Southwestern Black Bean Salad

Last week it was too hot to cook anything, so Carolyn and I put our culinary minds to the test and developed a great dinner that didn't require heat of any kind. Just kidding--as usual, we ripped off somebody else's recipe and are now passing it off as our own creation. Today's dinner (or rather, last week's dinner, because I'm too lazy to post anything on time) is brought to you once again by the Moosewood Restaurant cookbooks.

As you probably surmised from the title, we had Southwestern Black Bean Salad. Being the lover of black beans that she is, Carolyn wasn't content to only have it once a week in tacos. And now that it's so hot outside, soup is out of the question. Naturally, then, she found a way to combine them with lettuce. The following is a fairly simple salad recipe, but what made it special was the Cilantro Lime Dressing (also found in the Moosewood) that topped it off.

Cilantro Lime Dressing:
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 entire scallions, chopped
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup oil

Blend all ingredients except oil until smooth. Mix in oil slowly by blending on low speed.

The Salad:
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 & 1/2 cups cooked corn
2 avocados
8 cups of your favorite leafy green vegetable (we used romaine today)
tortilla chips

-Toss corn and beans together with cilantro lime dressing in a bowl.
-On your plates, place your greens, then crush tortilla chips over top.
-Mound your corn/black bean/dressing in the center.
-Add cubed avocado to the mix.
-Grind a touch of black pepper over the whole business, along with a little salt focused at the avocado.

And that's all it takes. This salad was really tasty, and aside from a little blending, actually faster and easier than the chef-style salad that I typically make. The only reason not to make it weekly, on a whim, is that it requires two fairly time-sensitive ingredients, avocado and cilantro.

We actually cut this recipe in half, and I'd say it was almost enough food for 2 people on it's own. Of course, we'd eaten lunch late and were planning on milkshakes for dessert. If you want to round out the meal, I'd suggest a simple cheese quesadilla. Carolyn's recommendation, if you're making this salad in spring or early summer, is spicy tomato soup.

A note on additions: tomato and grated cheese would not be out of place at all in this salad, but I'd leave out the cheese if you're planning to pair with a quesadilla, to preserve contrast. The Moosewood suggests chopped green olives, which sounds gross to me.