suffering succotash!

Last night while eating dinner Steven said, "It's a symphony!"  because what he was eating was the best dinner I have ever made.  Maybe the best dinner anyone has ever made.

Ok, that's probably a slight exaggeration, but holy hell was it yummy.  It had little to do with me or even the recipe really, it's just that everything was so fresh and delicious.  I'm taking it as a lesson to take advantage of this time of year as much as possible and cook up a storm!

The best part was aside from the fish, lemon, olive oil and FANTASTIC Michigan corn, everything was homegrown by me.  

It takes a little while because you have to shuck the beans and corn and because there's a lot of chopping, but if you rope someone nice (like Steven) into shucking and chopping with you it's not so bad.

Succotash and Grilled Swordfish


1 shallot, diced

1/4 cup lemon juice
olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoon thyme
1 medium zucchini, chopped (about a cup)
1 medium summer squash, chopped (about a cup)
1 cup fresh soy beans or Lima beans (I used soy beans because my Limas aren't ready yet.) 
3 cups corn
3 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/4 cup basil, sliced
1/4 cup parsley
salt and pepper

Swordfish

In a small bowl add about half the shallots to the lemon juice and set aside.

In a large saute pan heat a glug of olive oil over medium heat.  Add half the onion, the rest of the shallots, and the garlic and cook for a minute or two until the onion is soft.  Add the beans and half the thyme and stir to coat them in oil.  Add enough water to cover the beans by about a half an inch and bring to a boil.  Cook the beans until just tender- about 2 minutes for fresh soy beans about 4 or 5 minutes for Lima beans.  Drain and dump them into a large bowl.

Wipe out your pan with a paper towel, put it back on the stove and heat some more of the olive oil.  Add the rest of the onion, and the thyme and saute until the onion is soft.  Add the squash, zucchini, and some salt and cook for about 4 minutes.  Add the squash to the bowl with the beans.

Wipe the pan out again and heat some more olive oil.  Add the corn, some salt and pepper and cook for about 2 minutes until the corn is just barely cooked and add it to the bowl with the squash and beans.

Add the tomatoes, basil, parsley and the lemon juice/shallot mixture to the veggies and stir it all together.  Add more salt and pepper if needed and serve sorta luke warm.

To cook the swordfish I just brush it with the tiniest bit of olive oil and throw it on the panini press, which is my most favorite kitchen tool. It cooks in about 3 minutes.