Roasted Corn Salad with Avocado, Tomato & Black Beans

It's corn season!!! The market had fresh, locally grown corn on sale so I thought it would make a wonderful salad paired with some fresh garden tomatoes and a zesty dressing. Let it "marinate" for an hour in the fridge before serving. It's become one of my summertime favorites.

INGREDIENTS
Soak 3 ears of corn with husks on in water for 30 minutes
1/2 cup grape tomatoes sliced in half lengthwise
1/4 cup jicama, cut into strips
1 can organic black beans, rinsed and drained
1 avocado, diced and sprinkled with lime juice to prevent browning
1 handful of cilantro chopped
10 basil leaves, sliced into ribbons (reserve some of the chopped herbs for garnish).
3 tbs crumbled cotija cheese

DRESSING
4 tbs champagne vinegar1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 tbs dijon mustard
juice of one lime and one small orange plus zest
1 tsp sea salt
(combine all ingredients except oil, then slowly drizzle oil into vinaigrette while whisking until it emulsifies- about 2 minutes).

Roast the corn in their husks over a 400 degree grill about 25 minutes until the kernels burst with sweet milk. Let them cool then remove from the husks. Over a large cutting board, slice the kernels off of the cobs. Mix all the ingredients together in a large salad bowl, drizzle with dressing, pinch some more sea salt and fresh pepper over the salad and leave it in the fridge one hour. Let it rest at room temperature about 30 minutes before serving then garnish with more herbs. I crumbled some cotija cheese over the salad for the perfect little flavor punch. (I omitted the cheese for the salad in the photo as we had a vegan over for lunch that day, but it really takes the salad to another level).

Makes 6 servings