Every month at The Exchange office, we have some kind of themed lunch just to take some time to come together and also try different foods we might not make on a normal basis.

So at our most recent potluck, I chose to bring in “Corn Salad” and I’ve got to say I’ll probably be making this for myself in the future.

I found a few recipes and ended up mixing them together — hoping for the best, like I always tend to do. But this turned out to be a pretty great mix of flavors.

One thing I did that was completely different than both recipes: I found I was using more — and frozen — corn and sauteing my green peppers. I don’t know why but I personally don’t like raw green peppers, but I can get them when they’re cooked so I decided to do that.

I will also add this makes A LOT of food but it’s perfect for having with plenty of other dishes during a hot summer week since I served it cold.

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Ingredients …

32 oz of frozen corn

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

2 tomatoes, diced

1 medium green bell pepper, diced

1 medium orange pepper, diced

1 red onion, diced

2 limes

1 cup of crumbled feta cheese

1/2 cup of sweet onion dressing

2 teaspoons of garlic

1 teaspoon of olive oil

1/2 cup of fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning

1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon of cayenne

Salt and pepper

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Directions …

In a large pan add olive oil and corn. Allow to cook for several minutes while stirring consistently. Once it begins to heat up add garlic one teaspoon at a time while stirring. Add Cajun seasoning and salt and pepper. Continue to cook until most of the corn has a nice char but isn’t burnt.

While corn is cooking chop vegetables and begin making the dressing. Add the sweet onion dressing, cumin, cayenne and lime juice from both limes. Mix together and set aside.

Move corn to a large bowl then add green peppers into the pan with salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes until tender. Add to the bowl of corn then add in the chopped tomatoes, onion, orange pepper and black beans. Slowly stir in dressing. Add feta and cilantro and mix.

Put the bowl in the freezer and allow to sit for several hours, or overnight, then enjoy.

Katelin Gandee can be reached at [email protected].