Dinner, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Szechuan Green Beans

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I get into food ruts sometimes.

It’s like I get into a culinary funk and lose all my imagination, rotating through the same few dishes until something breaks the cycle.

Other times, I get into food obsessions.

During those periods, I make the same thing over and over – not because I’ve seemingly run out of culinary creativity, but because I just want to keep eating the same great dish.

One of those obsessions is Szechuan Green Beans – a recipe I got from Julie Van Rosendaal.

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I had swung by her house one afternoon a few years ago where she had just been nibbling on some of these green beans sauteed with garlic, ginger and a squeeze of chili paste. She pushed the plate toward me; I took a bean and never looked back.

That first bite of slightly softened bean with the hit of spicy heat, the pungent garlic and green onions, now sauce soaked, hit all the right notes. So, I reached for another. And then another. When all the beans were gone, I found myself picking up the thin slices of garlic and stray bits of onions until the plate was picked completely clean.

I made them for the first time two days later. And the next night after that.

Since then, every few weeks I find myself grabbing fistfuls of green beans at the market, dreaming of eating the spicy, hot, slightly wrinkled beans over some rice with chopsticks.

This addiction runs so deep that I now typically double the recipe just to ensure I will have plenty to take to work the next day for lunch. This most recent batch was only a single – I didn’t have enough garlic at the time to make more – and when the beans were gone, I felt suitably bereft.

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I ate them all with rice and a side of pickled ginger – another bizarre food obsession that has manifested in the last year or so.

And, as there are still beans in the fridge, I’m pretty sure I know what will be for dinner tomorrow night.

And here is a more accurate photo of what it looks like when I’m eating it. Since, really, I’m not fancy enough for that kind of plating when I’m eating on my couch.

But picture a whole bunch of pickled ginger with it.

 

Szechuan Green Beans

This is virtually the same recipe as posted on Van Rosendaal’s blog, though I recommend going to the higher end of the garlic and I upped the green onions, as well. Instead of Sriracha, I’ve also used Sambal Olek to good effect.

  • 1 tbsp (15 mL) canola oil
  • 1 tsp (5 mL) sesame oil, optional
  • 1/2 lb (250 g) green beans, stem ends trimmed
  • 2 tsp (10 mL) grated fresh ginger
  • 3-5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • 1 tbsp (15 mL) soy sauce
  • 1 tsp (5 mL) sugar
  • 1 small spoonful of Sambel Olek (or a squirt of Sriracha)
  • Toasted sesame seeds, optional

Heat a heavy pan over medium-high heat and add the canola and sesame oils. Add the beans and cook, stirring occasionally until they start to turn golden. Add the ginger, garlic, green onions, soy sauce, sugar and Sriracha and cook a few minutes more, stirring often, until the garlic is golden, the beans are deeper golden and the sticky sauce has coated them all.

Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds, if desired.

Serves 4.

A version of this article originally appeared in the Calgary Herald.

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Vegetables

Beans with Caramelized Onions

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I have certain web surfing rituals.

Each morning, if I have time, I quickly check The Morning News for its quirky collection of news from various US newspapers. On Sundays, I visit the New York Times and read the Modern Love column and the Ethicist. (Okay, yes, I read the Vows section too; it’s a bit of a secret shame really. But I do love reading how these people met and how their lives have come to be intertwined. And, uh, I judge the dresses.)

And on Wednesdays, I check in with the New York Times Dining & Wine section where I read through great stories, get inspired by recipes and print out my fair share to try at home.

But, of all the recipes I have printed from there in the last year, very few have actually been translated into food on the table.

That is until I read a recent article about green beans (which I love) that I knew I had to try immediately. And, what serendipity! I already had a nice package of green beans from the Farmer’s Market sitting in my fridge. Must have been food fate.

I am now in love with this recipe. The softened tomatoes, the beans and the sweet onions with the tang of herbs….

Of course, I had to make a few changes. The recipe suggests adding water when the liquid evaporates. Um, no. I’ll add some more wine, thanks. Oh, and I don’t let all of that delicious liquid evaporate away. Leave some and then use a chunk of baguette to sop it up from your plate.

Green Beans

Carmelizing the Onions

Green Beans with Carmelized Onions

This is adapted from Melissa Clark’s A Good Appetite column at the New York Times. (Her original recipe is Grilled Sausages and Summer Beans with Herbs, Tomatoes and Caramelized Onions, but I only did the beans part of it and, therefore, have only included the beans aspect of the recipe. Also, instead of copying out her recipe word for word, I’ve written it including the changes I made.)

Beans with Caramelized Onions

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
  • 4 fresh thyme sprigs
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Pinch of sugar
  • 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
  • 1 pound green beans
  • 1/4 cup white wine (but, as indicated above, I kept using it for adding more liquid. So, likely more like a cup of white wine, unless you want to use water.)
  • 1/2 cup chopped mixed fresh herbs, including basil and parsley

Heat oil in a large skillet until shimmering. Add onion, thyme and a pinch of salt, pepper and sugar. Saute over medium-high heat until onions are golden in spots and browned around the edges, about seven minutes.

Add the cherry tomatoes and cook until they start to release their juices, about two minutes. Add the beans and wine and toss everything. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook three minutes. Uncover pan, add herbs and continue to cook. Toss beans occasionally, until there is only a bit of liquid left and beans are cooked to taste — five to 30 minutes depending on if you want them tender crispy or a little more cooked. Add more wine to the pan if it gets too dry. (You can also use water, if you’d like.)

Consider serving with chunks of fresh bread for mopping up the wine/bean/tomato juices.

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Vegetables

Green Beans with Garlic

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What is it about other people’s versions of the same recipe that inevitably turn out better than yours? I call it Other People’s Salad Syndrome, or Salad Syndrome, for short. I can put the same baby lettuce, grape tomatoes and grated carrot in a bowl, make a basic vinaigrette and it will be fine. My Mum will make it or a friend will whip one together and it will still taste better than one I’ve made.

When I was back in Vancouver a few weeks ago, my Mum made a dinner that included Green Beans with Garlic. In a nutshell, it’s steamed green beans, doused with olive oil that has had chunks of garlic cooked in it, then sprinkled with salt and pepper. We’ve had this many times over the years, and I’m sure I remember a few versions that had long strips of sweet red pepper for colour and flavour contrast.

Still craving another hit of that garlicky, summery taste, I picked up a huge bag of green beans earlier this week. Then, this morning as I was procrastinating (surely, this is one of the top reasons I bake and cook), I thought it would be the perfect time to cook up some beans.

Green Beans with Garlic

I had double checked the “recipe” with my Mum the night before. (“So, it’s just beans and garlic in oil and salt and pepper, right?” I messaged her in the middle of our online Scrabble game. “Yup.” Alrighty, then.) So, I was good to go.

Oh, except for the fact that for some unknown, unexplained and super annoying reason, the water to my apartment was cut off for several hours today. But, never one to shy away from a challenge, I proceeded anyway. (I can be particularly stubborn and, subsequently, pretty creative.) I had just enough water in my Brita to make three cups of rice (for the other part of my lunch) and to steam the green beans. Thank god I refilled that thing.

Green beans

Owing to my overwhelming supply of shallots, I thought I’d adjust the recipe slightly and slice up one of those and add it at the last minute to the olive oil. I really liked this touch, as the shallot was a sweet addition, and will do it again in the future. But if you don’t have any lying around, I wouldn’t worry about it.

Shallots and garlic

The idea here is to cook the garlic until it’s tender and has lost its bite in favour of a slightly nutty taste sort of akin to roasted garlic. If the oil’s temperature is too high, the garlic could burn and it will taste very acrid. The key is to watch the amount of bubbling after throwing in the garlic. I also occasionally lift the pot off and swirl the oil around to keep the garlic moving. If you’re going to add some shallot, add it towards the end because it will cook more quickly than the thick-cut garlic.

Garlic and olive oil

Shallots and garlic in olive oil

Anyway, I steamed the beans, cooked the garlic in the oil, added the (what I believe to be) inspired choice of a shallot, tossed it all together with some salt and pepper and sat down to enjoy lunch.

And was disappointed.

It’s not that it wasn’t good. Mmmmm garlic. Mmmmmm slightly sweetened shallot. Mmmmm grean beans. And yet, it still wasn’t as tasty as the version I had just two weeks earlier.

I’m blaming it on Salad Syndrome.

But I’m going to keep working on it because this summery, salad-ish recipe is too good to give up on.

For this recipe, I use Maldon flaked salt. I like the slight crunch of the crystals and that it’s not an overpoweringly salty taste.

Lunch is served

Green Beans with Garlic

  • 1 pound green beans
  • 1/2 cup olive oil, extra virgin preferable for it’s more intense flavour
  • 4 cloves garlic, sliced thickly
  • 1 or 2 shallots, sliced thickly in rings and then separated
  • salt
  • pepper

Steam the green beans. (I do it on the stove using a steamer, but only because I’m not sure how to do it in the microwave.) When they are still slightly crisp (I think the technical term is “tender crisp”) and bright green, throw them in a bowl of ice cold water to shock them — stop the cooking process and keep them a nice colour. Strain and throw in a bowl. While the beans are steaming, set a small pot with the olive oil onto a burner set to medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until slightly golden. Toss over beans and then add salt and pepper to taste.

P.S. When all the beans are eaten and there is still all that lovely, garlicky oil left over, it’s pretty delicious with chunks of french bread.

P.P.S. Hmmmm. Having just had another round of beans that have been sitting out since I made them (about two hours ago) and are now about room temperature, I’d say they are even better this way. Maybe *that’s* the trick. When my Mum made them, my sister and I kept picking away at them while the rest of dinner cooked, so they probably were more at room temperature by the time we all sat down.

So, you may want to make them slightly ahead of time and let them cool before enjoying.

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