Roasted Lima Beans

I have never been what you could call a ‘fan’ of the lima bean.

Some kids mom’s tried to dress ’em up with a tomato or white or cheese sauce; my mom was a believer in serving veggies in all their, ermmm, natural glory – even when that natural glory came straight from a can.

Yeccch.

I mention this so you know that I did not come to this recipe without a pretty good bit of doubt, and no little amount of trepidation; but I gotta say, spiced and roasted lima beans aren’t too, too bad!

The original recipe, via our friends at Food Network, is meant to be a healthy snack offering; but I plan on using these tasty little bits in place of edamame in a new take on the classic three bean salad I came across a few Thursday evenings ago while slouching about a book store coffee shop with friends. I’ll cover the salad later, for now, let’s focus on the limas:

INGREDIENTS
•1 bag frozen lima beans, thawed
•1/4 cup olive oil
•1 tsp coarse salt
•2 tsp cayenne pepper (CAREFUL! see below for a mebbe more better option)
•Juice of 1 lime

Heat your oven to 425º.

Dry the thawed limas on paper towels and toss in the olive oil, salt, cayenne and lime juice in a large roasting pan.

Bake for about 25 minutes, just until the beans begin to turn brown, stirring after ten minutes or so.

You’ll notice a distinctive “lima bean smell” while they’re roasting, but once done you’ll have a nice little nut-like bite that really could be served as a munchie, tho’ I’m sticking with my salad plan.

Just so you know; some comments on the Food Network recipe recommended allowing them to rest overnight and then squirting a bit more lime juice over the beans just before serving as a snack.

Irregardless, snack or salad ingredient, these are w-a-a-a-y better than those slimy canned lima beans my mom tried to get me to eat oh so many years ago. Sorry, mom.

UPDATE: so, I served these as part of that cool new take on three bean salad and should mention – mebbe DON’T double up on the cayenne. Rich had steam coming out of his ears. Hmmm, perhaps 1 tsp each paprika (or chili powder) and granulated garlic in place of the cayenne?