Succotash

Ingredients

• 4 ears of corn, kernels cut from the cob
• 300 g fresh or frozen lima beans (or butter beans), shelled; thawed if frozen
• 40 g unsalted butter, generous
• 1 small onion, diced; optional
• 1 small bell pepper, diced; optional
• 100 g salt pork or bacon, diced; optional — rendered first, fat reserved in place of butter
• 1 tsp fine salt
• ½ tsp black pepper, freshly ground

Method

1. 1
   If using salt pork or bacon: place the diced meat in a cold wide pan and set over medium heat. Render slowly until the fat runs clear and the pieces are golden and crisp. Remove the solids with a slotted spoon and reserve. Retain the rendered fat in the pan in place of butter. If not using salt pork, melt the butter in a wide pan over medium heat until it foams and subsides.
2. 2
   Add the diced onion and bell pepper, if using, to the fat. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion turns translucent and softens — about 3 minutes. The pan should smell sweet and faintly caramelised.
3. 3
   Add the lima beans. Stir to coat them in the fat. Cook for 3–4 minutes, until they are just tender when pressed between two fingers — yielding but not collapsing. This is where the dish lives or dies: the limas must be cooked through yet hold their shape, and the corn, added next, must retain its sweetness; once either vegetable overcooks it cannot be recovered.
4. 4
   Add the corn kernels and salt and pepper. Stir and cook for a further 2–3 minutes only, until the corn is just heated through and glistens with the butter or fat. A kernel tasted should be sweet, barely cooked, and still slightly firm at its centre.
5. 5
   If rendered salt pork or bacon was used, scatter the reserved crisp pieces back over the vegetables. The finished dish should glisten across its surface — add a small knob of butter off the heat if needed to achieve this. Serve immediately.