Peak Summer Grain Bowl with Green Aioli

Eating all the tomatoes and corn I can till they're gone

To understand the way I cook and eat, I think it’s important to know I was a restaurant critic for several years in my 30s. This can warp a person’s idea about how elaborate a nice meal needs to be.

To this day, insufficiently garnished plates can make me feel sad. 

A lot of the stuff I serve at home, like this grain bowl, has components and sub-recipes. This was so good I knew I had to share it with you. I also know that some of you are not going to feel like making all these components. 

I was talking to my friend and fellow plant-based chef Andrea Corbi-Fein about this the other day because she takes a much simpler approach to everyday dinners.

When I explained this recipe to her, she pointed out that you don’t need to make this exactly the way I did to get some useful takeaways from this recipe. 

For example, the skillet-roasted corn I use here is very simple. Get a dry skillet very hot and brown your corn in it! This corn is great in any salad or grain bowl. 

Add lime juice, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeno and now it’s roasted corn salsa. Throw it in tacos or burritos for sweetness and smoky flavor. Add it to pasta in pesto sauce. Skillet-roasted corn is a great thing to have around! 

Same with the roasted mushrooms. A large oyster mushroom shreds like meat. After it’s roasted, you can put it in a pita with hummus for lunch or add it to your pasta and marinara. 

Don’t get me started on the green aioli. It’s my new favorite sauce.

Credit where credit is due: This is my husband Dan’s recipe. He made it because, without this flourish, the grain bowl didn’t seem finished to him—this is what I mean about those years as a restaurant critic making us kind of fussy. 

I love it on roasted potatoes or a slice of toast topped with a thick slice of tomato. It’s a lot of raw garlic, but that’s why it’s so potent. Try it! 

I hope you are inspired to make this grain bowl the same way I made it. But if not, make one of the components and let me know what you did with it. 

Peak Summer Grain Bowl with Green Aioli

Serves 4

Green Aioli:

50 grams water (about 3 tablespoons) 

60 grams raw cashews (about ½ cup)

⅜ teaspoon salt

8 grams parsley leaves (about ¼ cup)

10 grams lemon juice (about 2 teaspoons)

2 cloves garlic

Grain Bowl:

½ cup whole grain Freekeh¹

8 ounces gray oyster mushrooms, shredded into bite-size pieces

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided

2 ears corn, kernels removed

1 large ripe tomato, chopped

1 teaspoon lemon juice

4 cups salad greens

1 can white beans, drained (or 1½ cup cooked white beans) (optional)

To make the green aioli, combine all ingredients in a Nutribullet-style blender or the one-cup attachment for a Vitamix. (If you don’t have this kind of blender, you could mince the parsley and garlic and stir it, along with the lemon juice, into ¾ cup vegan mayonnaise.) 

To cook the freekeh, I put it in an instant pot covered with 2 inches of water, and cooked on high pressure for 13 minutes, and then let the pressure fall naturally (natural pressure release). Or cook your freekeh according to the package directions.

To roast the mushrooms: Preheat the oven to 450℉. Toss the mushrooms with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread out on a baking sheet and roast, stirring once or twice, until brown and crisp at the edges, 8 to 10 minutes.

Set a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the corn kernels and cook, stirring, until dark brown in spots, about 5 minutes. Deglaze with water to incorporate the browned bits. Remove from the heat.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooked freekeh, roasted mushrooms, corn, and tomato. Toss with the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. (This is meant to just minimally dress these ingredients—the main sauce is the green aioli.) 

Divide the lettuce among 4 wide shallow bowls. Top with about one-quarter of the freekeh mixture. Add some white beans if desired. Dollop green aioli over each bowl, and serve. 

1. I used freekeh here because I had it, and because its slightly smoky flavor and chewy texture were ideal partners for the corn. But use any grain! Farro would be terrific!