Fresh, locally-grown green beans. Yes and yes, please. Of course, this time of year, fresh and locally-grown green beans are a bit difficult to find, so we'll stick with raw green beans from our local grocers.
Today I'll be presenting an idea for Thanksgiving to bring those green beans into the meal, and leave a lasting impression. **Spoiler alert: these will not be traditional**
When I buy raw green beans to feed my family/clients, I generally eyeball the amount needed by the handful, with one handful equaling the amount needed for one person. Hence, for a family of four, I grab 4 handfuls, and so on. To play it safe, however, I would grab 10 handfuls to make enough for 8 people at Thanksgiving. I prefer to err on the side of caution.
Pay attention to the cooking method I will be using, because it is a multi-layered preparation.
What You'll Need
Pot large enough to blanch your raw green beansSaute pan large enough to accommodate all your green beans and to also cook off that bacon
Colander, on stand-by in your kitchen sink, for rinsing/draining your beans
Unsalted, organic butter - You can use salted and non-organic butter, of course. I use Horizon brand.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - I use Colavita brand.
Bacon! (I can't even say the word bacon without using an exclamation point....it's just that exciting) One normal package of bacon will do. I myself use Applegate Farms bacon since it is nitrate and nitrite-free. Nitrates and nitrites are known carcinogens, folks.
Raw green beans, as fresh as possible, using the "one handful per person" measurement.
Tamari sauce - I use San-J organic Tamari sauce. You can use soy sauce, if you choose.
Sriracha Hot Sauce - here you go
Method
1. Fill up that pot with enough water to cover all the green beans you bought, and put it onto stove top on HIGH to get it boiling as fast as possible
2. While you are waiting for water to boil, go ahead and trim those green beans, removing the stem ends and then cutting the beans in half. I use a nice set of kitchen shears for this, putting the beans over a bowl to catch the stem pieces, and throwing the cut and trimmed beans into a colander to rinse them immediately after I am done
3. When water reaches boiling point, rapidly boiling, toss in the green beans (putting the now empty colander into kitchen sink to await its next use) for about 1 - 1 1/2 minutes. The green beans will turn a beautiful and vivid kelly green. After that 1 1/2 minutes, pour the green beans into that waiting colander and hit them with cold, cold water to stop their cooking process, and reserve them in colander until later
4. So the beans are blanched and mildly boiled and waiting on the next step, which is: take that saute pan you have and get it heated up, shooting for a solid medium-high. Take that raw bacon you have, cut it into bite-sized chunks, and place it into that saute pan to cook off. Mix it gently. Stir it with a spatula. Get it moving in that pan. When the bacon is where you want it, depending on your particular done-ness level, take the bacon out and reserve it on a plate with paper towels on it, and then put those green beans into that hot and bacon fat-glossed saute pan. Toss the beans liberally and coat them with that bacon fat, for about 5 minutes.
5. Get yourself a small ramekin and put a lengthy squeeze of the Sriracha hot sauce into it, and then add in your Tamari or soy sauce, and mix it together. Now pour that mix onto the green beans in the saute pan and toss again and again to coat.
6. Once the beans are heated up and coated with the bacon, butter, Sririacha, and Tamari sauce goodness, just pour the saute pan out onto an appropriately sized cookie sheet, spreading them out with your fingers or a fork, to make sure they can all cook evenly because your next and final step is....
7. Put that cookie sheet with those green beans into your oven to broil for 5 minutes on LOW. If you want to broil on HIGH, just do it for 2 minutes, if you please.
The Finish: After broiling, the beans will be wrinkled-looking and exploding with flavor! Put them into a serving bowl, toss in the reserved bacon you cooked-off earlier, and sprinkle a bit of grated parmigiano cheese on them if you wish. **Please note that I added no salt to this recipe, because the bacon and Tamari bring a good dose of that. You might even skip adding any parmigiano to the beans as a finish because of the salt content. Just taste it and judge for yourselves.**
This recipe might sound too hot to eat and enjoy, spice-wise, but it really isn't. I didn't give specific measurements for the Sriracha/Tamari blend because you're going to need to taste it first before you add it to the green beans in the saute pan. You will know how much is enough.
You can do this! ;)
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