Saturday, May 12, 2012

Sauteed Green Beans

Summer with its fresh produce and farmers' markets is arriving.  Sometimes I need a little help knowing what to do with all that fresh produce.  Here's a little different take on cooking fresh green beans.  I had a variation of this at a friend's house several years ago and loved it.

Take your green beans, enough for each person eating to have some (my grandmother always called this a "mess" of green beans).  This recipe is better the day it's made, so don't plan on leftovers.
Snap the ends off and string them if necessary.
Wash the beans (rinse them in plain water).  Then coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil.
I am a firm believer that adding garlic to almost every dish makes it better. Mince a clove or two of garlic and add it to the olive oil.
Turn the heat to medium.  Add your beans -- be careful if they are still wet because the water will splatter the oil.  Sprinkle generously with coarse salt and fresh ground pepper.
Saute them until they are done, stirring them around occasionally.  The skinnier beans will be almost burnt-looking.  Don't worry, that's a good thing.
They actually need to look a little more burnt that this
The beans end up having almost a nutty flavor.  They are very delicious this way and hard to "mess" up (pardon the pun). Try them......you'll like them :)  Serve them with your favorite summer meal and enjoy!

7 comments:

  1. Good morning Angela,
    Your green beans look so fresh, one of my favorite vegetable, I like to use garlic in as many recipes as possible it is my all time favorite herb. I grow it and get to enjoy it all year. I have never cooked green beans like this , but will do so when our beans are gathered. Thanks for sharing.
    Praying many blessing to you on this Mother's Day.
    Sue

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  2. This looks a wonderful summery recipe and I always get a glut of beans so I will keep this on hand! Hope you are having a lovely Mother's Day. E x

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  3. That is a very colorful and healthful looking plate of food! I know that John would enjoy this. I'll eat my string beans raw...yummo.

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  4. I have enough green beans from my garden..we will have to do this tonight. We were just discussing how to fix green beans the other night. My grandmother would cook them with bacon grease and simmer them until they were wrinkled.

    Belated Happy Mother's Day

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  5. Try them I will! These look mouthwateringly good! (I think I just invented a word...but it says what I want it to say. ~wink~)

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  6. Hi Angela, I grew up eating green beans, and lots of other veggies, cooked this way. I sometimes like to toss in some breadcrumbs. Or sliced almonds. Thanks for stopping by my blog and your nice comment. xo.

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  7. Hey Angie! I didn't know you had a blog. You'd better add me to your blog roll, or I'll be mad. I had never heard about cooking green beans this way until Garrett's wife fixed some. Man, were they good! I'm going to fix some this way before too long. I fix asparagus this way but add a little butter in with the olive oil. Right before this OK trip, Gayle brought in two bushels of White Half Runners (my favorite) to can. TWO DAYS BEFORE WE LEFT!!! Needless to say, I wasn't a happy canner but managed to get them all done with much help from the family. Glad to find your blog. I miss you every time we have bookgroup. It's just not the same without you.

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