I have never bought fresh green beans, but they looked so nice so bought enough for me, husband, and son tonight. But I don't know what to do with them. Normally, with frozen, I might just put them in a pan with butter and salt and pepper, maybe with some bacon. I looked at allrecipes.com but so many dishes call for canned green beans. BTW - I don't have any bacon, no potatoes, but do have bacon drippings and lots of dried herbs. Any help would be great. We're eating roast chicken for dinner, so just about any flavor would work.
Thanks in advance!
Well I had only a few responses by the time I needed to cook. I ended up boiling them for one minute, then transfering them to a pan with butter. They were super-crunchy after a couple minutes, so I put a lid on it so they could kind of steam in the butter. Worked well I guess. Some were pretty and some were wrinkly when done. Added a dash of salt and some lemon juice. Every single one got eaten. I gave some of mine to my 3 yr old son who asked for more (he's always been a very good veggie eater). Husband ate the green beans before he even put the chicken on his plate. So seems that the guys like them - so I can try it one way today, a different way tomorrow, and a different way next week. The guys can be my taste-testers. Thanks ladies!
Snip of the stem end (if there is one) throw them in boiling water for 5min or until tender. Drain. Add a little butter and salt if desired. Plain and simple.
Sorry about the late notice, but you can this next time. Steam them (blanch, really). Make sure that they stay kinda crisp and keep their "pretty green" color. (They are worthless if you cook the life out of them.) Add butter, garlic, and fresh rosemary, and just let that sit in the warm pot while you fix the plates. Please don't mess them up with meat.
(I'm a fresh veggie snob.)
Just an FYI steaming and blanching are 2 different things. Blanching vegetables is when you put them in boiling water for just a minute or 2, then you cook them a different way like in a saute pan, or put them in a casserole. What blanching does is help the veggies keep their vibrant color and not get washed out looking.
Steaming will also keep them vibrant, you can get a steaming basket at a reasonable price, and you fill only the bottom of the pan with water. Boiling is an easy way to cook them, but they will lose some color, but not flavor! You can also just saute them up with seasonings. You can basically cook the fresh ones the same ways you would cook frozen or canned, it's just that the cooking time will vary.
well, I know it's way past dinnertime now, but this is how I cook ours, I steam them in a small amount of water, and add a chicken or beef bouillon cube to the water when I turn on the heat. It adds a great flavor. The kids even like them!
Just lightly steam them and season as you like. TONS of recipes out there and you can use any canned bean recipe with steamed fresh beans.
You can also nuke them for 3 mins and saute with garlic, sesame oil, and soy sauce.
I saute in olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, and the last few minutes, a little soy sauce. Takes about 25 min on med. heat.
This is my families favorite.
I snap them into bite sized pieces. Blanch them for 5-6 minutes. Drain the water off then add back into the pan. Then I just drizzle with a little bit of Teriyaki sauce and saute 2-3 more minutes.
If I'm pressed, I'll just wash them and place them in my steamer for however long it says, 10-15 minutes? Then serve with salt, pepper and butter.
Snap them up, rinse them, put them in a pot with water and boil them down until they are done. You can add the bacon drippings and/or just some oil and a little salt. That's the way I grew up eating them when we would pick them straight from our garden.
We like to saute them in olive oil and garlic.
Steam them. Put them in a ziploc bag with a dollop of butter (not margarine) and microwave for 4 min for half quart baggie full and 8 min for full baggie. Add a little salt & pepper when served - delicious!
they probably wont be ready for dinner tonight, unless you have awhile, fresh green beans take awhile, even frozen ones are flash cooked so they dont take as long...the fastest way is in a pan, with a little olive oil & onion & garlic for flavor then put some water in & cover with a lid until the softness you like (i prefer them a little crispy still but my dh likes them completely soft) you may have to add more water as you go along depending on how long you cook them
if you boil them they will take at least an hour or longer if you want them totally soft, i would add a little bacon grease & onion for flavor
oh & make sure you snap the ends off first :)
5 minute green beans:
Wash, place in baking dish, turn broiler on high.
Drizzle olive oil, salt, & pepper over them
Broil for a couple minutes (until just a few are just slightly charred) and pull out.
Voila.
Variations:
- garlic
- soy sauce
- garlic & soy
8 minute sautee
blanche (boil until flourescent green, then plunge into cold water...couple min)
sautee in butter or olive oil or bacon drippings (couple min)
options
- garlic
- cherry tomatoes and garlic
- dry sautee w/ red pepperflakes and 2 drops of sesame oil
if they are really fesh than just boil and season with salt and maybe butter. Otherwise this is my latest favorite; boil 10 min then mix in a few TBLS real maple syrup and almost as much dijon mustard. Great tangy/ sweat flavor and more than the sum of its parts.
I just steam them, then add butter, salt & pepper.
