I live in the real world, and am never afraid to cook with limitations. Before Fuzzband and I were married, we lived in sin together all over the country. During our time in Phoenix, we were so broke that we literally had a single-digit dollar amount as our grocery budget quite a lot of the time. Fortunately, I was a really creative shopper and an even more creative cook. With the combination of my ingenuity, the energy of my youth, and the inspirado of a girl passionately in love, each day was a challenge which I met happily. We lived off of Kool-Aid, ramen, cans of pork-n-beans, and the oft-present shitty ground beef offered in "tube" form. If key lime pie Yoplait went on sale for a quarter a pop, we'd occasionally treat ourselves. When payday came around, we'd feast at the $4 Chinese grease buffet, always sure to stuff my backpack full of gallon-size freezer bags with which to smuggle a few egg rolls and chicken wings as parts for my Frankensteinian culinary creations.
And there was corn. Oh, sweet Jesus on toast, was there ever corn! We'd get a dozen cobs of the stuff for anywhere between 50 and 80 cents at Albertson's or Smitty's. It was cheap, it was plentiful, and it was available any time of year. I put corn into as many dishes as I could think of. We ate so much corn that it turned up at "bathroom breaks" even on the days when it wasn't prominently featured on the menu. After we left Phoenix, I had gained several thousand culinary experience points, though I never again bought corn on the cob.
...Until this year. It was truly memorable... thirteen years after living in Phoenix, my husband spotted the corn on the counter and gasped, "OH MY GOD, IS THIS CORN AND WHERE THE HELL DID IT COME FROM?" I've been giving cooking lessons to a friend, so I assume that he'd guessed that someone had brought it over. But no, it was me... commissioning the delivery of the corn, determined to give it a whirl once again. True, it wasn't as sweet a deal as I'd gotten in the gay '90s, now at a cool dollar for 6 cobs, but still it somehow made the cut on my PeaPod list, like a particularly bloody car accident or some awful porn featuring unnatural and hilarious contents. You know you shouldn't look, but it's way too hideous not to rubberneck a little. And so goes my current adventure.
A couple of years ago I'd found a succotash recipe that I just loved -- it was designed for diabetics, and this variant featured edamame instead of starchy lima beans, and sweet fibrous yellow zucchini chopped into little bits to substitute for the corn. Occasionally I pull this recipe out when I'm looking for a nice veggie side, but this week I was craving something that was a cross between the healthy fiber-rich version, and the typical comforting dish we all know and love. Here's what I came up with:
PRETTY GOOD SUCCOTASH
INGREDIENTS:
1-2 yellow zucchini (use a couple if they're really small)
1 green zucchini
2 cobs of corn, removed from the cob
4 ounce can of lima beans
1 medium onion
2 tablespoons Olive oil
McCormick Montreal seasoning mix to taste (I use a couple of pinches)
Chop the onion and cook it in the olive oil until it's golden and translucent (about 10 minutes). While the onion cooks, chop your zucchini into small pieces, about the size of grains of corn. Add the zucchini to the pan, stir well, and cover the pan while the zucchini steams (should take about 5 minutes or so). When the zucchini starts to become tender, add the Montreal seasoning, lima beans, and corn. Stir and keep on the heat for another minute or two, until everything has been heated through. (Corn can be eaten raw, but it is nice to get it warmed up a little!) Remove from heat and serve.
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