Sufferin’ Succotash

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I’ve had a revelation!  Lima beans are a food I always thought I didn’t like.  Every time I had them in succotash, usually some frozen version, I thought they were disgusting.  They had a weird texture and I just didn’t enjoy them.  Well, recently Derek bought some dried large lima beans (not realizing my dislike).  Like everyone these days, we’ve been trying to make more use of pantry items and some of those are dried beans.  I realized this was an opportunity for me to give lima beans another try.  I figured if I didn’t like them after cooking dried ones with more flavoring, I just wasn’t going to like them.  They’ve made me a believer!  After that, I decided I might as well make my own succotash. 

So here goes!

You’re going to start with the dried beans.  I know this seems like extra work, but I really think it makes a difference, especially when it comes to lima beans!  I listed half a pound in the recipe, but honestly I just cooked the whole pound bag of beans and used the other half for salads and stuff.  Totally up to you if you want leftovers or not. I will also leave “to soak or not to soak” up to you. It will cut down on the cooking time, but I’ve also found its easier to overcook them so they turn into a mushy mess.  Either way, just follow the directions on the bag with one exception- you’re going to add a pinch of baking soda and a palmful of salt. One big takeaway I got from reading Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat was to season foods from within whenever possible.  This means it’s better to add salt to the cooking liquid for beans for example.  I’m sure you’ve heard before that that’s a big no-no because then they beans will stay hard.  However, adding the baking soda helps prevent this, I learned. 

Once the beans are done cooking, drain them and set them aside.  Now heat the olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion.  I chose red onion because, frankly, that’s all we had on hand.  It also had the added bonus of extra color.  I honestly think that any onions will work in this. 

Sauté until the onions have started to soften but aren’t browned. 

While the onions are sautéing, drain your corn.  If you don’t have canned, frozen will work in a pinch.  I just feel like canned corn has more texture than frozen, so it’s may preference.  

When the onion has softened you’ll add the corn. 

Sauté that together a few minutes. 

Now you’ll add the lima beans. 

Stir it together gently to combine everything and taste for salt.  The amount of salt you’ll need will really depend on the amount your beans absorbed and also if there was any salt added to the canned corn you used.  

Serve warm or cold.  We had it warm as a side to fried chicken.  The next day I added a squeeze of lemon juice and ate it cold as a salad.  Both were terrific!