This recipe strays a bit from the traditional succotash, which usually includes lima beans; here I use fresh beans from my garden. It’s inspired by the frozen version that I remember from my childhood–those frozen boxes with corn, carrots, and lima beans, which to be honest, were never a huge favorite–so perhaps this is an effort to create a version that is a bit more exciting. I came up with this recipe for a potluck, as an accompaniment to black beans and rice, and gave it a southwestern inflection; the possible variations are endless.
Ingredients
6 cups fresh corn, about a dozen cobs
2 cups cut up fresh beans; I used green, flat yellow, and purple long beans, but any fresh beans will work in this recipe
2 poblano peppers, diced
1 small yellow patty pan or yellow summer squash, diced
1 small green zucchini, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 hot pepper (jalapeno, serrano, fish pepper), diced
2 small cans chopped green chiles
butter or olive oil
sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Recipe
Cut corn from cobs, and sauté on medium heat in 1/2 cup water, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 scant teaspoon each of salt and sugar until bright yellow, 5-7 minutes. Set aside. Sauté beans on high heat with minimal olive oil, turning occasionally–they should start to blister and brown, and then add poblano peppers, zucchini, red onion, and hot pepper, and continue sautéing another 5 minutes. Add canned chopped green chiles with liquid (these could also be roasted fresh peppers, but these are what I had on hand, and they are good in a recipe like this), and cook another 3-4 minutes. Mix with corn, adjust seasonings, and serve either warm or cold.
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