During my second year of college, I found a salsa that became part of my regular routine. Instead of making dinner, on afternoons when I was tired and looking forward to an evening of studying, I would take a bowl of salsa and a bag of chips to the porch and watch the ocean while munching happily for an hour or so. Relax, decompress, snack. I could easily finish a container in an evening. I justified that by telling myself it was good enough for dinner.
One of my roommates noticed and asked if she could join me. After that, at least once a week, we would have a chips and salsa dinner and chat while watching the waves. You can learn a lot about a person over a bowl of chips and salsa. It’s the perfect food for chillin’.
Sometimes, I came home to find my roommates had broken into my salsa — it was that good. I couldn’t be mad about it. I just made it a regular practice to make sure we were always stocked up. If you came over, I always had salsa, chips and a few pints of ice cream. We felt like we had everything we needed then.
During the sunny days of deep summer, I’m looking for something fresh that takes little energy to prepare. Maybe I have a few more nutritional considerations now than I did in college, so this shrimp and corn salsa is filling enough to constitute an actual meal. It’s almost a ceviche. I make a big batch and my oldest kid and I make our way through it over the course of a few days, sharing a bowl on the porch and talking while we soak up the summer. I might switch it up and throw in some avocado, a mango or half a diced papaya. The conversations are different from the ones I had when I was 20, but it’s memory making just the same.
Shrimp and Corn Salsa
Ingredients:
• 1 cup cucumber
• 2 Roma tomatoes
• 1 ear of sweet corn
• 1/3 cup red onion
• 1 jalapeño
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 1/2 pound cooked shrimp
• 2-3 tablespoons lime juice (to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Chips for serving
Directions:
Dice the cucumber and tomatoes and place in a bowl. Cut the kernels off the corn cob and add to the bowl.
Seed and stem the jalapeno, and mince the onion, jalapeno and cilantro. Mix into the rest.
Peel shrimp and remove the tails. Chop the cooked shrimp into small pieces (small shrimp work best for this).
Add to the bowl.
Sprinkle salt and lime juice over the entire mess and toss with a large spoon.
Add more salt or lime juice to taste.
Serve immediately with chips or store in the fridge.
Mariko Jackson writes about family and food. Email her at thelittlefoodie@gmail.com.
