Delicious Green Bean Salad

16 years ago

Some people call them string beans and other people call them snap beans, whatever they are, these pencil thin green beans in my garden seem to all be ready to eat at once. Not as prolific as the zucchini but still very plentiful in my garden.  There are three colors of beans and to insure the whole family gets their favorite we have all three. There are the usual green, the yellow or waxed bean and my favorite the purple bean. My preference for the purple is because that is a bean that will freeze well. Purple beans, you say? Don’t worry; when you cook them they turn a nice dark shade of green. This color change from purple to green is a sort of built-in indicator for blanching the beans. Drop the prepared beans into boiling water, watch carefully and remove the second they turn green. Cool with cold water and ice, drain well and freeze. They seem to be the only variety of beans that freeze well, they don’t get “mushy” when frozen as so many other varieties seem to.
    I always make a Green Bean Salad with some of the first really tender beans, the kind you can leave whole. You can keep the nice fresh color in the beans by not putting the lemon juice on them until just before you serve them.

GREEN BEAN SALAD
1 pound small green beans with the ends removed
1/2 cup red onion, cut in thin slivers
3 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill
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4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the prepared green beans, a handful at a time, so that the water doesn’t stop boiling. Boil, uncovered, for only 4 or 5 minutes, the amount of time depends on the size and age of the beans. Remember, you do not want to overcook them. Drain the beans quickly in a colander and then run cold water over them until they are all cool. Drain well. Place in a large mixing bowl.
Add the onion, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and dill. Toss to combine all well. Let stand at room temperature, do not chill. Just before serving, remove the garlic cloves and add the lemon juice, toss the coat all the beans well. Most flavorful when served at cool room temperature.  This will serve 6.
To please the green bean and the wax beans fans I make Beans Au Gratin using both kinds of beans. This dish is exceptional with baked ham.

BEANS AU GRATIN
1 pound green beans, trimmed and sliced
1 pound wax beans, trimmed and sliced
1/4 cup butter or margarine, divided
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook the beans in rapidly boiling water 10 to 15 minutes or until crisp tender. If your two varieties of beans vary in age or size it might be well to cook them separately. Wax beans do tend to take a bit longer to cook than green. Drain the beans well. Combine, if cooked separately, in a shallow buttered baking dish.
In a saucepan melt 2 Tablespoons of the butter. Stir in the flour, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Cook for 1 minute and then gradually stir in the milk. Cook and stir over low heat until thickened.
Pour this sauce over the beans, dot with the other 2 Tablespoons of butter and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese until bubbly hot and browned. This will serve 6 to 8.

     BAHAMIAN BEAN SOUP
2 slices bacon, diced
1/4 pound lean pork, cut in very small pieces
1 pound green beans, cut French style
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 carrot, scraped and sliced
1/4 cup shredded cabbage
1 onion, diced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 and 1/2 quarts water
1 potato, peeled and diced
2 Tablespoons rice
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 small can tomato paste
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt

Cook the bacon and the diced pork in a large kettle until bacon is brown. Add beans, tomatoes, carrot, cabbage, onion, celery and garlic and cook and stir for about 5 minutes. Add the water, potato, rice, bay leaf, thyme, tomato paste and salt. Mix well and bring to a boil. Reduce  heat and simmer for about 2 hours. This will serve 4.