When we were kids, Mum organised a maths tutor to come to Sharpie Street to speak with my brothers. When Anthony got wind of this, he climbed to the top of a jacaranda tree and refused to come down. The poor tutor stood at the base of the tree and attempted to reason with Ant.
Wouldn't he need maths when he was older? How would he support himself?
Legend has it that Ant told the tutor he was going to be a cowboy; answering each of the tutor's questions with such exactitude, that Mum was almost more proud of her son, than she was embarrassed of his tree-climbing antics.
Flash forward to 2012. Anthony is every bit a tree-climbing cowboy; he's got the scars to prove it. He's been a rodeo clown, a horse trainer, and the male lead in the Outback Spectacular. He even survived an ultralight accident while mustering in Western Queensland.
He lives further away than I'd like now, but he visited this weekend; so I made him a feed that any sister this side of the Mississippi would be proud of.
We ate baby-back ribs, zucchini corn bread and Sunshine Succotash.
To be honest, before last week I hadn't realised that succotash was something you ate! I'd always figured it was a feline-curse word, best delivered by a puddy cat with a lisp. So it was a huge surprise when this was as delicious as it was - Sunshine Succotash will be on high repeat in our house!
Sunshine Succotash
Ingredients:
2 cups dried lima beans
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
4 large red tomatoes, chopped
4 ears of corn, kernels removed
½ bunch fresh basil, torn
olive oil
salt and pepper
optional: 1 tub Continental chicken stock pot (omit this if you're looking for a vegetarian option).
Method:
Soak the dried lima beans, over night.
Drain the lima beans, and remove their outer pods.
Place the lima beans in a small saucepan, cover with water. Bring to the boil, and then allow to simmer until the beans are just tender.
Drain and set aside.
In a heavy-based pan, saute onion until translucent (about five minutes). Add the garlic and cook gently until fragrant (about another minute). Add the tomatoes, corn kernels, lima beans and (optional) stock pot. Reduce heat and simmer until the corn is tender and the tomatoes are soft. Take care not to over cook the succotash - you want the corn and lima beans to hold their form. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in basil and serve.
Dinner was wonderful. It was great to see Ant and he was very appreciative of my attempts at southern hospitality.
For the record, the tutor never returned!
What do you want to be when you grow up? I'm still deciding!
