Beans, Lima and Green

Preparation

1. Bland

   Step 1

   A pinch of sugar in the cooking water helps bring out the flavor. On the plate or in the pot, try adding dill seed, fennel, or rosemary. Sage perks up lima beans (1/8 teaspoon in the cooking water for a cup of dried beans), and a sprinkling of sesame seeds makes string beans interesting. Toasted slivered almonds make string beans downright elegant.

2. Frozen to the box

   Step 2

   Run cold water into the spaces in the box and the beans will come out.

3. Losing color

   Step 3

   When beans start losing color, and when it is very important to you that they don’t, you can add a pinch of baking soda to the water. It will help them retain their color, but it will also extract some of the vitamins.

4. Not enough

   Step 4

   In many restaurants, you’ll find something called Italian vegetables. Usually, but not always, this is a mixture of Italian beans, peas, and string beans. Very good. If you’re desperate, even kidney or navy beans or chopped broccoli will do. Add a chunk of butter and cook together for 5 minutes so the flavors blend. Or do you have kidney or garbanzo beans (or both)? Then how about a three (or four) bean salad?

5. Old

   Step 5

   If your string beans or lima beans have been around for a week or more, add a pinch of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt to the cooking water.

6. Stringy

   Step 6

   If your lima beans are stringy, you have more problems than this book can help you with. For stringy string beans, plunge them into boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain the water. They should be much easier to de-string.

7. Thawed

   Step 7

   See Appendix B for suggestions on what to do with frozen beans that have thawed before you wanted them to.

8. Too many

   Step 8

   Lima beans reheat beautifully, especially if you brown 1/2 cup minced onions and add them to the pot with a few tablespoons water when reheating. Crumbled bacon on top is a nice touch, too. Lima beans are also delicious roasted with olive oil, garlic, and sliced green olives. Yes, it sounds a bit odd, but it tastes fantastic.

   Step 9

   Cooked string beans make excellent salad material when cold (as in a Niçoise salad). Before putting them into the refrigerator, dress them with a mixture of 3 parts oil to 1 part lemon juice or vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste and, if you have some dill weed, throw in a couple of pinches. No dill? How about a dill pickle? Chop it finely and add it to the beans. (Remember that the pickle will add salt, so be careful in that department.) Those capers you have in your emergency kit will work, too.