Luxury Limas

How we make it.

*serves 4*

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
14 ounces lima beans, defrosted
1 bunch scallions, chopped fine
¼ cup parsley, chopped fine
3 ½ ounces roasted pumpkin seeds, ground
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 lime, juiced

If you can't find toasted pumpkin seeds, toast some raw ones at 350 until lightly browned. However you get the pumpkin seeds, pulverize them to a gravel in the food processor. Set aside. Defrost and dry lima beans, set aside. Chop the green onions and parsley finely. Heat a large skillet to medium heat and add sesame oil. Add lima beans and sauté until browned, around 8 minutes. Add scallions, parsley, salt and ground pumpkin seeds, cooking for another minute. Finish with lime juice and an extra drizzle of sesame oil, more salt if needed. Serve warm or room temperature. I actually like better at room temperature.

Why we make it.

There is a little restaurant in town that has the best lima beans you've ever tasted called the Mayan Cafe. If you're ever in Louisville, trust me on it and stop in. If you never plan to make it over this way, allow me to help the lima beans make their way to you. I call these Luxury Limas because they are way more exciting than the mushy, pale green, kidney-shaped chalk fest you might have sampled in a succotash. These are finely dressed and subtly flavored with a sort of je ne sais quoi that I now know is toasted sesame oil. A shower of green herbs, a savory gravel of roast pumpkin seeds and a burst of lime make for a bean like none you've seen. She didn't spend her cooking time waterlogged in a cloudy saucepan. She's a skillet girl, crackle cooked, oil slicked and finished with citrus. The cafe put their recipe in the paper a few years back so now it's ours...with a few modifications, of course. And that's why we can make it.