Simple Succotash with White Limas

+The Amazing Backyard Four-Leaf Clover Patch

Over at Rancho Gordo Press (a very important and professional book publishing house that consists of me as editor, my boss Steve as photographer, and my friend Meghan as designer), we are in the process of making a new cookbook. We did a photoshoot recently at Steve's house and of all the amazing bean dishes we shot, this was, surprisingly, a favorite.

It sounds pretty boring and a lot of people have a negative connotation with lima beans. In the South, succotash is often made with fresh or frozen baby lima beans (which are greenish and taste more like peas than beans). I am not a fan of frozen baby limas, but I love the Rancho Gordo Large White Lima beans and thought they were perfect with the corn, tomatoes, and basil.

I recreated it at home and of course it doesn't look half as good as it did on set, but I am not a food stylist or a photographer so go figure!

Of course, southerners also like to use bacon in this dish, which would take it to the next level. If that appeals to you, cook chopped bacon in a skillet, then remove the bacon while you cook the vegetables in the bacon grease and add the bacon bits back in at the end.

Simple Succotash with White Limas

1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

Coarse kosher salt and pepper

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 cup roughly chopped ripe tomatoes (about 3/4 pound)

2 cups corn kernels, cut from 3 or 4 ears of corn

2 cups cooked Rancho Gordo Large White Lima beans

3 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil

Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion and sprinkle with salt. Sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, corn, and beans. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until corn is tender and tomatoes are soft, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Transfer to a serving bowl and let cool slightly. Stir in basil and serve.

My daughter was playing around in the grass in our backyard recently, and she found a four-leaf clover. It was so exciting! We hollered and cheered! She brought it inside and we pressed it in some wax paper and put it in a book.

Then she went back outside and found another one in the same patch. Then she found another one, and another one. It was ridiculous. Over the past couple of weeks, I think she has found about 20 of them in the same small clover patch.

Is this a common thing, for a patch of clovers to produce a lot of four-leafed clovers? Or maybe she is just the luckiest girl in the history of the world? Luckily the excitement hasn't worn off yet, and she continues to be amazed and excited every time she finds a new one. We'll have to figure out a fun craft project for them....