Warm Corn & Ham Salad

We started the week out with 6 ears of corn. I really like corn - but have never really been in a position to use this much all at once. The last few weeks I've simply frozen the bounty, but this week was inspired to use all of it.

Rather than just eat in on the cob - which isn't so good if the corn sits in the refrigerator for days and days - I cooked all 6 ears at the same time when we ate corn earlier in the week, and cut them off the cob for last night's dinner. Again, I turned to Mark Bittman for ideas. He has a recipe for a warm corn and ham salad that sounded tasty, especially since P and I found a really good ham in the deli section of the local Loblaw's. This ham tastes like what you'd make at home - but without having to buy a whole ham.

For those who envision a mayonnaise-laden salad when hearing "ham salad," this is far from that. It's simply some onion and ham sauteed in a pan until browned (I added a jalapeno from the balcony garden), with some corn and frozen soy beans added to heat through. The dish is then finished with a bit of wine vinegar, parsley, and salt and pepper. Bittman originally called for lima beans, but since neither P nor I like them, we used soy beans; the only white wine vinegar I had on hand was champagne vinegar, which worked fine. This was a great way to use the corn and onion from the box, as well as one more jalapeno from the garden. It was equally delicious for lunch today.

As an accompaniment, P made onion rings with our new deep fryer. Though his recipe is still being perfected, I think freshly-made onion rings are probably more delicious than most you'll get in a restaurant - there's that fresh-from-the-fryer taste that is hard to get when moving the onions from the kitchen out to a restaurant table.