Succotash
2 days ago
Skip to recipe
Succotash is a side dish deeply rooted in American history. It is believed that it was introduced to English settlers by Native Americans in the 1600s. It doesn’t get more traditional than that.
My version takes on a bit of an international flair. I joined a supper club several years ago and they wanted a French-inspired dish that had a lot of vegetables. So I came up with this Succotash recipe, adding cream and deglazing the pan with a little French vermouth to put my own twist on it.
Prepping the Ingredients
This is a recipe that just couldn’t be made without bacon. Cut it into quarter-inch pieces while it’s still chilled and firm, which will make it easier to handle. You could use a knife to prep the bacon, but I like to use a pair of good kitchen shears, like Cutco’s Super Shears, to snip the pieces.
When cooking the bacon, place it in a cold skillet and cook it slow to melt the fat out. If the bacon produces too much fat, you can drain some of it off.
Along with the frozen vegetables in this dish, you will chop up some onion and celery. A 7″ Santoku knife can quickly get the job done.
For mincing the garlic, I like the 7-5/8″ Petite Chef knife, which is also great for chopping the green onion without crushing it.
I just love tarragon and use it in many of my recipes. It is aromatic and adds some sweet, slightly anise-like flavor to dishes. For this Succotash, use the 7-5/8" Petite Chef again to chop it.
If tarragon isn’t your thing, you can replace it with parsley.
Making the Succotash
Once all the ingredients that need to be cut are prepped, this dish comes together quickly.
After the bacon is cooked, it’s removed from the pan and set aside. French vermouth is used to deglaze the pan and then onion, celery and bell pepper are added to sauté until tender. Corn, garlic and green onion are tossed in to cook for another few minutes and then the lima beans are folded in. Cream is added, along with the tarragon, and then the bacon goes back in. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the cream thickens a little.
Incidentally, if you’d rather not use vermouth, you can replace it with chicken broth.
My favorite thing about this dish is that it’s a little bit of a wow factor, because it puts a twist on the traditional with the tarragon and hint of vermouth giving it that French flair.
Even if someone doesn’t like lima beans, I think the flavors in this Succotash might just win them over.
It’s a quick and easy side dish. You can also make it ahead of time and heat it up right before you serve it. But if you do that I would add the bacon in when you heat it up.
Ingredients
- Salt, for water
- 1 (12-ounce) bag frozen baby butter (lima) beans
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 9 strips of raw bacon, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 3-4 tablespoons French vermouth
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 (12-ounce) bag frozen corn kernels
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 1 cup cream or milk
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon, more for garnish
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil over medium heat and add salt.
- Add the frozen butter beans and cook 8-10 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.
- In a skillet over medium heat melt butter and cook bacon until crispy. Remove bacon and add French vermouth to deglaze the pan.
- Add the onion, celery and bell pepper to the skillet. Stir and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
- Next, add corn, garlic and green onions to the skillet. Mix and cook about 5 minutes.
- Gently fold in butter beans to vegetable mixture.
- Add cream, tarragon and bacon to vegetable mixture. Mix well and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Reduce heat to medium low and cook uncovered around 5 minutes or until cream has thickened.
- Garnish with additional tarragon and serve hot.
Recommended Tools
