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Lima Beans Bretonne

A sautéed lima bean side dish with olive oil, butter, onion, green pepper, celery, garlic, wine, tomatoes, and herbs.

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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Lima Beans Bretonne

Ingredients

Directions

Make the lima bean sauce

  1. Heat oil and butter in a large skillet or chicken fryer over medium heat.

  2. Add chopped onion, green pepper and celery and sauté until onion starts to brown.

  3. Add garlic and sauté a minute longer.

  4. Add white wine and drained limas and bring to a boil.

  5. Turn heat low and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until wine is mostly reduced.

  6. Add tomatoes and seasonings.

  7. Simmer another ten minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve as a side dish, or over spaghetti.

  2. Cook 1/2 lb. spaghetti.

  3. Add a Tbsp of olive oil and 1/4 cup of grated cheese to the drained pasta.

  4. Place on a plate and add limas.

  5. Extra grated cheese is good, too.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

687Calories
43 gProtein
30 gFat
59 gCarbs

Counts 14 of 15 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 14 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Lima Bean1/2 cup (85g) cooked108
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Oregano1 tsp dried (1.8g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Celery + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lima beans
Form the body of the dish, staying tender and creamy as they simmer in the sauce.
Crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
Provide moisture and acidity that build the sauce around the beans.
Dry white wine
Adds acidity and aroma, and its liquid reduces into the sauce.
Onion
Browns in the fat to add sweetness and savory depth to the base.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the cooking fat and helps the vegetables brown.

The step that matters

Reduce the wine until mostly gone. Simmering until the wine is mostly reduced concentrates its flavor and thickens the liquid, so the sauce clings to the beans instead of pooling thin on the plate.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, butter, onion, pepper, celery, garlic, white wine):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, butter, onion, pepper, celery, garlic, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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