My parents introduced me to succotash in my early 30s. My dad was trying to come up with the “perfect” recipe to take to pot luck dinners they attended. I decided to give it a try one week when I was in want of something different. I turned to the recipe in the Joy of Cooking and liked the results.
Over the years I have developed my own recipe roughly based on that recipe from Joy of Cooking. It has become the default side dish we serve with pierogies.
Succotash
Servings: 8-10
Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 15.5 oz. cans of red kidney beans (we like Goya), drained and rinsed
- 1 16 oz. pkg Trader Joe’s frozen Roasted Corn Kernels, thawed
- 1 8 oz. pkg frozen baby Lima beans, thawed
- 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper
Directions:
- Bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a large pan. Simmer until the cream reduces by 50%. This takes anywhere from 15-20 minutes. Take care that the cream doesn’t boil over your pan; burnt dairy smells pretty bad.
- When the cream has reduced add the beans, corn and Lima beans. Stir to combine and bring back to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes. The beans should have softened a bit and everything should be heated through.
- Add the remaining ingredients. Stir to melt the butter and combine everything together. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
Notes:
Sure, you can use dried beans if you want, just like the original Joy of Cooking recipe calls for. I get a more consistent result with the canned beans. Goya offers a low-sodium product that is quite good.
The roasted corn adds a bit of smokiness to the end product. If you don’t have roasted corn you can add 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. of ground chipotle chile.
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