A summertime salad

Here's an idea for a summer salad that Walt has been making for years. I've searched my blog and Walt's for the recipe but I guess we've never posted it before. The ingredients are zucchini, tomatoes, corn, a cooked grain — bulgur, rice, wheat berries, or couscous, for example — and herbs.

Diced zucchini and tomato salad with bulgur and sweet corn

1½ cups bulgur, brown rice, wheat berries, couscous, or quinoa

2 large, fresh tomatoes

2 small or 1 large zucchini

1 cup cooked sweet corn kernels

2 or 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh herbs (basil, mint, parsley, tarragon...)

1 clove of garlic

2 Tbsp. vinegar

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

salt and pepper to taste

Cook the bulgur, brown rice, couscous, wheat berries (Ebly in France), or other grain.

Meanwhile, remove the seeds from the tomatoes and dice the tomato flesh finely. Cut the zucchini into fine dice. (Peel the vegetables if you want to.) If using fresh or frozen corn, steam the kernels for 3 or 4 minutes — corn from a tin can go in without cooking. Chop the fresh herbs and finely dice or puree the garlic clove.

When the cooked grain has cooled to room temperature, mix it with the diced tomato, zucchini, and corn. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, vinegar, and oil. Mix in the chopped herbs and serve the salad chilled or at room temperature.

There are hundreds of possible variations on this theme, of course. Cucumber would be a good substitution for zucchini, or a good addition to the salad. Lemon juice could replace vinegar. Use the oil you prefer, or a combination. And the herbs...

Walt made the salad a couple of days ago using fresh mint, and I think it's really delicious with that flavor. We ate the bulgur salad with oven-roasted chicken wings that we marinated and basted with a combination of honey, lemon (zest and juice), and garlic.