It’s interesting the way certain events help form our opinions. When in my early teens, I spent a summer in Houston. While its hospitals saved my life, I did not develop a fondness for the city. Likewise, I had a bad opinion of succotash related to that experience.

Every evening patients filled out a slip with their meal requests for the next day. Every day I chose the vegetable notated with the number 7, which was corn. Patients just wrote the number of their selections on the slip, not the name of the items. Each day I received succotash, not corn.

My mother never made succotash and I wasn’t familiar with it. What I really wanted was just plain corn. I’m not complainin’, I’m just sayin’. Turns out that the menu duplicated number 7 and it was also an option for succotash.

I understand that succotash is a Native American dish made with corn, vegetables and usually lima beans. I read that other beans may be substituted for lima and decided that black-eyed peas would be a good alternative. Yes, I still have black-eyed peas in the freezer from last year’s crop.

Succotash
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 mild peppers, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 c. okra, chopped
2 c. corn
2 c. black-eyed peas, cooked
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. fresh herbs like parsley or basil, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oil in a skillet and sauté onions, pepper garlic and okra. Season with salt and pepper. Cook about 10 minutes until the onions are translucent and the okra is tender. Add corn and black-eyed peas and cook until warmed.

Mix together sugar, vinegar and herbs. Pour over vegetables and toss. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve warm or chilled. I’m starting to change my opinion of succotash.

I have an abundance of zucchini squash and could have used it in the succotash instead of the okra. However, I saved it for the following dish.

Squash Medley
3 lbs. squash, chopped
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter
1 c. corn
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tsp. corn starch
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Topping:
1 c. bread crumbs
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Blanch squash and drain in a colander. Sauté onion and garlic in butter and olive oil. Add corn and most of the tomatoes, mixing cornstarch into the remainder and then adding to the pan. Cook until it begins to thicken and then add herbs, salt and pepper.

Pour into a greased casserole dish. Mix together the topping ingredients, making a crumble and sprinkle over the top of the casserole. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly.

I’m in the middle of several projects that are keeping me very busy. I have found strange truth in the phrase, “I meet myself coming and going.”

Finding time to cook is difficult and instead I’ve been making quick simple meals including leftovers and sandwiches.
Friday night I made a very simple pasta sauce. It makes enough for dinner with some left over to freeze for another day. Now that it’s just David and me, I’m working on making smaller meals. If we have leftovers, I want to re-purpose them in an interesting way.

Rigatoni with Pomodoro Sauce
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 bunch fresh basil
2 quarts canned tomatoes
1 carrot
1 pinch red pepper flakes
2-3 Parmesan cheese rinds
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp. butter

Begin by heating the oil to medium-low and cook the whole garlic cloves until they turn a light golden brown. Then add the basil (stems and all), tomatoes, whole carrot, red pepper flakes and cheese rinds. Turn the heat to low and cover. Simmer the sauce low and slow for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove the garlic, carrot, basil stems and cheese rinds. The garlic and basil add flavor, the carrot naturally sweetens and the Parmesan cheese rinds partially melt into the sauce making it rich and creamy. Taste the sauce. I added a little pepper, but found that the cheese rinds added enough salty seasoning.

If you prefer a smoother sauce, purée it. I like a rustic sauce with pieces of tomatoes, so if need be, I smush the larger pieces with a fork. David likes to cut up the carrot and the garlic and add it into his pasta.

Stir a little butter into the sauce until it melts, making the sauce even thicker and richer. Toss with your favorite pasta. I used rigatoni because it holds the sauce well. It made a nice light dinner when served with a green salad.

Another quick and light dinner was made with garden zucchini, green onions, leafy greens, corn and canned garbanzo beans for added protein. I recommend tossing all ingredients together and then serving over torn greens because leftover greens wilt, but the rest of the salad stores well.

Zucchini, Corn and Garbanzo Bean Salad
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
3 green onions, chopped
1 cup corn, kernels cut off the cob
2 zucchini squashes, cubed
Fresh greens, like romaine, arugula, spinach and/or chard
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 c. olive oil
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Parmesan cheese, grated

Mix ingredients garbanzo beans through zucchini together. Create a simple dressing by whisking lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, salt and pepper together. Toss with the vegetables. Serve mixture over a bed of fresh salad greens. Top with a sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese.

A friend was shocked when she came for dinner one evening and I was frying fish. She couldn’t believe I even owned a Fry Daddy. But the truth is that when food is properly fried, it can still be part of a healthy diet.

Tips for healthy frying include:
• Use a heart-healthy oil with a high smoke point like peanut oil
• Use a batter with leavening agents like buttermilk and baking soda, and use cornmeal instead of flour for less oil absorption
• Heat the oil to and maintain a proper frying temperature
• After frying, drain food on a wire rack so excess oil drains off
• Most importantly, eat fried foods in moderation

Frying Batter
2 c. buttermilk
3 c. cornmeal
2 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. baking soda

I fried about 4 cups of chopped okra and an onion bloom. (To create an onion bloom, slice the top off a large onion and create petals by cutting 5-6 cross sections while leaving the bottom intact. Spread the petals to create a larger surface area for the batter.) Soak the items in buttermilk for at least 30 minutes while mixing up the dry ingredients.

Bring oil to 365 degrees. When frying a large amount, I use a fryer with a temperature control, but a pot on the stove with about 2 inches of oil works too.

Add the buttermilk-soaked items in groups to the dry ingredients and toss.

When the mixture gets too wet, add more cornmeal. The items should be individually coated and not clumped together. When the oil is at 365 degrees, drop the coated items into the oil. Use a metal spoon to gently nudge the items so they don’t stick together.
When the outside is golden brown, remove and drain on a wire rack. Use paper towel or newspaper on a sheet pan under the rack to catch excess oil. During frying, the oil’s temperature will drop slightly. Wait until it comes back up to 365 degrees before adding the next batch.

I made a few corn fritters with the remaining batter by adding a beaten egg, 1/2 chopped onion, 1/2 c. corn and chopped parsley. Then I dropped the mixture by spoonfuls (about 1/2 Tbsp.) into the hot oil. They were an experiment and came out pretty well.
We snacked on the onion bloom dipped in ranch dressing while I baked tilapia – the healthier side of dinner.

Baked Tilapia
1/2 onion, sliced
2 lemons, thinly sliced
4 tilapia filets
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. capers
olive oil for drizzling

Line a sheet pan with foil. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the bottom. Layer onions, fish filets and lemon slices. Top with salt, pepper and capers. Lightly drizzle more olive oil on top. Cover with more foil and crimp the edges closed. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 25 minutes.