making salsa...

in another smaller bowl, combine the vinegar, sesame oil, olive oil and agave nectar. whisk together and taste. if you like the taste, you're done - if it needs more sweet or tangy, add nectar or vinegar until you're happy :)

by now the corn should be done so take those out and carefully cut the kernels off the cob with a knife. be careful with the knife, i was impatient so i cut my kernels off before the corn cooled but you might want to wait until they are cool enough to touch. i just set the corn on it's wide end and cut vertically down the sides, rotating the corn as i go.

combine the corn with the other veggies in the big bowl, add peanuts and toss. drizzle in the vinegar mix, sprinkle some salt and pepper, squeeze in some lime juice, and throw in your chopped fresh basil and toss your salad some more, baby!

the result is yummy crunchy fresh sweet tangy salty delishiousness. you might have to play with the amounts of seasoning to your liking. i would say this dish would go great at barbeques. it's best served cold but ya know.. it's okay to eat it once it's done for quality control purposes...

sorry about not having a picture, not only did i misplace the stupid charger for my camera but the salad didn't stick around long enough to be photographed, anyways..... if i make some more, i'll definitely have a damn picture to show for it next time..