Creole Succotash
Our friend Janet came bearing gifts from her garden again and bestowed upon us a mess of okra from the winding down plots in the back yard patch. Monique and I decided to honor the okra with splendid fashion by building around it’s foundation a version of our own Succotash, with a Creole angle. What makes this a Creole variety is the use of the Cajun/Creole Trinity, the onions, celery, and bell pepper which is the American version of the French mirepoix. Of course, the okra and tomatoes brings this dish to the deep roots of Creole and southern Louisiana heritage.
Succotash derives its original meaning from the Narragansett word msickquatash, which translated from the Native American Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language as “boiled corn kernels”. This dish has evolved over time to include lima beans, other beans, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and sausages or pork based proteins in some southern versions. Our version includes this and the fresh garden okras, creating a unique one-dish meal when accompanied with some fresh cooked rice complete the assembly.
TIP: One cup of uncooked white rice will yield about three cups of cooked rice. As a rule of thumb, use two cups of water for each one cup uncooked rice, with a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a simmer for twenty minutes. Fluff with a fork, and remain covered for another 5 minutes.
The recipe…
| Ingredients | ||
| 1 | Tsp | Olive oil |
| 1 | Lb. | Turkey kielbasa, cut into ¼-inch slices |
| 1 | Cup | Onion, chopped |
| 1 | Cup | Celery, chopped |
| 1 | Cup | Green bell pepper, chopped |
| 4 | Cloves | Garlic, minced |
| 2 | Each | Bay leaves |
| 2 | Cups | Corn kernels, cut from fresh corn |
| 2 | Cups | Lima beans, shelled |
| 4 | Cups | Tomatoes, diced |
| 1 | Cup | Chicken stock |
| 4 | Cups | Okra, cut into ¼-inch slices |
| 1 | Tbsp | Thyme, fresh chopped |
| 1 | Tsp | Sea salt |
| ½ | Tsp | Fresh cracked black pepper |
| 1 ½ | Tsp | Crystal hot sauce |
| 6 | Cups | Cooked rice |
| ½ | Cup | Green onions, chopped |
| Procedure Steps | |
| 1. | Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot over a medium-high heat and brown the sausage for about 5 minutes. Add the onions, celery, and bell pepper and sauté until soft, or about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, then add the garlic and stir well. |
| 2. | Add the bay leaves, corn kernels, lima beans, tomatoes, chicken stock, okra, and thyme. Bring to a boil, cover and turn heat down to low and simmer 20 to 25 minutes, or until lima beans and okra are tender. Stir occasionally. Add the salt, pepper, and hot sauce and season to taste. |
| 3. | When ready to serve portion out ½-cup servings of rice with 1-cup of the Creole Succotash, then garnish with the chopped green onion. |
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we all did. This recipe makes about twelve servings. If you want to speed up the process you can use frozen corn, frozen lima beans, and frozen okra, and you can cut the simmer time down to 10 to 12 minutes or so.
Dinner is served …another view…
Creole Succotash…another view
Bon appetite!
CCR
=:~)
©2010 CCR
25 responses so far ↓
1 Biren @ Roti n Rice // Sep 7, 2010 at 11:09 am
This sounds so delicious! I bought some okra yesterday and I will have to give this a try.
2 Dana // Sep 7, 2010 at 11:17 am
What a unique idea for the okra! Sounds really different and delicious!
3 whatsfordinneracrossstatelines // Sep 7, 2010 at 11:28 am
This is a great way to use up all those lovely veggies! Good luck with Project Food Blog!
-Gina-
4 Susi // Sep 7, 2010 at 11:36 am
What an incredible looking dish! Love all the fresh vegetables, it’s like summer in a bowl! Lovely :o)
5 Jason's BBQ Adventures // Sep 7, 2010 at 11:48 am
Looks wonderful, full of colors and flavors.
6 kateiscooking // Sep 7, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Now the question is do I want to use my okra in gumbo or succotash?????? Kate @kateiscooking
7 Priscilla - She's Cookin' // Sep 7, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Oh, I miss okra! We grew it when I was growing up, but not out here (CA). Thanks for this and good luck with Project Food Blog!
8 Mary at Deep South Dish // Sep 7, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I love southern succotash!! And ya might as well forget that one cup serving business when I’m around a pot of succotash. 😉 Have a wonderful week.
9 Quay Po Cooks // Sep 7, 2010 at 2:11 pm
I love okra and I am definitely going to try this recipe.. Thanks for sharing.
10 Drick // Sep 7, 2010 at 2:11 pm
always a great marriage of summer flavor… love your creole version
11 Lisa Faley // Sep 7, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Love the okra in there! YUM!
12 pegasuslegend // Sep 7, 2010 at 5:28 pm
wonderful flavors here especially better with Turkey kielbasa!
13 5 Star Foodie // Sep 7, 2010 at 11:48 pm
This is an excellent succotash and I do love the okra in it!
14 Gera @ Sweets Foods Blog // Sep 8, 2010 at 12:41 am
What a unique and special recipe, full of ingredients and flavors – this Creole looks so good!
Have a great week,
Gera
15 penny aka jeroxie // Sep 8, 2010 at 6:41 am
So healthy! Good on you 🙂
16 Conor @ HoldtheBeef // Sep 8, 2010 at 8:57 am
Garden gifts are the best gifts of all, and you’ve done the gift justice with this dish 🙂
17 Emily @Cleanliness // Sep 8, 2010 at 10:55 am
Oh, I died and went to heaven.
18 Cook in a Bar // Sep 8, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Love one-pot meals and friends bearing gifts…
19 Torviewtoronto // Sep 8, 2010 at 6:15 pm
lovely flavours even okra looks like a full meal
20 Barbara @ Modern Comfort Food // Sep 8, 2010 at 8:09 pm
I love that succotash (and the related Brunswick stew) is probably the oldest of US Southern comfort food dishes, and yet we have so many variations on it, depending on locale. It’s so nice to learn of your excellent Cajun version, including seasonal okra. What a wonderful idea!
21 Kristen // Sep 8, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Looks delicious. I think I might just have most of those ingredients on hand….except the okra. I’m thinking I am going to have to look in my local grocery store for some. What a treat!
22 Magic of Spice // Sep 8, 2010 at 11:18 pm
Great succotash, wonderful flavors and great photos 🙂
23 Anna Johnston // Sep 9, 2010 at 3:08 am
This looks great, I really want to try some of these great dishes, this one isn’t intimidating at all & I do believe I have the ingredients…., so look out. Thanks for sharing. Cheers Anna
24 Sommer @ A Spicy Perspective // Sep 9, 2010 at 10:13 am
What gorgeous succotash! Will try!
25 Gitte // Sep 15, 2010 at 6:23 am
So that’s what Succotash is. I never knew anything about it.