Haricots Blancs à l’Américaine (Lima Beans)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •3-quart heavy saucepan with a well-fitting lid
• •Large colander
• •Broad wooden spoon
• •Chef’s knife

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the Beans

   Prepare the lima beans according to The Treatment of Dry Vegetables (No. 274). As the addition belonging to this entry, lower the whole piece of lean bacon into the saucepan when the referenced aromatic garnish enters, then let it cook gently with the beans. The beans are ready when their centres are creamy rather than chalky and most skins remain intact. If they are still firm when you expected them to be done, keep enough hot water over them and continue at the same gentle simmer; boiling harder splits the skins before the centres soften. Ça se rattrape.

   The bacon cooks in the bean liquor rather than being fried separately. Its flavour moves through the whole pot, while the meat stays tender enough to dice cleanly afterward.
2. 2

   Lift and Dice Bacon

   Lift out the bacon as soon as the beans are tender. Let it stand only until it is comfortable to handle, then cut it into neat 6 mm dice. It will be pale and supple rather than crisp. That is correct: the source calls for bacon cooked with the beans, not rendered lardons carrying a separate fried flavour.

3. 3

   Drain Beans Thoroughly

   Reserve about half a cup of the cooking liquor, then tip the beans gently into a colander and leave them to drain for two or three minutes without rinsing. Water clinging to the beans would thin the tomato sauce. If they still look wet, return them to the empty saucepan over low heat and rock the pan for about a minute, without stirring, until their surfaces lose that watery shine.

4. 4

   Ready the Tomato Sauce

   Pour the finished tomato sauce into the dry saucepan and bring it to a quiet bubble. It should be thick enough that a spoon drawn across the bottom leaves a path for a moment. If it is loose, reduce it gently; if it is already too tight, loosen it with the reserved bean liquor one teaspoon at a time. You want a sauce that clings, not a tomato broth.

5. 5

   Bind and Serve

   Add the drained beans and diced bacon to the tomato sauce. Fold them together with a broad spoon over low heat for two or three minutes, just until every bean is glossed and the sauce coheres the mixture without pooling underneath. If the skins begin to split, stop stirring and rock the saucepan instead. Taste before changing anything, since the bacon and finished sauce should provide the seasoning. Spoon the haricots into a warm serving dish and bring them straight to the table. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Buy sound, recently dried lima beans from a shop with good turnover. The Treatment of Dry Vegetables (No. 274) requires no soak when the beans are of good quality; age, more than price, decides how evenly they soften.
• •Keep the source proportion exact: one cup of dry beans takes four ounces of lean bacon. Choose a meaty slab with modest streaks of fat, not thin breakfast rashers, and don’t render it first.
• •Use a finished tomato sauce with a balanced, savoury flavour, not raw passata and not a basil-heavy pasta sauce. Good canned tomatoes are the honest pantry choice when fresh tomatoes have no character.
• •These beans belong beside roast pork, sausages, or a simply browned chop. They need no scattered herbs or decorative crumbs; cooking well is not cooking fancy.

Advance Preparation

• •The beans and bacon may be cooked several hours ahead. Keep the beans in a little of their cooking liquor until needed, chill promptly, then drain thoroughly before warming them with the tomato sauce.
• •The finished dish keeps for up to three days in the refrigerator. Reheat it over low heat, rocking the saucepan gently and adding a spoonful of water if the sauce has tightened.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 180g)