Go Green: Eat the Beans

Green beans don't get much respect or attention. They're not glamorous, they're not scarce, babies eat them mashed. But they are nutritious. Did you know that today's green beans, mostly seedless pods, were yesterday's dhal providers? That's right: they used to be bred for the bean inside; then somebody got the bright idea of trying the pod itself. That's why you find bean pods of all thicknesses, from the anorexic French fillet to the fat, flat Italian Romano. They also come long, very very long in Asia.

Green beans used to be called string beans but that zipper thread, which originally released the dhal, has been bred out. So now they're often called "snap beans" because they have a crunchy snap when you break them.

You also find beans in many colors: green, yellow (sometimes called "wax" beans), purple (although most of the purple turn green as they cook). You should take some home when you find them. The pods are 
 loaded with vitamins K (exceeding the daily dose guideline), C and A, plus iron, manganese and calcium.

Green beans are overly used as everybody's go-to side dish because they go with everything, everybody goes for them and you can go from farm to table in minutes. Here's a good basic example, from How to Fix a Leek....the book. 
Garlic Green Beans 
serves 4

3/4 lb green beans, stems off
1 lg garlic clove, crushed and minced
1 tbsp unsalted butter
Coarse sea salt to your taste

Melt butter in a sauté pan over medium heat and add the beans. Stir while they sauté until the butter begins to brown. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 10-15 minutes until beans are tender. Stir occasionally. Finally stir in the garlic, season with coarse salt and serve hot.

Here's a Southern side that makes a perfect autumn presentation right now:
Green Beans with Pears 

3/4 lb whole green beans
2 pears, peeled and sliced the long way
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp brown or turbinado sugar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to your taste

Steam the green beans in salted water with a pinch of sugar (helps keep them green) until they are just tender to the touch of a fork. Drain well.
In a large skillet over medium/high head, in the melted butter sauté the pears, brown sugar and vinegar five minutes or until the pears are just starting to be tender to a fork. They should not get soggy.
 Stir the cooked green beans in with the pears. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

If you find the skinny little French "haricot vert" (literally "green bean"), run home and make yourself a Salade Nicoise. There is no must-do recipe for this. It's a salad traditionally composed from these ingredients: grilled/sautéed fresh tuna or canned tuna packed in olive oil, hard boiled egg in halves or quarters, juicy fresh red tomatoes in wedges, haricot vert just steamed for a minute or two so they don't go limp and refreshed in ice water to save their snap, small boiled or roasted new potatoes cut into large bite-sized chunks, black olives and slivers of green pepper.  Honest cooks don't cheat by adding lettuce but you can cut in a cucumber or leave out the green pepper.  Dress it with the basic French vinaigrette: 1 tbsp wine vinegar to 3 tbsp olive oil plus a small smashed, minced garlic clove and pinch of Dijon mustard. Salt and fresh pepper of course.  I sometimes sacrilegiously add capers. 

 In this photo at right, I was flush with fillet beans but out of tuna so substituted grilled Halloumi cheese.
 

If you want another salad or cold antipasto/meze, try the wildly popular one that starts my book: Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking.
Armenian Green Beans, a great summer olive oil food to lube you

  serves 6-8 

2 lbs green beans (e.g. Kentucky wonder, Blue lake), ends off
1 c olive oil
1 lg red onion, sliced into very thin rings
5 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried thyme
3 tbsp chopped fresh flat parsley leaves
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp salt
3 med tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/3 c chopped fresh dill


Cut the beans into 3-4 inch long pieces, trying to keep them uniform and in one direction for the final effect.
Heat olive oil in a heavy gauge casserole. Add onion rings and sauté over medium heat until they are soft and glossy. Add the garlic. Add the beans in one direction, then the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT dill.
Lower heat to simmer, cover and cook 25-30 minutes until beans are tender. Their color will fade. Remove from heat. Stir in dill and cool. Chill in the refrigerator. It will last several days.

This is a one-bean salad. You can make multi-bean salads, most traditionally Three Bean Salad. For this you cut the green beans down into 1-1 1/2" pieces and steam them in salted water until they just start to feel tender to a fork. Immediately drain and rinse under cold water. Drain well.  Put your cooked beans in a medium serving bowl and season them with dried oregano. Add a well drained can of kidney beans and well drained can of chickpeas. Cut a small red onion into thin disks and cut those disks in half before adding to the salad. Salt and pepper plus a vinegar dressing does it.  The other version of Three Bean Salad incorporates green beans with yellow beans and red kidney beans. You prepare the wax beans same way as the green ones. And by now you've probably figured out you can put them altogether for Four Bean Salad.  Must say colorwise I prefer softer pink pinto beans to the red kidneys.

Dilly Beans
You can keep green beans around by pickling them and everybody loves them with cocktails or beside an egg salad or grill cheese sandwich or right out of the jar. You will need 3 1-quart canning jars.


2 lbs sturdy green beans, cut to fit the height of the jar, probably 4 inches
8 lg garlic cloves, halved and smashed
3 tsp red pepper flakes
3 tbsp dill seed
2 1/2 c white vinegar (do not try fancy vinegar)
2 1/2 c water
1/4 c kosher or pickling salt (do not use regular salt)
3 1 qt canning jars with lids

Sterilize jars in boiling water. Remove but do not dry or throw out the water. Keep it simmering. Put 4 garlic halves, 1 tsp red pepper flakes and 1 tbsp dill seed in each jar. Then fill the jars very tightly with upright raw beans, squeezing them in around the sides to be sure the jar is full. This is the hardest part.

In a large saucepan, combine vinegar, water and salt. Stir to dissolve the salt, bring to a full boil and be sure the salt is fully dissolved. Immediately ladle the hot vinegar mix into the jars, filling each to 1/4" of the top. Shake jars to remove air bubbles. Be sure you have no air bubbles. Seal jars with lids and rings. Put back in the boiling water bath for 20 minutes. Remove and cool. Listen for the lids to pop so you know they are securely sealed. Be sure they are sealed tightly. Cool, label and store in your pantry. Once opened, if there are any left, store in the jars in the refrigerator.

Spicy Chinese Beans
serves 4-6

1 lb Royal Burgundy, Kentucky Wonder or Blue Lake beans trimmed and washed; the idea is sturdy bean
2 c peanut oil (this has the highest smoke point)
2 sm chili peppers, seeded and minced
2 lg garlic cloves, smashed and minced
1 tbsp Hoisin sauce
2" piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced or grated
1 tbsp rice wine or sherry vinegar
3-4 scallions, finely chopped
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
Optional: 1/4 lb ground pork

Heat the oil in a large wok or chef's pan until it sizzles. (This is why peanut oil.) Deep fry the beans 3-4 minutes, in batches if necessary, until they begin to wrinkle. Drain on paper towels.

Transfer 2 tbsp of that hot oil to a clean wok or skillet or chef's pan. Turn heat to medium high. Add garlic, ginger, scallions and optional pork. Stir-fry 30 seconds. Add chili. Stir-fry 30 seconds. Add remaining ingredients plus 1 tbsp water. Stir to blend. Lower heat to medium and warm 1 minute. Add beans, blend into the sauce and heat through to serve.

And finally, if you have Asian long beans, this is the dish for you. It will also work with longer Kentucky Wonder or Blue Lake beans. The Japanese recipe comes from Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking.
Soba Noodles with Shiitake Mushrooms and Green Beans
serves 8

¾ lb soba noodles

3 tbsp corn oil

2 tbsp sesame oil

3 lg garlic cloves, peeled, smashed and sliced into very thin strips

½ tsp red pepper flakes

½ lb Chinese long beans or any green bean like Blue Lake or Kentucky Wonder, cut uniformly into 2- 2½ ” lengths

¼ cup vegetable broth or water

1 bunch scallions, cleaned and minced

10 oz. shitake mushrooms, stems off, washed and sliced into thin strips

3 ½ tbsp Chinese rice wine or Japanese Mirin

4 tbsp soy sauce

Fresh cilantro leaves, chopped for garnish

Cook the soba noodles in boiling water according to package instructions. Drain and coat with 1 tbsp sesame oil.

In a wok or other large sauté pan, heat corn oil and 1 tbsp sesame oil over medium high heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes, lower heat to medium and sauté 30 seconds.

Add green beans and ¼ cup vegetable broth or water. Stir-fry over medium low heat 1-2 minutes until the liquid has mostly evaporated.

Add mushrooms, scallion and rice wine, blending with other ingredients. Cover and cook 3 minutes or until mushrooms are soft and shiny. Remove cover.

Add soba and soy sauce, carefully blending with large forks or pasta implements. Continue cooking over medium low heat until noodles are hot, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat. Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro and serve.

As for those big fat flat Romano beans, here are two ideas:

Stew 2 lbs Romano beans with 2 lbs boneless lamb, 2 sliced onions, chopped parsley and garlic, white wine and whole tomatoes. 
Or stir-fry them in peanut oil with green chilies, ginger, garlic and unsweetened coconut milk.