Seasonal Ontario Food

This may be the greatest recipe of all time. Seriously. It takes something good and makes it fantastic and surprising, and it's easy, inexpensive, nutritious and beautiful. What more could you possibly want? Well, you could want it to be local. Drat.

The recipe is adapted from Epicurious. Unfortunately, I don't think I can claim it's seasonal Ontario food. I know you can grow lima beans in Ontario: I've done it. But I've never seen them for sale; ever, anywhere, so I get them frozen and imported. This is one of those things too good to give up.

2 servings
15 minutes - 8 minutes prep time.

2 cups frozen lima beans
2-3 cloves of garlic
1-2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Rinse the beans and put them in a pot with enough water just to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender; 5 to 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice the garlic and sauté it on both sides in a bit of the butter until soft and very lightly browned. If I am cooking some sort of meat in a pan to go with this, I just add the garlic slices to the pan for a few minutes. Put the garlic slices with the butter and salt into a blender or food processor.

When the lima beans are tender, lift them out of the cooking water with a slotted spoon and put them in the blender or food processor. Add a splash of the cooking water. Purée until very smooth. Add a little more cooking water if necessary in order to achieve a smooth, soft but not too liquid blend.