This week, Craving Ellie in My Belly is making Chicken with Warm Tomato-Corn Salad, chosen by Danica of Danica's Daily. I decided to deviate just a bit from Ellie's original recipe this time. I took a look at the chicken part of the recipe and decided I wanted to jazz things up a little. I love a simple piece of grilled chicken just as much as the next healthy-eating gal, but I took this opportunity to put a yummy rotisserie chicken to good use. I'll be using half my (albeit slightly anti-healthy) store-bought chicken for another meal this week, so I decided the other half would make some very delicious barbecue pulled chicken sliders.
As for the tomato-corn salad portion of the recipe, I didn't change a thing! This was so fresh, so bright, so colorful and flavorful and just perfect. I was fortunate enough to be able to use home-grown corn (thanks again to Andy's parents!) that was so sweet and tender, it was hard not to just eat it by the cob. The cherry tomatoes were fantastic; as I've been saying on my blog for a little while now, I have really come to embrace them when they are cooked exactly this way.
The cilantro was just enough pop for me, the lime juice was a welcome taste of acid, and as for the avocado...well, everybody enjoyed it but me! I have tried (and failed) in the past to like avocado, but so far I can only eat it if it is blended into something else. I guess I like the flavor, but not the texture. I'm admittedly weird when it comes to food textures, and I'm working on it! This group really does help with that. Look at me and tomatoes, BFFs now!
Anyway, we decided to serve the avocado alongside everything in slices. I heard that the slices were really good on the pulled chicken sandwiches, too. For my other side dish, I served a simple pilaf of Israeli couscous (a favorite around here) that went over well. My mother in-law had never eaten this before, and she loved it. We like introducing people to Israeli couscous, because everyone seems to enjoy it once they've had it. It's sort of a cross between regular, smaller couscous, pearled barley, and orzo. It's easy to make and so versatile! If you ever find it in your grocery store, I highly recommend giving it a try.
But back to the Warm Tomato-Corn Salad! It was a huge hit at our dinner table; even "the picky one" devoured it without a single complaint. That right there speaks volumes about this dish. I mean, it was veggies, and it was embraced by my 4 year-old! Thanks again, Ellie, and thank you, Danica, for the great pick! It was summery and perfect!
You can find the full recipe, complete with Danica's fun Cajun variation on the chicken, on her blog, here.
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I think your sliders look delicious. I had never heard the word "slider" until a couple of months ago when a friend brought barbeque sliders to a social function we were at. Now I hear that word all the time! Loved this corn salad, but I wish I had used the cherry tomatoes. Looks so much prettier with those.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your idea of sliders - so fun and EASY to make too. Israeli Couscous - YUM! I have only made it as part of a harvest grain salad with sun dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts, but, it's delicious!
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you have found your love of tomatoes ~ during the summer they are amazing just like corn :)
Now I need to add those sliders to my list of things to try a quick dinner :)
Thanks for cooking with me this week.
Oh, I love it when people mix up a recipe a bit and show us other things that can be achieved with it...all this looks GREAT!! I haven't made it yet...had intended to get it all done before I left town for a week, but unfortunately about 100 other things needed to get done and this one didn't make the list. When I return, however, it shall be one of the first things on the list to do!
ReplyDeleteSliders - good idea.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about avocado and only like certain guacomole.
This recipe was good though and, lucky for me, I could easily avoid the avocado but added it for the camera... oh! and for Ted.
We all loved it too! I bet it was delicious with the Israeli Couscous.
ReplyDeleteNope! No avacado. No tomato. But the corn salad was good. Yours looks perfectly delicious.
ReplyDeleteHow do you make your Israeli Couscous. Love it and always looking for new ways to cook.
Great idea with the chicken sliders! Looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great feedback, everybody! The sliders were a fun spin on the same old chicken, we thought.
ReplyDeleteTo Margaret: Lately I've been preparing my Israeli Couscous pilaf-style. I will saute some onion and garlic in the pot first, then add my couscous, toast that for a minute or two, then add my water or chicken broth. I added some grill seasoning this time, and some Penzey's Northwoods Seasoning. Cumin or chili powder would be great to make it a bit more Mexican-style. Or ginger and red pepper flakes for a more Asian theme. I love sprinkling some citrus juice or vinegar on my couscous to finish as well. This time around, it was great mixed right in with the tomato-corn salad!
The sliders look great, and I love Israeli couscous! Glad the tomatoes went over well for you, too, and lucky you having fresh, local corn! I was in awe of all the fresh produce available near my grandma - she lives near Carbondale but the rest of my family lives near Decatur. She has a HUGE garden (we ended up canning probably close to 50 lbs of tomatoes!!), and the local farmer's markets and orchards were much more plentiful than any I've been to around here. I brought back lots of beautiful produce!
ReplyDeleteI tried to snap a few pics to put up a brief canning tutorial in the next week or so, but it really is easy to do so look into learning if you're interested!