Cilantro Corn Salsa

There was a time in my life when I could not be persuaded to try corn salsa. Which, as I write this, makes me laugh because I really consider myself to have quite an adventurous palate. On the cob, off the cob, it's great! In a salad or a soup, meh. There is something about corn, probably only on a visual level, that makes me pause when it is used as an ingredient. So I'm sure you can imagine I was not interested in trying anything with corn as its main ingredient. Luckily, however, one fateful afternoon at work, I found myself hungry enough to give corn salsa a try. Amazing!  I would've loved to have seen the look of shock on my face as I realized how much I liked it. I immediately realized how severely I had been missing out each time I disdainfully passed it by. Now I look back on those days as a dark chapter in my culinary history.

After looking around for a good recipe, I found myself underwhelmed.  None of them seemed to give me enough flavor, so I went ahead and figured out my own recipe.  It's a favorite of mine when I need something to take to a warm weather get together. 

I make things pretty easy on myself with this one.  Here are the ingredients:  One bag of frozen corn, thawed.  Four or five jalapenos, seeds removed.  Four of five cloves of garlic.  One bunch of cilantro.  The juice of five limes.  One large red onion (well, most of it).  Salt and pepper to taste. 

I add the juice of the limes to the corn so it can soak while I prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Next, I throw the garlic and jalapeno into the food processor and pulse for a few seconds.  I place those on top of the corn.  Then I pulse most (maybe 3/4s) of the red onion and place that in with the corn as well.  I chop the cilantro by hand and add it to the mixture.  I then toss in some salt and pepper to taste and mix everything together.  I've found that the salsa tastes best once it has had a few hours in the fridge so the flavors can have some time to combine and set in.  When I'm ready to serve the salsa, I use a slotted spoon so I don't transfer all of the lime juice into the serving bowl.   

This is one of my favorite treats to have in the fridge.  It's great with some chips for a quick snack and perfect as a taco topping.  I've also found it tastes incredible atop a bratwurst.

Oh, and yes.  This does mean I no longer pass things up when corn is involved, well, not every time at least.

Will you try it? Let me know what you think! 

Heather