Green Beans

Green beans are a great legume to intercrop in the garden and fix nitrogen in the soil. And they happen to be delicious as well! We love them as a gomaae, blistered with sauce, on salads, on pastas, blanched, in frittatas or casseroles, stir fried, pickled and even barbecued!

Storage

Store in the fridge for up to a week or so! You can also always freeze in a freezer bag so that you can blanch, add to casseroles, or use in stir fries later or make dilly beans!

Our Recipes

Garlicky Pole Bean Pasta - For this you will need Garlic, pole beans, spaghetti, olive oil, lemon, red peppers, pecorino romano or a sharp cheddar or parmesan and you could add kale or chard for extra greens. Start boiling water, heat up oil, toss garlic until lightly browned, raise heat, add pole beans and cook until blistered. Start cooking pasta and when its close to al dente add a scoop of pasta water with your green beans and garlic, add more olive oil, and toss pasta in the pan. Top with lots of cheese, red pepper, salt, and pepper to taste and a little squeeze of lemon juice for acid.

Peanut butter green beans- This is a great cooking hack that I learned from one of my former bosses. Cut your green beans into bite size pieces. Mix together Peanut butter, Soysauce, a little bit of sugar, chili oil or red pepper flakes, and a little bit of dashi (or water or stock). Toss green beans in sauce and put in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. It's fantastic. 

Grilled pole beans with herbs- Beans are great grilled! Toss the pole beans in olive oil and salt. Chop whatever herbs you have left over and mix with lemon juice. Grill Beans and while still hot toss them in herb and lemon juice mixture. Salt and pepper to taste. We have been enjoying some tomato mozzarella with our barbecues to add something fresh! Cut the tomatoes and serve them with mozzarella or if you're feeling really fancy, some burrata.

Green bean Gomaae- Another classic Japanese side dish, this is typically made with toasted sesame seeds, ground into a paste in a mortar and pestle. But if you don't want to take that extra step we often like to use tahini instead anyway! Blanch your green beans for a couple of minutes until they are tender. Mix tahini with 1.5 parts soy sauce and 1 part sugar. I also like to add a little sake and mirin to my mixture if you have it around. Mix it all up and then toss the green beans in your sesame dressing! Serve cold or slightly warm, either way it'll be tasty.

Other Recipes

Green Bean Amandine: https://cookieandkate.com/best-green-beans-recipe/

Dilly Beans: https://www.seriouseats.com/spicy-dilly-beans-recipe

Blistered green beans with tomato almond pesto: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/blistered-green-beans-with-tomato-almond-pesto

Nicoise salad: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/green-bean-nicoise-salad