Alright, so I whipped up some empanadas the other night. They were decent, honestly, but felt like they needed a partner on the plate. Just eating empanadas felt… incomplete. I needed something fresh, maybe a bit tangy, to cut through the richness.
So, I started digging around my kitchen. What do I have? Opened the pantry, saw a can of black beans. Okay, good start. Checked the freezer, found a bag of frozen corn. Perfect. This is heading towards some kind of quick salad thing.
Putting it Together
First step, dealt with the beans. Popped the can open, dumped the beans into a strainer in the sink. Gave them a good rinse with cold water. You gotta wash off that weird, thick liquid they sit in. Let those drain off to the side.
Next, the corn. Didn’t need the whole bag. Scooped out maybe a cup and a half, put it in a bowl to thaw out on the counter. Could’ve microwaved it, but I wasn’t in a massive rush.
While the corn was thawing, I looked for more stuff. Found half a red onion and a red bell pepper in the veggie drawer. Nice bit of color and crunch. Got out my cutting board and knife. Diced up the onion pretty small – nobody wants a huge chunk of raw onion. Did the same for the bell pepper. Threw both into a bigger mixing bowl.
What else? Ah, cilantro. Had some in the fridge. Washed a handful, gave it a rough chop. Not too fine, just enough to get the flavor out. Added that to the bowl. For the dressing part, kept it simple. Squeezed a whole lime over everything in the bowl. Love that citrus kick.
Mixing and Finishing Up
By this time, the corn felt thawed enough. Poured off any melty water. Dumped the corn and the drained black beans into the big bowl with the veggies and cilantro. Time for the final touches.
Grabbed the olive oil, drizzled a good amount in – maybe three or four tablespoons? Eyeballed it. Added a little splash of red wine vinegar for extra tang. Then, salt and pepper. You have to season it, right? Started with a decent pinch of salt and some black pepper.
Gave the whole thing a really good stir with a big spoon. Wanted to make sure everything got coated nicely in the lime juice and oil. Looked pretty good.
Crucial step: taste test. Took a spoonful. Hmm. Pretty good, but needed a little more punch. Added another sprinkle of salt and maybe half a lime more juice. Stirred it all up again.
Let the bowl sit on the counter for about 10 minutes while the empanadas finished baking. Lets the flavors kind of hang out and get to know each other.
And that was it. Scooped a generous helping next to the hot empanadas. It was exactly what they needed. Cool, fresh, tangy, crunchy salad next to the warm, savory pastry. Worked out great. Simple, used stuff I had, and tasted delicious. Definitely a good combo I’ll do again.
