Rhonda's Succotash

- Amanda

In some families, wars break out whenever they get in the kitchen together. In my family, it's the place we get along best. We reserve a special civility when near the stove, and save our daggers for other places, like the car/quiet public spaces/the check-out line at Home Depot.

Last week on our family vacation in Florida, one of my sisters (aka Rhonda35 here on food52) took the lead with a side dish for crab cakes. I was her well-meaning though slow and easily-distracted assistant, stripping corn of its kernels, mis-measuring the cream.

To her succotash, Rhonda added edamame and peas instead of lima beans, and a little wine to brighten the sweet flavors. She's a natural cook who lives by the motto: when in doubt, add a tablespoon of butter. So at the end, she finishes her succotash with butter. I recommend that you do, too.

When I was in college and Rhonda was a newlywed, she introduced me to a whole new world of food and cooking with books like The Silver Palat e, The Moosewood Cookbook, and The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook. Rhonda's cooking style is maximalist -- she's a welcoming host and a collector. If there's some ginger lying around waiting to be used, she will not let it lie fallow, which makes cooking with her an adventure. She will never make the same dish the same way twice. So enjoy her succotash as it was for one day last week.

Rhonda's Succotash

Serves 6

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 5 ears corn, kernels and juices stripped from the cobs
• Salt
• 1 1/2 cups frozen edamame (out of the pods)
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 small red pepper, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped flatleaf parsley
• 
  

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.