Friday Recipe

 

As I shared back in March, we're in a club, a delivery club--for beans, yes beans. And for the second time these gorgeous Christmas Lima Beans showed up in our box. Aren't they beautiful? Who would have ever thought that beans could be exciting/beautiful/gorgeous hasn't tried these.

I remembering hating Lima Beans as a kid, and I'd never really eaten them in adulthood. 

The name of these lovelies in Italy are Fagioli del Papa or "Pope's Beans" and in the US as "Chestnut Lima"  or "Calico" beans. They're different than usual lima beans because they have a  very nutty, chestnut flavor to them.

The arresting packaging really got me when I saw these in the store for the first time. Imagine a whole shelf-full of this graphic excellence.

Here's how they look after about 7 hours soaking in water. They soaked up almost all of it, look at how enormous they've gotten.

And here's how they look all cooked up and in my bowl.

The color changes quite a bit as with so many colorful foods. Delicious.

Definitely nutty or Chestnutty to be specific.

Here's the recipe I came up with just in case you're interested in trying these:

EZ Beans

Soak the beans if you have time, greatly shortens the cooking time later. 

When you're ready to cook, drain them, but make sure to save the water.

Add to a soup pot over medium heat:

 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 

8 cloves of minced garlic, 

chopped white or yellow onion, 

Give it a good stir and cook until the onions and garlic are turning translucent.

Then add into the pot:

3-4 stalks of celery, chopped, 

3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped.

and the drained beans. 

Stir and cook a minute or two.

Then add in the reserved bean soaking water, also add more water so that the water is 2" above the beans/vegies.

Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes.

Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until "done". Done is however soft you like your beans. Remember they'll continue to cook internally even after you turn off the heat.

Serve over rice, make sure to scoop up some of the broth, top with feta cheese.