Green beans

[bazfaz]

Tonight we are having roast duck. I have bought some green beans to accompany the duck. I don't want to do beans with tomato. I have already had beans with feta a few days ago What other ideas do people have? I seem to remember Kerouac's grandmother cooked green beans with smoked lardons and garlic (but I think she cooked all vegetables that way).

[Deleted]

And butter, don't forget the butter! (Actually, the lardons and garlic were for green vegetables -- peas, beans, brussels sprouts, spinach, etc.)

[bixaorellana]

I have to laugh here, Baz, as I only make green beans two ways -- the way I always did, and the way I learned from you, which is the green beans with tomato sauce. (And if you don't post those instructions here, I will!)

I steam green beans with a slightly crushed garlic clove and a sprig of rosemary. When they're done & still hot, I dress them with salt, pepper, olive oil, & vinegar. Whatever is left over after the first meal is good later either cold or at room temperature.

A down-home way to fix them is to saute chopped onions in cut-up bacon, then add the green beans cut into one-inch pieces, along with some water. Cover & stew them down until thoroughly cooked, then add salt & pepper to taste. This is not for lovers of crisp vegetables, but it's a good homey way to eat them either for a change, or because the beans you have are a little more mature than you'd like.

[auntieannie]

in a warm-ish salad or lightly steamed?

[imec]

roasted?

[bixaorellana]

Really?! How do you roast green beans? It must beautifully concentrate the flavor.

[imec]

I roast lots of vegetables - asparagus, corn, cauliflower, mushrooms... I just toss with a little EVOO and roast them in a small pan in a 400-450 degree oven briefly. Sometimes I add fresh herbs or whole garlic cloves. When they're done just remove from the pan, place in a dish and grind some coarse salt onto them - sometimes I'll squeeze a little lemon juice on them. Sometimes I toss with EVOO and a little white balsamic before roasting...

[bixaorellana]

So no cover on them?

[imec]

No. Roasting by it's definition implies that it not be covered. I'll never understand the North American concept of a "roaster" which has a big lid on it - you're effectively steaming something if you put a lid on it.

[bixaorellana]

Well, there's "pot roast" -- totally different from a "roast" piece of meat.

Do you suppose the cover of the roaster was for covering meat that was browning too quickly, such as a turkey?

[imec]

That may have been the idea (the lid) - but a bad one. Pot roast is, in my opinion, an equally bad idea (the name, not the dish - one of my favorites). I believe the french have better names for these types of braised meats.

[bixaorellana]

Well, those high-domed roasters have been around a lot longer than aluminum foil, certainly since the days of wood-burning stoves. The older ones always had a little adjustable vent on top to let the steam out.

[bazfaz]

We had the green beans a la grandemere de Kerouac this evening. Smoked lardons fried in butter with garlic, then parsley and the beans that had been parboiled for 3 minutes. Good, but I think peas would be better in this recipe than green beans.

I did green beans with feta recently. Boil the beans for 3 minutes, drain. In the saucepan put olive oil, garlic, some torn fresh basil leaves and crumbled feta. Cook until the feta is starting to melt. Put the beans back in and mix well.

You notice that I don't cook green beans very long. Last year we had some French for a meal. They had requested I cook Thai. One of the starters was a salad that included green beans. There was much discussion about how the beans were still croquant. Finally a Frenchwoman triumphantly said they were al dente. I thought this was good for our backwoods village.

[bixaorellana]

The very next time I make green beans I will use your recipe for the feta beans -- that sounds like a perfect teaming.

I planted some green beans today because I want to make sure I have some young enough to get away with cooking them for only three minutes. Although nice and snappy, most of the green beans I buy need more cooking than that.

[Deleted]

The French are just beginning to understand 'crunchy' vegetables. But you can get away with doing just about anything now if you say it is cooked that way because it is 'organic.'

[tillystar]

Oh green beans and feta are on the to try list.

[bazfaz]

Tilly, feta is good with courgettes too. Grate courgettes, garlic and onion and cook gently in olive oil for 10 minutes to soften and drive off some moisture. Make a batter with eggs and flour. Mix in crumbled feta, s & p, a little chilli sauce, chopped mint, parsley and dill (if you have them). Mix the courgettes into the batter.

Put a little olive oil in a frying pan and put tablespoonsful of the courgette/batter in, flattening to make a patty. Cook fairly gently, turn over. Both sides should be brown.

You may have to do the frying in 2 batches.

I cannot imagine this is a Greek recipe as the fritters are definitely better hot rather than the normal tepid that taverna food is served at.

[tillystar]

I am making that tomorrow night, it has jumped the queue!

Thank you

[bazfaz]

Good luck!

[tillystar]

Hmmmmm that sounds worrying!

Well I went shopping at 7 this morning to beat the heat and forgot to write down what I needed for that so will have to wait for the weekend. I will let you know whn it all goes horribly wrong

[bazfaz]

No worries, Tilly. I really meant Enjoy!

[bjd]

Bazfaz, except for the feta, your zucchini fritters sound exactly like those my Italian neighbour makes as appetizers. She made some for our neighbourhood meal a couple of weeks ago and they disappeared immediately. Actually, I just reread your recipe, and she told me she doesn't cook the zucchini -- just grates them.

[bazfaz]

I am sure the fritters would be fine without pre-frying the courgettes.

A ;ong time ago in a small French hotel I had strips of courgette, dipped in batter and deep fried. They were crisp and delicious. Whenever I try to do them the fritters go limp.

[bixaorellana]

Bjd ~ does your neighbor put in any cheese, perhaps a hard, grated one? I like the idea of not pre-cooking the zucchini.

Baz ~ "chilli sauce"? Is that bottled hot sauce?

I googled "deep fried zucchini strips" and found this recipe which calls for double-coating the strips.
before frying. Makes sense. Here is the hit page, if you want it.

[bazfaz]

For this I used a bit of harissa. I can buy this from any supermarket here in tubes so it is always in the fridge.

[Deleted]

It obviously has to do with the size of the strips, but I don't consider a courgette to be a 'hard' vegetable anyway (like a carrot, turnip or potato) -- so if you don't want to eat mush, I don't think you want to pre-fry it.

[bixaorellana]

Um, are you talking about the deep-fried ones or the fritters? There is no suggestion of pre-frying the strips. Baz's recipe calls for pre-cooking the grated zucchini for fritters. Bjd says there is no need to do that.

[traveler63]

A little bit of pancetta improves green beans, along with butter. My grandmother also always put ham in them and that was wonderful too.

[bixaorellana]

This was partly inspired by Imec's roasted cauliflower with cheese (#3180), but also by a lame-brained mistake I made.

I was tipping green beans and putting them on the cutting board, thinking that I would steam them whole, as usual.

My mind must have been far elsewhere, because I gathered the first few and started chopping them as though they were celery. Gad -- it looked as though I were auditioning for the grade school cafeteria.

That's when it hit me -- I could try duplicating a roasted effect atop the stove.

I finished chopping them as though for toddlers (you could angle cut them attractively, instead) and threw them in a hot iron skillet with a little olive oil, tossed them around and covered the pan.

Use a pan large enough for the greens to spread out in one layer and keep an eye on them, stirring occasionally. When they are just this side of done, add some minced garlic and a small amount of minced fresh rosemary and thyme. Let it cook a minute or so longer, until browning slightly.

Because there's no water added, if you need to set it aside covered, it won't keep cooking the way it will when steamed.

This is quite good, only needing a little salt and pepper at the end. It might be nice to try putting the pan on the grill for even more of a smoky, roasted flavor.

[Deleted]

Wouldn't that be more "sautéed in olive oil" instead of roasted?

I confess that I am leery of "roasting" items that do not already contain a significant amount of liquid.