Recipe: Garlicky Green Beans in Balsamic-Honey Glaze 31 August 2007 11:26 am
Posted by Tracy in : seasonality, garden, vegan, recipes, eating, vegetarian, cooking , trackbackFor those of you who like your recipes in straightforward rather than epistolary form, here’s the “what you need and what you do” remix of the dish described in the open letter to green beans I posted on my birthday. I’ve labeled it vegan even though it uses honey, because that’s one animal ingredient my very favorite vegans go back and forth about. You could probably substitute agave syrup if you’re really strict, but I’d be even more interested to see a variation that used molasses, because I’m curious to see how all that dark syrupy goodness would interact with the balsamic vinegar, oh yes. Anyway, it’s recipe time.
What You Need
- about a pound of green beans, cleaned
- at least four or five cloves of garlic, cleaned and minced (but you could easily use as much as a whole head, no problem and yum)
- a few tablespoons of olive oil or maybe butter for sautéing
- a splash of water (1/4 cup, tops)
- a splash of balsamic vinegar (2-3 tablespoons)
- a dollop of honey (1-2 tablespoons)
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup walnuts. lightly toasted and coarsely chopped (optional but so delicious)
What You Do
Heat the oil or butter over medium-high heat in a pan large enough to hold all your green beans. Sauté the garlic until it foams and you have a delicious savory fat with which to cook and season the green beans. Add the beans and the splash of water; cover the pot and steam the beans for maybe five minutes, until they’re bright green (longer if you like them softer or if they’re not super-fresh; shorter if they’re super-fresh and/or you like them crunchy). Add your splash of balsamic vinegar and cook another minute or two. If you’re being careful, remove the beans to a serving container at this point and reserve the balsamic-garlic-water to make the sauce separately. Otherwise, just drip in the honey and toss until the beans are coated (removing the beans and letting the balsamic-garlic-honey-water cook separately until it reduces will make for a slightly thicker sauce in which you can toss the cooked beans before serving). Season with salt and pepper and garnish with toasted walnuts if you like.
Makes 2-4-6 servings, depending on your level of green bean addiction (mine is of the half-pound persuasion but I realize that not everybody shares my obsession). Good hot or cold; keeps well in the fridge for as long as two days but I’ve never been able to resist eating them for longer than that so I don’t know.
Comments»
Happy Blog Day 2007. Tracy, you made my “top 5″ for the day:
http://flamingovic.wordpress.com/2007/08/31/blog-day-2007/
I am the one who picked about a pound and a half of green beans in your yard before our departure from Eugene! Took the lot to Rutland, Vt — where they were just plained steamed the Mom’s way. They were out of this world : Piett, Jen, Papa and I had a real Tracy- experience. Thank you for everything.
P.S. I also filled up a tub of Nancy’s yoghurt with tomatoes. It was really hard not to snatch the big yellow/orange one that is almost ripe and waiting for a hungry tomato lover.
Hi Victor! Thanks!
Hi Mom! I’m amazed you were able to resist the power of that yellow Brandywine; I picked it within hours of getting home, just so I can smile every time I see it on the kitchen counter. Yummy.
Told you it was hard to leave it, but you deserve every bite of it– Papa & I had Tracy-Tomato sandwiches for lunch today. Lekker!!