Butter Beans!

My spoon loves beans, all beans. Since butter beans (lima) were available in the market fresh this week, I thought to be productive in the kitchen and make one of my fav bean recipes.
Baked Butter Beans with onions, tomatoes, red onions, celery, garlic and parsley

Soak the beans overnight. Drain them put them in a pot of cold water with a bay leaf. Cook for about 1-2 hours, until tender. Add salt near the end of the cooking time.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Drain the beans but keep some of the water to use later as a thickener. Place the beans in a baking dish.

In a frying pan with some olive oil, saute red onions until they are translucent. Add them to the beans along with sliced celery stalks, chopped ripe tomatoes, chopped garlic, parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Add some of the reserved bean water and mix all together. Cover the dish and bake for about 45 minutes. Remove the cover and stir the mixture adding more of the bean water if the dish seems too dry. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and return to the oven uncovered, for another 20-30 minutes. Serve with an extra drizzling of olive oil on top if you so desire.
Yummy with any meat dish or alone with rice and even a plain pasta.