Did you ever eat succotash made from fresh ingredients? It's unlikely you ever will in a diner, which is one reason succotash has such a bad rep among vegetable lovers. For this recipe, you can use canned corn and beans and exactly duplicate diner chow, or you can create a trompe l'oeil by using kernels of corn just off the cob, and garden-fresh lima beans. Add a few chopped pimientos and it will look just like deluxe succotash at the Acme Diner ... but watch your guests' faces turn from grouchy reluctance to astonished pleasure when they dip into it and discover otherwise!

Copyright 2001 Lynne Rossetto Kasper

Serves 4 to 6

Did you ever eat succotash made from fresh ingredients? It's unlikely you ever will in a diner, which is one reason succotash has such a bad rep among vegetable lovers. For this recipe, you can use canned corn and beans and exactly duplicate diner chow, or you can create a trompe l'oeil by using kernels of corn just off the cob, and garden-fresh lima beans. Add a few chopped pimientos and it will look just like deluxe succotash at the Acme Diner ... but watch your guests' faces turn from grouchy reluctance to astonished pleasure when they dip into it and discover otherwise!

• 1 thick slice bacon or blanched salt pork
• 2 cups cooked lima beans
• 2 cups corn kernels
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 tablespoons chopped pimientos (optional)

Dice bacon and cook in large skillet until crisp. Add drained lima beans and heat in bacon fat. Add corn and stir. Add butter and cream. Stir over low heat five minutes. Add salt, pepper, and pimiento.