Succotash Chowder

By Lisa VanWilliams

Several years back I used to go to place called The Birches at Mohegan Sun Casino, which has since been closed as of 2012, and replaced with a Hash House a go go. They use to serve the MOST incredible succotash and they would serve it to you when you sat down with a basket of bread sticks and crackers. My mom would sit there and eat it with a spoon. In 2005, Mohegan Sun put out a book called, "Under the Mohegan Sun: A Celebration of Cuisine & Culture", and in this book they go into detail about the Mohegan Tribe cuisines and their century old recipes and they include this recipe. The Executive Chefs at the casino try to incorporate these recipes into dishes that can be served at their restaurants. We tried our first batch of this, and here is my experience making it, and my recipe review.

The book can still be found on Amazon for roughly $5:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/097605020X/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&sr=&qid=

The Native Americans of the Northeast were the first to make this dish, and it's traditionally made with sweet corn and lima beans but other items may be added like peppers or tomatoes. This is a savory, rich, warming, creamy dish that is packed with flavor. It's not very hard to make, but timing is key because you do not want to over boil. Since it's so rich, it's not something I would make all the time, but it's so delicious I wanted to share. I would make it as a soup dish or serve it as an appetizer with crackers/bread as a dip if I was planning on having dinner guests.  Lima beans are packed with fiber and it's a great way to sneak some of these nutty flavored beans in without anyone noticing.

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter
3 slices thick cut bacon diced
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups corn stock (saved from boil)
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups Trader Joe's sweet yellow corn
1 cup Trader Joe's white corn
1 cup lima beans
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon Meat Magic
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Make the corn stock first: 6 cups cold water, 2 cups yellow corn, 1 cup white corn, sugar, & salt. Simmer for 20-30 minutes on a medium boil until reduced by half.  Strain the corn over a bowl, and SAVE all the corn stock.

Melt the butter and add the bacon. Cook for a few minutes then add in the onions.

Stir this on medium high heat until the bacon and onions turn a golden brown.

When brown, add in the flour and lower the heat to medium low and stir the flour for about 10 minutes. It will be a think roux.

Slowly whisk in the corn stock and bring back to a boil. Add the corn, beans, salt, Meat Magic, white pepper, and simmer it for 15 minutes.

Lower the heat and add the heavy cream and cook for 15 minutes more. If you feel it's overly salty or too thick, you can always add a little water in small increments until it's the consistency you would like.

Serve as a chowder soup or with some bread/crackers as a dip. Enjoy!

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succotash
http://www.amazon.com/Under-Mohegan-Sun-Celebration-Cuisine/dp/097605020X