Skillet-Cooked Sweet Corn and Lima Beans

• 4 to 6 ears sweet corn
• 3 1/2 to 4 pounds fresh lima beans in the shell
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 or 4 plump garlic cloves, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon peperoncino
• 1 cup Basil Onion Sauce (recipe follows)
• A 14-inch skillet or saute pan with a cover
• 2/3 cup fresh, unblemished basil leaves, packed
• 3 tablespoons best-quality extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 pound onions, cut in 1-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups chunks)
• 1 cup leek chunks (1-inch pieces)
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• (makes about 1 cup)

1. Cut the kernels from the ears of corn until you have 4 or 5 cups (see below).
2. Shell all the lima beans.
3. You should get at least a quart of shelled beans from 4 pounds of beans in the shell.
4. Rinse the shelled limas, getting rid of any bits of the pods, and drain them well.
5. Put the olive oil in the skillet, toss in the garlic slices, and cook them over medium-high heat for just a minute.
6. Dump all the limas from the bowl into the pankeep your face away, as there will be a lot of sizzling when the damp beans hit the oil.
7. Immediately cover the pan, give it a good shake, and turn down the heat to medium-low.
8. Cook the limas, covered, and shake the pan frequently.
9. Uncover it every 3 minutes or so and quickly check that the beans are sizzling and softening but not burning.
10. After 10 minutes, sprinkle over beans the salt and peperoncino; cover and cook for another minute.
11. Then add the corn kernels and stir them into the beans.
12. Cook, covered, another 5 minutes, then add 1/2 cup of water to the pan and cover again.
13. Cook another 8 to 10 minutes, until the beans and the kernels are tender to the bite but not mushy, and have caramelized lightly on the edges.
14. Serve the corn and limas right away, straight from the pan or piled on a platter covered with a thin layer of Basil Onion Sauce.
15. Scoop up some of the sauce with each serving spoonful.
16. Reserve 5 or 6 bright-green basil leaves (about 2 tablespoons) and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil.
17. Put the remainder of the basil in a small saucepan with all the other ingredients (including the remaining tablespoon of olive oil).
18. Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot, and boil gently for 15 to 20 minutes.
19. Remove the cover and boil steadily another 20 minutes or longer, reducing the contents of the pot to 1 cupabout a quarter of the original volume.
20. Lower the heat if necessary, as liquid evaporates, to avoid burning the sauce ingredients.
21. When it is sufficiently concentrated, scrape everything from the pot into the bowl of a food processor and puree.
22. Roughly chop the reserved basil leaves with a knife, then add the pieces to the food processor and puree until theyre incorporated.
23. Finally, with the machine running, drizzle in the reserved 2 tablespoons of excellent olive oil, to form a light emulsion.
24. Serve the sauce warm with cooked vegetables; reheat on the stove if it has cooled off.
25. Store in the refrigerator.
26. Brussels sprouts
27. Boiled eggs
28. Poached leeks
29. Fresh tomatoes with mozzarella
30. Poached zucchini
31. Sweet corn on the cob is special, but for many dishes I want the fresh kernels only.
32. Heres how I cut them from the cobquickly:
33. With a big chefs knife, chop off an inch or two at the top and the bottom of the ear.
34. This removes much of the silk and the stem and makes peeling the husk easy.
35. Strip off the husks and remove any clinging silks.
36. Now stand the ear on the cut flat bottom end, on a tray or inside a wide bowl, so the kernels dont fall all over the place.
37. Slice down with the blade of the knife, close to the cob, going the full length of the cob and shaving off a band of kernels.
38. Rotate the cob and slice off more kernels, turning and slicing until its clean shaven.
39. You may get anywhere from 1/2 cup to nearly 2 cups of kernels from each ear, depending on the size of the corn and the maturity of the kernels.
40. Corn cobs can add a lot of flavor to stocks, a soup base, or Simple Vegetable Broth (page 288).
41. Save a few cobs when you make these summer corn dishes: wrap them airtight, freeze them, and drop them into the pot the next time you are making stock or soup.

corn, fresh lima beans, extravirgin olive oil, garlic, salt, peperoncino, onion sauce, skillet, basil, bestquality, onions, leek chunks, water, salt

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/skillet-cooked-sweet-corn-and-lima-beans-384502 (may not work)