Welcome to the Phys Recipe Series. You get three things: the ingredients, the deliberate step-by-step with photos, and the full nutritional breakdown.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
A staple summer side dish of the Phys household that tastes as good as it looks. Micronutrient-dense. High-volume. A near freebie calorically.
Sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, baby bok choy, scallions, and fresh herbs with a touch of sharp lime vinaigrette.
In case you missed the first installment of the series:
At a Glance
Yield: ~6 cups (serves 2 as a generous side)
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 15 min
Total Time: ~25 min
Most of the prep happens while the corn steams. Timers overlap so total time runs shorter than the parts added up.
Ingredients You’ll Need
For the salad (serves 2 as a side):
2 ears sweet corn, shucked
2 pints cherry tomatoes (mixed-color if you can get them)
1 head baby bok choy (or 5–6 leaves), sliced into thin ribbons
1 bunch scallions, light green and white parts, chopped fine
1 Tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp fine mineral-rich, microplastic-free spring salt (for the corn water, but most gets discarded)
For the lime vinaigrette:
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 2 limes (~⅓ cup)
1 garlic clove, grated (Microplane if you have one)
1½ tsp rice vinegar
¾ tsp fine salt, plus a finishing pinch
¼ tsp black pepper
Step-by-Step
Boil the corn. Fill a large pot with water, add the 2 Tbsp salt, and bring to a boil. Add the shucked corn, return to a boil, then cut the heat, cover, and let it sit 10 minutes. It finishes cooking in the residual heat.
Chop everything while the corn steams. Halve the cherry tomatoes, slice the bok choy into thin ribbons (stems and all), chop the scallions fine, and mince the oregano and parsley. Pile it all into a large bowl.
Cut the corn off the cob while warm. Pull the corn from the pot, stand each ear in the bowl or on the board, and run a knife down to strip the kernels. Add them to the vegetables while still hot. Residual heat blooms the aromatics and lightly wilts the greens without cooking them flat — this is the one move that makes the dish.
Blend the vinaigrette. Add the olive oil, lime juice, grated garlic, rice vinegar, salt, and pepper directly to the bowl. No need to make a separate jar. Fewer dishes, plus the dressing picks up the warm corn starch as you stir.
Toss and finish. Stir until everything’s coated and the juices pool at the bottom. Taste, add a finishing pinch of salt if it needs it, and serve.
Nutrition Breakdown (per serving)
Approximate values for 1 serving. Recipe serves 2 as a side.
Macros
✔ Calories: 280 kcal
✔ Protein: 7g
✔ Total Carbs: 38g
✔ Fiber: 7g
✔ Net Carbs: 31g
✔ Fat: 14g
Notable Micronutrients
✔ Vitamin C (~55mg) — tomatoes, bok choy, and lime
✔ Vitamin A (~600mcg) — bok choy and tomatoes
✔ Vitamin K (~90mcg) — bok choy and parsley
✔ Potassium (~700mg) — corn and tomatoes
✔ Sodium (~450mg) — from the ¾ tsp dressing salt; the 2 Tbsp in the corn water mostly goes down the drain
Final Notes
Treat it as a veggie side: As built, it’s ~7g protein (from the corn). Pair it next to a lean source of protein (grilled chicken, cod, shrimp, or steak) and clean carb source (rice, potatoes) and you’ve got the micronutrient dense version of a bro meal.
Don’t fade the dressing: Use an organic, polyphenol-dense, single-source, EVOO. The micronutrients (carotenoids) in the tomatoes & bok choy are fat-soluble, so the fat in the dressing enhances absorption.
Every successful summer shred has a few staple high-volume dishes you keep coming back to. This is one of them I’ve adopted recently.
It’s micronutrient dense. It’s cost-efficient. And it keeps you feeling fuller longer mitigating your chances of raiding the pantry at 9 PM.
As promised, we’ll be running plenty of these easy-to-prep meals in the future (without spamming you with ads & 8 miles of scrolling to get to an ingredient list).
If you like what we do here, remember to support the BTP publication while you’re here. You fuel each week.
Until the next one, stay after it. And we’ll see you next week.
Your friend,
Phys
It's delicious, thanks!