New Fave Side: Edamame and Sweet Corn Succotash

I love Joslyn Taylor's gorgeous, eloquent lifestyle/design/mama blog called Simple Lovely, and while perusing it I have also checked out her side projects: Operation Simplicity and Raising Foodies.  I'm particularly drawn to the latter, which concerns trying desperately to cook for and nourish picky eaters, a subject with which I am intimately entangled at the moment.  As I scrolled through Raising Foodies for the first time, I came across her recipe for Edamame and Corn Succotash and knew immediately that I had to give it a whirl.  It looks like the perfect weeknight/winter side/veg option: a frozen bag o' this, a quickly chopped up that, and you have a restaurant-quality side at the ready in about five minutes.  Yes, please.

Here's the exceedingly simple recipe:
Ingredients
1 bag frozen organic sweet corn
1 bag frozen organic edamame
1 small shallot
2 tablespoons butter
1 marinated roasted red pepper
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Completely thaw the corn and edamame. Saute the shallot in butter. Add corn and edamame and saute until cooked through. Dice red pepper and add to the pan, cooking for a few more minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
* I also added a heaping teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme, a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of paprika to my dish as I was feeling creative.  All were great additions and probably ones I will use again in the future.

It was love at first sight between this recipe and me, for a few reasons: there is almost no work involved, anything with shallots is gold, a side/veg rich with protein (from the edamame) is always a good thing in my book, and there was the slimmest margin of a prayer that my picky guy would eat this (he has been known not to flatly reject edamame and sometime deigns corn acceptable). 

Unfortunately, he was not into it, but the husband and I most certainly were.   I served the succotash alongside spice-rubbed, pan-seared, bone-in pork chops and jasmine rice for a special weeknight dinner, but I think this would make a fabulous veggie entree with a great salad on the side, and also would stand up alone as a side to a meat dish without any starch at all.  I'm thinking I'll eat the leftovers for lunch today with a fried egg on top and a little shaved sharp cheddar.  This is a dish that can wear a lot of hats, and for something so low-maintenance, it's incredibly elegant.

I think the husband said it best, "... you shouldn't call this succotash, because it really doesn't suck, it's delicious.  I think you should call it awesome-tash."  There you have it.  Serve some awesome-tash with dinner tonight!  Even your toddler might like it... just don't hold your breath.