Summer Favorites: Grilled Corn & Tomato Salad and also, Icing your friends for fun

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July. We were by the pool and surrounded by friends and family. No complaints. My only current complaint is that I'll be waking up around 5am to finish up preparations and catch our flight to Louisville. I just have really big problems being awake before my child has woken up. It seems so wrong.

Since we are getting in so early and we have three days without a baby, I told S that I wanted to buy a 12 pack of Smirnoff Ice on the way to the hotel and sit in the hotel lobby to Ice people as they arrive. What can I say, a weekend away from motherhood just screams immaturity to me.

Look everyone, someone bottled the worst hangover ever. And as a bonus, it tastes like candy.
Exclusively for high schoolers and my friend S who drinks Ice exclusively. But not now obviously, because she is preg.

Perhaps you are unfamiliar with "Icing" people. Lucky for you, I found the official rules on thechive.com since the site that started the phenomenon, brosicingbros.com, has been shut down. These are the rules in their words, with mine in red.

The Rules Are Simple:1. If you are presented with a Smirnoff Ice you MUST drop to a knee and chug it on the spot (you have been "Iced")

2. You cannot refuse the Ice, or you are a douche (But really, if you are already doing this, you might be a douche already. So I guess if I do this, I'll be a douche. Whatever.)

3. Style points are awarded for creative ways to present the ice (simply pulling it out of your pocket = boring; giving it to a waiter to bring your buddy when he orders an "Ice Water" = awesome!) (Actually, that is not awesome, it is douchy. I'm pretty sure it's better to pull it out of your pocket and laugh at the person you are giving it to.)

4. If you have an Ice on your person, you can Ice Block. When presented with an Ice, you pull out your own Ice thus reversing the Ice on the faux-bro. The ultimate Ice insult. (Faux-bro, a whole new level of douche.)

This bro has been Iced.

So now that we all know about Bros, Faux-bros, Icing and Douches, we can move on. We had one of my favorite salads today and I wanted to share it with you even though I don't have my own amazing cooking photos. It is a Grilled Corn and Tomato Sweet Onion Salad with Fresh Basil Dressing and Crumbled Blue Cheese. If you don't like Blue Cheese, don't let that turn you away from this awesome recipe. You can omit it or you can find a mild blue cheese and offer it on the side for people to add as they wish. This is a Bobby Flay recipe that S first cooked four or five years ago. I have this thing about Bobby Flay where he just smiles too much with his mouth, but looks really annoyed in his eyes. I think behind the scenes he might be a jerk. I just wanted to share that.

BUT, Mr Chef Flay's salad is PERFECT for the spring and summer grilling season and goes well with everything.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves (I like to do a chiffonade or a tight chop)
1 teaspoon of sugar
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 ears of corn, husked, then grilled. Then remove the kernels
1 sweet onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 pint grape or cherub tomatoes, halved
8 ounces of blue cheese, crumbled (or to taste)
Fresh Basil Sprigs (About 1/4 of a cup or 10 leaves)

A quick note on grilled corn, you can put it straight on the grill after it is husked and simply turn it as needed for 10 - 12 minutes or until it looks like this:

                              Perfectly grilled corn.

Them simply stand it up in a bowl and take a knife and slice down the sides to remove the kernels.

Combine the vinegar, basil, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and the olive oil in a blender and blend until smooth. (I use my immersion blender as it is much easier and much less clean up). This dressing can be made 2 hours in advance and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before using.

Combing the corn kernels, onion and tomato in a large bowl. Add the dressing and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. Top with crumbled blue cheese and garnish with sprigs of basil. (I like to toss my blue cheese in with the salad. I like the taste when it is combined with the dressing and all of the flavors) Salad can be made a day in advance of serving and can be served cold or at room temp.

Here's a pic of someone's finished product that I found online:

they shredded the blue cheese instead of crumbling it, which is also very tasty.

Get outside and get grilling! And as a bonus, my favorite bug repellent for babies and families is one by California Babies that is all natural and smells half way decent.

- RT