Last weekend was dubbed "Cook Off Weekend". Jeff and I found a few of our favorite magazine cookbooks and decided to try a new set of recipes. Many of the next recipes that will be showcased are cold salads which can be used as side dishes for your family or the next cook-out or gathering you have to attend. One of our favorite magazines is Cook's Illustrated. Not only do we subscribe to the monthly magazine, we purchase the seasonal compilations. This recipe called Modern Succotash Salad sounded light and refreshing calling for fresh corn, green beans and basil.
Having finished planting our garden during Memorial Day Weekend, we love trying recipes that can ultimately use many of the vegetables and herbs we have planted. We're going to need quite a few recipes for the 31 tomato plants, 16 peppers plants, 11 eggplants, rows of green beans, summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins and acorn squash we planted. We also have blackberry and raspberry bushes along with a few straggly strawberry plants. We actually picked the first strawberry today!
Other than having to cut the green beans, this recipe for succotash salad makes up very quickly. We doubled the recipe and fed 10 comfortably with leftovers. This salad was incredibly delicious with the dressing bringing all the flavors of the fresh vegetables together. It complements any meal as a side dish, especially if you are grilling. The following day, Jeff added it to salad and said it was better the second day.
Think hot day, cold salad...refreshing! Try this as a summer side, it's different, easy and will have your family (and friends) looking for more.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
1 teaspoon of honey
1/2 of a small red onion, minced
Salt and black pepper, to taste
3/4 pound of fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in half
2 ears of corn, kernels removed from the cob
1/2 pound of frozen lima beans
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil leaves
Preparation:
1. Stir together oil, lemon juice, honey, red onion and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl.
2. Bring 2 1/2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pan. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and green beans, cook for 1 minute. Add corn and lima beans and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain vegetables in a colander and rinse under cold running water until cool.
3. Toss vegetables with dressing and coat evenly. Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.
