Green Bean Recipes

[fliplap]

Dress cooked green beans and cooked gnocchi with basil pesto...  This is one of my favorite summer dishes.  Add some halved cherry tomatoes. 

If you don't have gnocchi at hand you can also substitute a short stubby pasta with crannies like a gemeli (sic?)  (a short, "twinned" fusilli-type pasta) or oriechette.  Cubed, boiled potatoes can also be added to the mix.

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Hah! I made exactly this last night, with spinach gnocchi.

[CharityCase]

Indian cooking guru and eGulleter Monica Bhide has a fantastic recipe that I come back to at least once a month when beans are in season. It's a nice complement to a stewed curry as the beans stay crispy and fresh.

Monica Bhide's Green Beans with Coconut

[TdeV]

I've just been to the last outdoor farmers' market, so I have lots of vegetables.

 

Does anyone have suggestions for cooking green beans and then freezing portions?

 

I'm thinking long cooking green beans with tomatoes and onions, but will they manage in the freezer?

[Ddanno]

35 minutes ago, TdeV said:

I've just been to the last outdoor farmers' market, so I have lots of vegetables.

 

Does anyone have suggestions for cooking green beans and then freezing portions?

 

I'm thinking long cooking green beans with tomatoes and onions, but will they manage in the freezer?

 

Personally I would just freeze them raw, but I like my veg with a bit of crunch. I'd imagine cooked then frozen then reheated will come out a bit mushy for my taste.

[AlaMoi]

I always froze excess garden green beans 'uncooked - unblanched - whole - untrimmed'

I would chill them, then spread very thin on a cooking / roasting sheet, into the freezer.

my 'take' on IQF - put the frozen beans in a freezer zip lock. 

that way I could extract/cook as many as I needed.

 

in my experience, cooked/boiled/steamed green beans become greenish mush when frozen-then-thawed....

[Okanagancook]

We like slow long cooked beans with tomatoes, chopped onions and a few rashers of smoked bacon.  Result is a lovely winter side dish from the freezer.  How long to cook depends on your preference so taste often.

[TdeV]

@Okanagancook, good to hear from you. I meant to ask you about oxtail, but I'll do that later...

 

Back to the topic.

Do you short the cook of the bean dish at all?

I.e. if you expect to freeze the dish, you know it'll get more cooking when being reheated, so then do you cook the dish for less time?

And can you quantify that?

[ElsieD]

49 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

We like slow long cooked beans with tomatoes, chopped onions and a few rashers of smoked bacon.  Result is a lovely winter side dish from the freezer.  How long to cook depends on your preference so taste often.

Aren't the beans mushy?

[Ddanno]

5 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Aren't the beans mushy?

 

@Okanagancook do you mean green beans, or borlotti/kidney/other dried beans?

[TdeV]

If my understanding is not wonky, there are two ways to cook green beans. One, short [fresh and crisp], and the other long [and softer].

 

I thought it was a "Southern" technique.

 

But I don't really know –– hence my questions.

 

@Kim Shook? @Shelby?

[Okanagancook]

I was answering the question about what to do with farmers market green beans.

The Italians like long cooked beans and Hazan’s recipe calls for the beans to be cooked until “tender but firm”.

 

Southern cooking also do beans as mentioned but the receipe i use from Lee Brothers Charleston Kitchen says to cook them uncovered for 30 min then covered for 45 min.

So i think the first time you make them taste often and perhaps pull them just before you think they are the way you like them to account for reheat cooking.  I don’t find them ‘mushy’.   They are meltingly tender. 😁
Maybe make a small batch to see what you like best.

[Deephaven]

I blanch in salt water and the chill in an ice bath before freezing.  I can't say I've compared to other methods but the results are good 

[TdeV]

Just found interesting notes from Naomi Pomeroy, famous for her work at Beast in Portland, Oregon.

 

Not sure how much I can copy here without copyright violation:

• Long cooking vegetables is something of a lost art,
• Long cooking calls for a very low temperature and lots of olive oil to bring out all of the natural sweetness of the vegetable.
• I cannot overstate the importance of keeping the oil over very low heat

 

Long-Cooked Green Beans | Naomi Pomeroy, Taste magazine

 

 

[TdeV]

@Okanagancook, I believe you put bacon into this dish. Do you cook the bacon first? Do you add olive oil?

[Okanagancook]

I just throw the uncooked bacon in and after cooking you can keep it or toss it.  It is just for flavour.  I use olive….a couple of tablespoons but i might try Naomi’s recipe.

Thanks for finding that which describes long cooked beans perfectly.

 

RIP Naomi

Edited 13 hours ago by Okanagancook (log)