Tom’s Green Beans
These are a family favorite. Tom frequently made his special green beans by popular demand. It is a wonderful method to prepare delicious green beans that are not over-cooked!
Yield: 6-8 servings
Time: 30 minutes
Steamer, big bowl for water bath
Ingredients:
2 lbs fresh green beans
3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
1/2 cup bell pepper, colored ones are good
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup carrot, shredded
1 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Wash and remove stems of green beans. Steam them for 5 minutes. Begin timing when the steam is strong (it comes out from around the lid of the pan).
NOTE: I frequently buy the tender French Green Beans in a microwave bag. This will work just as well as the steam blanch method above. Microwave according to the package directions and go with the lower end of the time range. Proceed as written below.
While the beans are steaming prepare a cold water bath by taking a large bowl and filling it half-full of water. Add several hand-fulls of ice to the water. As soon as the beans are finished steaming take them out of the steamer and plunge them into the icy bath. This cools them quickly and stops the cooking. The beans can then be held until you are almost ready to eat.
20 minutes before you are ready to serve them, place the oil, garlic, pepper, onion, celery, and carrot in a skillet. Saute until tender. Add the green beans to this mixture and cook until just hot through. Salt and pepper to taste.