This refreshing Mexican salad is not a taco salad (no meat or cheese), but it combines those same distinctive flavors of tomatoes, jalapeño, cilantro, limes, avocado, cucumber, and tortilla chips. It goes down easy when the temperatures are soaring and the summer vegetables are pouring in by the basketful.

Ensalada Zapatista (Zapatista Salad)

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Course Salads

Cuisine Gluten-free, Mexican, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

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For the Salsa

• ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 small red onion peeled and finely chopped
• 1 plump garlic clove peeled and minced
• 1 small jalapeño pepper seeded and minced (or ½ minced chipotle in adobo for more heat)
• Stingy pinch each ground cumin, ground cilantro, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper

For the Salad

• 1½ pounds ripe skin-on tomatoes diced
• 3 sprigs fresh cilantro
• 1 small cucumber diced
• 1 ripe avocado diced
• 1 (16-ounce) can black beans drained and rinsed
• Generous handful tortilla chips lightly crushed
• 2 limes quartered

Instructions

 

• Place the lime juice, onion, garlic, jalapeño, and spices in a bowl to marinate. Set them aside while you prepare the tomatoes.
• Put the tomatoes and fresh cilantro in a food processor and pulse a few times.
• Add the salsa mixture and pulse a few times.
• Compose the salad in bowls: Layer the cucumber, avocado, black beans, and salsa. Repeat. Top with the crushed chips and garnish with lime juice and several whole lime wedges.

Notes

Cook’s Tips and Tricks: If there is fresh corn off the cob at hand, add it without so much as blanching. The salad ingredients can rest for up to an hour in the fridge before assembling at the last minute. Freezing the salad bowls and forks for an hour lets you carry the composed dishes outdoors and not have them “wilt” in the summer heat so quickly.

— From Barn Bits: Picked at the Peak, by Deborah DeBord, Ph.D.

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