Grilled Vegetable Salad

Grilled Vegetable Salad
Serves 6 to 8

This is a perfect dish to partner with chops, steaks, or seafood when you want to make your whole meal outside on the grill, using the best of the summer produce. While I personally love this combination of vegetables, you can add or subtract available produce throughout the other seasons.

What you need:
5 ears corn, shucked and rinsed
½ red onion, peeled and quartered, core intact
2 medium yellow squash, halved lengthwise
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 cups (2 medium) tomatoes, large dice
½ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup Spiced Pecans
¼ cup Italian flat leaf parsley, whole leaves
2 tablespoons torn fresh basil

What to do:
Make the Spiced Pecans. These can be made same day, or earlier. Prepare the grill for direct heat cooking, and preheat to 300 degrees F. Lightly brush the corn, red onions, and yellow squash with the olive oil, and season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Grill the corn for 3 minutes, then make a quarter turn and grill another 3 minutes. Turn again and grill twice, for a total grilling time of 12 minutes, ensuring the whole ear is charred. Meanwhile, grill the onion quarters and squash halves for 3 minutes on each side, to ensure uniform grill marks. Set the vegetables aside on a clean surface, or a cutting board, until they are cool enough to handle. Hold each corm cob over a large bowl. Using a sharp knife, cut downwards to slice the kernels from the cobs into the bowl. Slice the squash into ½ - inch - thick half - moons and add those to the bowl. In the same bowl, gently toss the corn kernels and squash with the onion quarters, tomatoes, apple cider vinegar, Spiced Pecans, flat leaf parsley, and fresh basil. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper and serve immediately.