Succotash

well the summer is over . The children are back to school. My pool is closed and it is football season. you will not thing the summer is over it is 76 today and this week end it is supposed to be 87.
I have not been posting much on my blog but I am back and ready. I spend a month on the cote d'azur where I ate in my sister Brigitte restaurant "le bland manger" and in a lot of different restaurants, bistros, wine bar and cafes. All these gave me a lot of inspirations and I am now back on my cooking blog with a lot of ideas.
I got a few last vegetables from my garden but not enough to use them in an individual dish . So I was trying to think of some dish were I could introduce my vegetables. so I though a Succotash will be perfect to use the last of the summer vegetables.
I did a lot of search for a recipe on succotash that I will really like. .
I find out that it is a very old recipe which originated with the Narrangasett Indians it probably came of the name from the name Msickquatash. the story and the culture of the Narrangasett is very interesting and I spend quite a lot of time reading about it. I wont talk about it here, if you are interested you may google it.
The original recipe was made of corn lima beans or any shell beans and squash . The 3 vegetables the Iroquois Indians grow together and called the 3 sisters.
The succotash has not very good reputation it is probably because it is some times made with frozen over cooked vegetables or cans vegetables. With fresh vegetables , cooked properly it is delicious.
I saw a lot of recipes where people add bacon , cheese and croutons . I wanted to make mine very sample and try to stick to the original recipe. I did add thyme, lemon juice,  I don't think the Indians had these herbs but if they had they probably will have used them. I did not add garlic, like some recipes did, after all I was not trying to make a ratatouille.
I did find a recipe where chef" Matt Bolus" used corn butter instead of regular butter. .That corn butter is delicious and give the succotash a very nice creamy texture. I will have to used this corn butter in another recipe it is too good.

Here is my recipe

ingredients

4 ears of corn (1 used to make the corn butter)
1/2 a small onion
lemon juice to taste
2 cups beans (any beans you like)
olive oil ( I know the Indians did not have olive oil)
1 medium zucchini
1 cup cherry tomatoes halves
1 cup chicken stock
1 small bunch Parsley and Thyme
1 quartered lemon
salt and pepper
if you like a few red pepper flakes


prepare all the vegetables
chop the onion and the zucchini
slice the tomatoes in 2
precook the beans till they are ready.
removed the corn kernels from the cob ( keep one cob for the corn butter).
grate the cob to extract all the milk from the cob and reserve for the corn butter.

sauté the onion in olive oil over medium heat until translucent
reserve to a bowl
in the same sauce pan sauté the zucchini till tender
add salt and pepper
and add to the  the onion
repeat the same thing with the corn Kernels
add all the vegetables back to the pan
add the tomatoes
Over medium heat add the stock
add the parsley and the Thyme
Toss to mix well.
add the corn butter a little at the time mixing in the vegetables

recipe for the corn butter

this is a practical way to cut the kernels out of the cob. On 2 inverted bowl the kernels do not fly all over the counter. I got this tip from Rachel Ray and it work

After using 3 cobs for the Succotash we  have one cob left. put the corn in a blender or processor and strain it and  add to it the reserve corn milk
put the corn liquid in a saucepan and heat up
mix with a wooden spoon till the liquid has the consistency of butter..
add salt pepper and a splash of lemon.

SUFFERING SUCCOTASH

Sylvester the cat.
First appearance	Life with Feathers (1945)[1]
Created by	Friz Freleng Bob Clampett (drawn before production of Life with Feathers)

Miam Miam .Bon appetite

Notes
_ As you see on my pictures I did not have any beans so I use a can of Garbanzo beans that I really like . you can use any can of beans I think Lima beans will be very good and I think it is what was originally use by the Indians.
_ I  used a few greens beans too, because I had them.
_Reading about the Indians culture I thought it will be a good idea to try the "3 sisters " culture  in my small garden next spring.
_ the corn butter was so delicious I want to do it again and I want to find some new ways to use it






printing recipe




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