I feel like raw corn is not celebrated or spoken about nearly as much as it should be. (If this is a new concept to you, I am so glad to be the person to let you know that raw corn is absolutely a thing, and it is absolutely delicious.)
Raw corn is sweet, creamy, crunchy, fresh and a breeze to cook with because, well, mother nature has pretty much done most of the work, and so all you need to do is add some salt, fat, acid and heat and you’re good to go. And, on that, have I got the salt, fat, acid, and heat combo for you!
One of my favourite pairings for raw corn is heirloom tomatoes. In this salad, the heirlooms so elegantly bring all of their wonderful acidity, juiciness and colour to the table, and this salad is one that you could serve up beautifully on a platter for a hosting situation. At the same time, this could also be described as a fridge raid-esque melange of ingredients that get excitedly eaten straight out of the mixing bowl, with a large spoon, and an even larger smile.
The next ingredient that I’d like to bring you in on, kind of feels like one that I prefer enjoy in secret. I think that’s because I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit how much I like it, given the recipes it is typically used in.
I’ll give you some hints: It’s been around for a long time, and I think most probably rose to fame and popularity when veganism was on the rise in the mid 2010s, and social media duly became a shrine to dairy-free alts, like fake cacio e pepe sauces, and pretty much anything else that needed to taste of cheese, but not be cheese, you know?
My friends, I’m talking about nutritional yeast - and I am no longer ashamed to admit that I bloody love her!
“The nooch” (cringe) is nutty, it is cheesy, it is umami-rich, and I actually can’t get enough of it. And if I’m laying my honest truth out on the line here, I will admit that sometimes, if I’m making a super simple pasta at home for myself, Jon and Navy, I’ll often choose NY over parmesan. (Omg. Can’t believe I just wrote that.) But, yeh, it is true. It does a lot of work without the effort of needing to grate it or to clean up the utter mess that is a block of parmesan and a microplane.
In the case of this wonderful salad, we’re combining raw corn with those gorgeous tomatoes, finely sliced red onion, fresh rounds of stinking hot, but citrusy, fresh jalapeños, lots of extra virgin olive oil, sea salt flakes, fresh lime juice and, yep, nutritional yeast. The combo of the lime and the NY almost emulsify to coat the veg in this super tangy, almost creamy, salty, bright and delicious sauce.
Toss some fresh coriander through the whole dish, and you have got yourself a salad that I guarantee you’ll make for the rest of your life. When I say we were all hovering over the mixing bowl, shovelling mouthfuls of this salad in like we hadn’t eaten in days, believe me, cos it’s true.
Enjoy the hell out of this one! Your friends and family will love you even more than they already do for bringing this into their lives.
Serve: 2 to 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Chopping board
Sharp chef’s knife
Colander
2 mixing bowls
600 g mixed heirloom tomatoes
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