Quasi-Moroccan Corn Succotash

This dish came about as an effort to use up some of the copious amounts of fresh produce I picked up at the farmers' market before we were out of town for the weekend.  I have a bad habit of picking up tons of food and realizing that, crap, we only have 3 nights to cook that week and then we either have dinner plans the next few nights in a row or we have travel plans.  So we came up with this recipe as a way to use the parsley, zucchini, tomato, and fresh corn I picked up.  We were making some Moroccan scallops (which I promise to post about later because they were delicious), so I wanted something summery with a vaguely Moroccan feel.  As a brief side note, I just realized that I seem to use the word "quasi" when describing Moroccan dishes.  I guess it's because I'm not altogether that familiar with Moroccan cuisine and spices, so I just don't really know if what I am making is Moroccan or not, but I feel like it is Moroccan-ish enough to be labeled as "Quasi Moroccan."  Moving on.  I decided I wanted to use the corn and we came up with this dish!  Alex stumbled across a few raw corn salad recipes but I wanted something more along the lines of a succotash because I'm not sure that the fresh corn is quite at the peak of its sweetness yet and we had other ingredients (like the zucchini and the sweet onion) that I think often fare better when cooked.  And in the end, I am glad we went this route because I thought the corn salad was very tasty and was the perfect side for our scallops.  The dish was bright and summery, but the flavors were harmonious and light enough that they nicely complimented the scallops and would easily compliment a variety of other entrees - Moroccan or not.

Recipe after the jump!


Quasi-Moroccan Corn Succotash

INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp evoo
1 small yellow onion, diced
corn kernels cut from 4 ears of corn (about 3 cups)
1-2 cups zucchini, diced
1 medium tomato, diced and seeds removed
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tbsp white vinegar (or to taste)
2 tbsp flatleaf parsley, finely chopped
2 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tbsp sweet paprika

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add 1 tbsp evoo.  Saute onions until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add zucchini and saute 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add corn, continue to saute until all heated through, about 5 minutes.  Season with s&p, sugar and paprika.  Add lemon juice and white vinegar, stir to combine, and add tomatoes to heat through.  Season to taste with additional s&p, if necessary.

Remove from heat, stir in parsley.  Serve.