Courtesy of Laura at http://crunchyflake.blogspot.com/

1 pound fresh lima beans, in shell (yield 4 oz. beans)
knob of butter
pinch kosher salt

Steam the beans for about 10 minutes. In a saute pan, heat butter until sizzling, and add beans. Toss to coat with butter, and sprinkle with salt. When beans start browning, toss again, turn down heat to low, and cover. Cook, tossing or stirring occasionally, for at least 15 minutes, and for as long as 30 minutes. The beans will be caramelised on the outside, with softly crispy skin yielding under gentle pressure to reveal a miniature puree in each bite, butter matching butter.

The Wondrous Lima Bean

I found a way to make lima beans taste good, says she in wonderment. I've never cared for lima beans – those mealy, tasteless things that serve no purpose other than to put lumps in your food. It helps if you start, as I did, with fresh, in-the-shell lima beans from your local CSA.

So anyway, the first task is to figure out how to extract said lima beans from said encapsulation. It's not as easy as it sounds. I finally resorted to cutting around the flat edge of each shell thing with a pair of kitchen shears. A pound of beans in the shell yields . . . just about 4 ounces of beans. Yup, a 25% yield.

The next conundrum was how to cook them. I'd been toying with the idea of a puree or a soup. Anything to get rid of the mealiness. A puree would involve various steps, and I just wasn't in the mood. So I started by steaming them for ten minutes, then turning the flame off and letting them sit while I figured out what to do next. Jim and I both tasted one, and we were surprised by the fairly crisp texture and buttery taste. Never encountered lima beans like these before…. But don't they call them butterbeans in the South? Light starts shining from the dim lightbulb in the distance.

Time was passing. I threw a knob of butter into the sauté pan, added a pinch of kosher salt, and threw in the beans. Tossed it all together, and tossed again once things were sizzling nicely. I let them brown a bit, and turned the heat down. Covered them. They kept cooking, browning. The meat wasn't done. I turned the heat all the way down, thinking about the fact that undercooked lima beans can contain a compound of cyanide. Not something I particularly want to serve myself for dinner.

So. I finally decided that the beans were going to be way overcooked, and started to plate them. Perfect timing – the meat was finally ready. But how were the beans? Well. They were absolutely amazing. Each bean was caramelized on the outside, softly crispy skin yielding under gentle pressure to reveal a miniature puree in each bite, butter matching butter. No mealy in sight.

I still have my doubts about lima beans frozen or, or, how else can you buy them? Canned? I've never even looked. But the next time I'm given the opportunity to get fresh limas, I won't hesitate.