Succotash

Succotash has reminded me of Sylvester from the Looney Tunes cartoons and his famous catch phrase "Sufferin succotash" ever since I heard of this one pot wonder. This simple dish originated in New England, USA prior to becoming popular in the southern United States and it was also a common meal in the Depression era. Succotash is essentially a meal of corn and lima beans although there are variations aplenty with additions such as tomatoes, capsicums/bell peppers, okra, other types of beans, butter, margarine, lard, bacon, fresh and dried herbs.

With some freshly harvested broad beans (also known as fava beans) from the garden begging to be used and corn and okra in the fridge I decided to make a version of succotash. I didn't follow a particular recipe, instead my broad beans, corn, okra and tomatoes were plonked into a pot and stirred every so often. It had been a long day labouring in the garden and we were tired and hungry so I didn't bother with double peeling the broad beans to save on time. Finely chopped basil and parsley along with margarine and seasonings were stirred through in the final minute before serving.

We really enjoyed the succotash and I was particularly fond of the addition of basil in my version. I could envisage this becoming a semi-regular side dish over the summer months when corn is at the height of it's season. It was a perfect accompaniment for our extra spicy buffalo tofu and oven baked potato wedges. The leftovers were just as lovely when eaten cold the next day which leads me to believe that it would also work well as a salad.

Succotash

4 small corn cobs
1 1/2 cups broad/fava beans (or use fresh lima beans)
100g okra pods, sliced into 3cm pieces (optional)
2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon dairy-free margarine
12 large basil leaves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground cracked black pepper, to taste

Cut the corn kernels off the cobs and place into a medium-large saucepan with the broad beans, okra and tomatoes. Simmer over a medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have broken down and the vegetables are tender. Stir through the margarine, basil and parsley then season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Vegan MoFo - Stopover 12 - Argentina

The young man knew I would be very happy when he picked Argentina out of the hat as the random draw hadn't produced any South American countries yet. I had been hoping to draw at least one South American country so I could make something new from Viva Vegan.  Even though I purchased Viva Vegan about two years ago there are so many recipes I still haven't tried. After hunting through the book for Argentinean recipes, I decided to make creamy corn filled empanadas and baked tofu with chimichurri sauce.

I've made Bolivian empanadas from Viva Vegan previously which were filled with seitan, potatoes, olives and raisins. They were a big success at home although very time consuming to prepare. These corn filled ones seemed a lot quicker to put together as there was no need to prepare seitan and making the corn filling was a simpler process. Instead of folding the empanadas as per Terry's instructions, I folded the edges in a crimped style. I was a little dubious as to whether I would enjoy these empanadas as much as the other ones because I'm not a huge lover of corn so I'm pleased to say that my doubts went away as soon as I sampled the filling. The combination of spring onions (scallions), garlic, corn, dried basil and cayenne pepper worked so well together, this was another superb batch of empanadas I would be happy to make again .

The chimichurri tofu was one of the first recipes I ever made from Viva Vegan, quite possibly because I was taken with it's name. The sauce is based on parsley, shallots, garlic, red wine vinegar, herbs and spices which I initially loved although the next morning I still had a strong taste of garlic in my mouth. This time I toned down the garlic by a clove and didn't find the garlic flavour strong at all, perhaps I had used really large cloves all those years ago. Instead of smothering the baked tofu with the reserved uncooked marinade at the end, I used it as a dressing on our side salad which spruced up our greens without the need for making a separate dressing. I definitely won't be waiting another 2 years to make this recipe again!

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Did you know?

Argentina was one of the first countries to have radio broadcasting. The first broadcast in Argentina was made on the 27th August, 1920 to a tiny audience of 20 people, they were the only ones with receivers at the time!

Do you want to know where else I've been this month? Click here for the round up.