I came across a recipe that caught my attention in Anna Getty’s soon-to-be-released Easy Green Organic.* It was a recipe from a family friend, which in my mind is always a good sign, and the last sentence in her headnote stated, “the ingredient list is long, but these are the best green beans you’ll ever make.” Green beans, crème fraîche, garlic, golden raisins, almonds, a ranges of spices…in all, seventeen ingredients, of which I had sixteen.
So I wanted to give this general idea a go, and it’s not exactly green bean season, but I made them anyway. And they were so insanely good, even though, admittedly, the green beans I used were sad, sad, sad. My advice? Make this recipe, like this, the next time you see good green beans in your market. In the meantime, make the exact same recipe substituting something that is in season in your corner of the world. I’m going to make it with cauliflower. Like tomorrow. Or the brussels sprouts I bought the other day? Those would be good too. And asparagus season isn’t far off. I’m confident there are any number of substitutions you could make here that wouldn’t disappoint.
I made a few tweaks to the recipe in Anna’s book, reflected below. I like slicing green beans into little o-shapes, so I did that here. I also wanted to make this more of a one-pan meal, so I cut back significantly on the raisins and introduced tiny tofu cubes. I suspect little pan-fried paneer cubes or tempeh would also work. The version in her book is named John Pepper’s exotic green beans, I renamed them here in case someone is looking for the original version – so there wouldn’t be any confusion. Thanks for the inspiration Anna, your book turned out beautifully, I’ve enjoyed spending time with it.
*I’m sure a few of you have noticed, as of this posting, Anna’s book hasn’t shipped (yet!). I provided a quote for the back of the book and received an early copy. I checked with Chronicle Books this morning, and it looks like pre-orders will ship the first week in March.
Continue reading Feisty Green Beans…
