Easy Creamed Lima Beans: Feves au Jambon

This is the easiest side dish I've ever made.

Surprisingly, I found this recipe in a French cookbook I usually go to only when I feel like laboring for an afternoon over a masterpiece, but these "French limas" are for lazy days.  They are so delicious that I make them all the time and will never make limas any other way.  Here's all you do:

Rinse in hot water and then soak in cold water for 8 hrs. one pound of large limas.  Rinse again and cook 1 1/2-2 hrs. or according to package directions until done.

Now all you have to do is to dice 4 oz. of ham and a clove of garlic, add those and salt and pepper to 1/2 cup of heavy cream, and boil rapidly for 5 minutes to thicken the cream.  Pour the cream over your drained beans and sprinkle them with parsley or chervil.

It's a French dish, so you can julienne the ham, but I dice it to get meat in every spoonful.

That's it!  You're done.  Let the fridge do the rest--they are better after they've soaked up that yummy cream for a day or two.  I have to admit that I double the cream and add a whole cup, because they do soak up a bit and may not be as creamy on day 2--but they are even better on day 2!  I don't always have heavy cream, so I use half-and-half or even canned evaporated milk, which I always have on hand.

Like most of my favorite dishes, "feves au jambon" has an ethnic identity.  When I make it, I remember that France has the largest agricultural economy in Europe.
 

Canola flowers southwest of Paris

In April, fields of canola flowers stretch for what seemed to me 100 miles southwest and east of Paris,  I took this pic from the train between Paris and Tours and then found more endless fields between Paris and Strasbourg.  This is the source of our canola oil.

When I think of garden veggie recipes, I think of France, Italy, and Germany, because I have collected hundreds from those countries, so stayed tuned.