Honey Lime Salad

I've had this recipe for years. I snagged it out of Dad's Fine Cooking magazine when Zane and I lived with him in St. George. I thought it was too similar to black bean salad so I never made it but I'm sure glad i did. It's a sweet, subtle salad that's good paired with cornbread and a rice/chicken dish. I made teriyaki chicken with hit but then I had three sweet things so I would have done a more savory chicken to help balance it out.

Here's a gross picture of it from my fridge. It's all that's left over from the other day.

The best part about the salad is the homemade dressing - it's a honey-lime vinaigrette with splashes of orange juice and chopped green onions. Really good, promise. It's black beans salad, basically, with a sweet twist.

While the original recipe calls for roasted red peppers and roasted corn straight from the oven, I was lazy and just decided to combine all the veggies and then drizzle the dressing. It worked fine. Also, I mixed all the veggies instead of laying them out all artistically on a plate. It was just for convenience sake.

Honey Lime Salad:

2 orange or red bell peppers

2 ears fresh corn (or Picsweet)

2 large tomatoes, cored, seeded (1 ¾ cup)

1 small jicama, peeled and cut (2 cups)

2 large avocados, peeled, pitted and cut (2 ½ cups)

1 15-ounce can black beans drained/rinsed

½ cup cilantro, chopped

1 Tbs. olive oil

Kosher salt and ground pepper

Dressing:

1 small clove garlic

3 Tbs. fresh lime juice

3 Tbs. fresh orange juice

2 tsp. finely chopped shallot

1 Tbs. honey; more to taste

¾ tsp. cumin seeds, toasted and finely ground

¼ cup olive oil

Black pepper

Combine all veggies. To make the vinaigrette, mince and mash the garlic to a paste with ¼ tsp. salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the garlic paste with the lime and orange juices, shallot, honey, and toasted ground cumin. Slowly add the oil in a thin stream, whisking until well blended. Season to taste with black pepper, salt and honey. Assemble the salad by arranging the corn, tomatoes, peppers, jicama, avocado, and black beans in strips or piles on a small platter or shallow serving dish. Sprinkle with the chopped cilantro.