Sunday, September 18, 2011

Summer succotash salad

I haven't been writing much this summer. It seems the things I make are old favorites that I've written about before or dishes that aren't really recipes. Summer vegetables, herbs or fruits tossed together or roasted and called a meal. I did make one salad recently that I wanted to share. Before Abigail left to go back to NYC we hit the farmers markets several times. One weekend we drove north a couple of exits up 101 and went to the Marinwood Farmers Market. It was tiny, about 6-8 vendors but really lovely. We appreciated how it was not overwhelming, we had choices and all the bases were covered. I bought some beautiful dried Italian butter beans, not sure what I would do with them. They made me think of succotash and here's my take.

Summer succotash salad

1/2 pound dried Italian butter beans (you could substitute large meaty white beans)
2-3 cups chicken stock
3 ears of corn, shucked
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
a handful of basil, coarsely chopped
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, peeled, cored and pressed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
splash of cousin Dan's homemade red wine vinegar, substitute some good red wine vinegar or your favorite vinegar

Soak beans overnight, drain and rinse. Cook beans in chicken stock and water with a pinch of salt until tender, approximately 40 minutes. Drain and cool.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook corn for 5 minutes. After it cools cut the kernels off of cob. Place corn in large bowl with tomatoes and basil.

Combine lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and vinegar. Whisk until combined. Season with salt and pepper.

Toss beans with corn-tomato mixture and add dressing. Stir to coat and taste for seasoning. I served this with grilled salmon to Mike and my friend, Pam, visiting from Vegas. We all had seconds. When I took the leftovers to work I realized that a few shakes of hot sauce would be a good addition. Enjoy!

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