Sufferin' Succotash!

Hubby's week off is so far proving to be very productive. We've booked a date for James' baptism, sorted out the application for Christopher to start nursery school next January and Karl is now well under way with a long-standing project to build a wardrobe in our bedroom. As if all that wasn't enough, we've also decided to go camping for a couple of nights, to give our new Vango tent a test run before our main holiday later in the summer.

For supper tonight I roasted a chicken. Always welcome, but especially when the cold meat can be enjoyed in sandwiches for a picnic lunch while we're away. To go with the bird, I cooked some succotash, not very traditional I know, but extremely good nonetheless.

Succotash

butter
1 onion, chopped
175g unsmoked bacon, chopped
400g tin cannellini or butter beans, drained and rinsed
340g tin sweetcorn, drained and rinsed
100ml chicken stock
100ml double cream

Melt a bit of butter in a deep-sided frying pan. Cook the onion until soft, but not browned. Add and fry the bacon. Pour in half the stock, add the beans and sweetcorn and cook, stirring well, for a couple of minutes. Add the rest of the stock and the cream. Season with pepper, then bubble until the liquid has thickened slightly.

Some chopped fresh parsley stirred in before serving tastes fab, but we didn't have any, so we had to do without. I often think that I should grow some parsley with the other herbs in the garden, but I use so much of it that I could never grow enough without having to give over just about the entire garden to parsley cultivation.


James had a little puréed chicken and succotash for his supper. I used organic tinned beans and sweetcorn, with no added salt, and defrosted some homemade (and therefore also saltless) chicken stock. The meal was as much of a hit with him as it was with the rest of us.

Alongside the roast chicken and succotash I also served some steamed broccoli and some Herefordshire asparagus - the first of the British crop I've seen this year. James reacted well to his first taste of what is, undoubtedly, my most favourite vegetable. Christopher ate some too, but Hubby remains unconvinced. Fool. Still, all the more for the rest of us...

(The red mark is from bashing his poor little cheek while he was rolling around on the floor, playing, earlier today)