I have never really liked lima beans. I think it is the same issue that my husband, Thom, has with brussel sprouts. They were cooked badly when he was a child. It wasn’t his mother but his grandmother that spoiled it for Thom and the sprouts (and eventually me because I can’t get him to eat them!). But back to lima beans, as I was saying, I was never very fond of them. The texture was all off for me. This week, after reading an article on lima beans lasagne I decided to tackle lima beans once again. Apparently lima beans can be used in place of ricotta. By gosh! Vegans like it so why not?

I’m an adventurous yet frugal cook. Beans and grains are becoming more and more of a household staple for those tightening their budgets. They’re packed with protein, low in fat (almost fat free) with zero saturated fats and have the added benefit of easily broken down carbs so they’re less likely to hang around your body and turn into fat. In an obese society, beans are good to begin adding into the diet again.

With all that in mind, I thought I’d tackle limas to prove to myself that they really are a worthwhile bean. I wasn’t quite ready to take the leap into a familiar dish and change it around yet, though. So, I decided to look through some of my older vintage cookbooks to find lima beans in recipes (as the newer cookbooks seem to avoid them as I do — even some of the veggie books). Lo and behold! In a Farmhouse Cookbook I found…Spanish Lima Beans.

There was really nothing Spanish about the recipe I found. In fact, I think it’s technically a cassoulet. I tweaked it a little for more nutritional value, served it with homemade French bread (which is easy peasy if you follow Mel’s Basic Recipe) and renamed the dish to Ole! Lima Bean Cassoulet.

The trick, I think, with lima beans is that you shouldn’t overcook or they become mush and you can’t undercook or they’re all crunchy which isn’t really very yummy to most people. So yes, it’s a little daunting, to say the least.

I started out the day (at 5:30 a.m.) by putting a 2 cups dried limas in a pot covered in water and brought it to a boil while I made my husband’s lunch and coffee. When it came to a boil, I turned it off and let it soak. At around 4:00 pm I drained the beans, put in new water and let it simmer for about an hour and a half. Other stuff got done of course, like me and the rabbit hung out. I wrote, he gamboled about. Then, around 5:30 I started to assemble the cassoulet. I had to disregard a few things in the recipe as I thought they were wrong for being “Spanish”, like Worcestershire sauce and red pepper flakes. Instead I substituted port wine and cayenne. I also added some more veggies and substituted yellow onion with shallot and red onion to make it a perfect one dish dinner.

I was a little scared, actually, that it would turn out bland as all lima bean dishes I’ve ever eaten in my LIFE have been. Not even… It was YUM. Thom and I were delighted. The experiment was a success!

So even though there’s a lot of prep for the beans you can use canned (though I think that’s my problem with limas — the canned ones are blech). Without the bean prep, this takes all of about 15 minutes to prep including dicing time. So technically, not a 30 minute meal but 45 minutes ain’t bad. With the bean prep, the time I took to actually pay attention to the beans was perhaps another fifteen minutes as it really did it all on its own. Conceivably, someone could start this recipe in the morning and put the beans and water in a slowcooker on low for the day (after the initial boil–transfer to slow cooker) then drain them and use them in the recipe. Alternatively, you can prep beans and grains on the weekend and freeze them for use during the week. I used limas but I am thinking navy beans would work as well, maybe even black beans. Not sure about red beans though…

Overall flavor I’d have to say is umami.

Ole! Lima Bean Cassoulet
by Francine Mastini

2 cups cooked lima beans
2 cups tomatoes (the kind with onion & Italian spices if you’re using a can)
1 red bell pepper diced
1 stalk celery diced
1 small carrot diced
1 med shallot diced
(or alternatively 1 small red onion or a combo of the two)
2 tbs butter
1-2 tbsp port wine
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne (to your own taste)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (use a kind that melts, I had cheddar on hand but jack is good too)

Soak beans to prep and cook till al dente. Preheat oven to 375F. Sautee the onion, carrots, and celery in butter in a small casserole or wide saucepan (I used my All Clad to go from stovetop to oven). Add tomatoes and stew all together for about 10 minutes. Stir in the beans and the spices together. Layer bean mixture and cheese in clean, greased, casserole. Bake for 30 minutes.

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