Salsa Smackdown: Corn and Tomato Salsa, with Chili Lime Mayo

Remember my first Recipe Smackdown, about Lemon Poundcakes? Well, it’s time for another one, a Salsa Smackdown!

Today’s salsa recipe is a Corn and Tomato Salsa that tastes way better than the boring name suggests. I tore it from a free magazine in a subway newsagent stall. Let me see…it’s from the mid-summer 2014 edition of Our Homes magazine (I think it’s published by the building industry). As soon as I saw it, it reminded me of another salsa recipe I tried last year, called Texas Caviar, which will be the other salsa recipe in the very exciting and cutting edge SALSA SMACKDOWN! We chop! We toss! We EAT!!! *the crowd goes wild* Rawwwwwrrrr!

Enough with the histrionics. Let’s get our salsa on!

The recipe called for grilled corn but I don’t feel like going out to the communal grill in my condo and cleaning the burnt meat juices off it, so I just microwaved the corn. I’m sure grilling the corn will add a nice caramelized/smoky taste to the finished product, so by all means go for it, but I shall cut my cooking time and go for the easy out.

I also used frozen onion as opposed to fresh onion, because a few months ago I bought a 10lb bag of onions (more correctly, the DH bought a 10lb bag of onions) and I chopped them all up and froze them so they wouldn’t go bad before I used them all. Fresh onion would definitely be better, but again, easy is good.  And I didn’t have a tomato, so I used a handful of grape tomatoes. See? This is why I call myself the Queen of Substitutions!

Now let’s get chopping!

Better-Than-The -Name-Suggests Corn & Tomato Salsa

• kernels from one cob of cooked corn
• handful of grape tomatoes, quartered
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 1-2 tsp. lime juice
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Dump and toss. Let sit to let flavours marinate. Or eat right away. Is good!

The same article that I found the recipe in also had a recipe for a chili-lime mayo. The DH and I are going to have veggie burgers for dinner, with the salsa I just made, and I thought that the mayo would be a nice touch too. So shall we?

Chili-Lime-Cayenne Mayo

• 1/4 c. mayo
• 2 tsp. lime juice
• 1/4 tsp. chili powder
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne powder
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Dump and mix. Let flavours meld. Taste test. Glug water to offset burning.

The mayo actually is really hot. I added the cayenne powder because I thought the chili powder might not have enough kick. Ha! This kicks and keeps on kicking. I think it’ll be great on my burger tonight! Mmm…I want the burger now! Maybe I’ll just sample the salsa again, yes?

Next Post: Salsa Smackdown Part II, or, Everything’s Hotter in Texas.