Three green bean recipes
The beans are on in the market and in friends gardens. They come on thick and hard so here are three different recipes we like that use green beans. You can make each dish with different types of green beans but the stewed green beans are best with italian (flat) green beans. The salad and dry fried green beans you can make with harcovert (slender French green beans) or regular beans. These recipe give you main courses, side dishes or a Summer salad you can make to use up those beans.
Recipe: Stewed Green Beans over Polenta
Summary: This bean recipe comes from Faith Willinger’s Red,White and Greens cookbook.
Corvina - baked and topped with compound butter - served over stewed green beans and polenta.
Ingredients
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 1/4 C olive oil
- 1 1/2 C tomato pulp (from canned or fresh)
- 1 pound green beans, stem ends snapped off
- Black Pepper
- Red hot pepper flakes
- Salt
- 1/4 C boiling water
- 2 Tbl chopped basil
Instructions
- Put the onion and garlic in a 3 quart pot with 2 Tbl of olive oil. Stir to coat. Put pot over low heat and cook until tender (10 minutes)
- Add the tomato, beans and pepper and season with salt. Bring to a simmer and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Cook until the beans are tender and soft. Check after 10 minutes and add boiling water if needed. You want to over cook the beans until they are quite soft (20 to 40 minute).
- Add the basil and cook until fragrant. Remove from heat and add the rest of the olive oil and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
Quick Notes
This is best when it is made with the broad, flat italian beans though you can make it with any green bean. The beans should be well cooked and soft.
Recipe: Chinese dry-fried green beans
Ingredients
- 4-6 oz ground pork
- 1 lb green beans, cut to ~3″ lengths
- 1/4 cup dried shrimp
- 1 Tbl sherry
- 2 Tbl canola oil
- 1 Tbl garlic, minced
- 2 Tbl hoisin sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 1 1/2 tsp sri rachha sauce
Instructions
- Mix the ground pork and sherry and let sit for 15 min at room temperature.
- Rehydrate shrimp in warm water, 15 min, then drain and chop.
- Heat a wok over high heat, add 1 Tbl canola oil and beans. Fry, stirring occasionally until blackened and blistered.
- At this point, you can remove the beans from the wok or just push them up the sides, making an opening in the center.
- Add another dollop of oil and pork. Stir fry, mixing to separate meat particles. Let moisture boil off at high heat, and brown a little.
- Turn down flame to medium. Add garlic and pepper flakes and fry until no longer raw. Add back beans, if you removed them and heat. Check doneness of beans. Add some water to finish cooking if needed. Add hoisin and sri racha and mix and heat thoroughly. The dish should be mostly dry at the end.
- Add sesame seeds and sesame oil and serve with rice.
Recipe: Green and Cannellini Bean Salad
Summary: You can see this salad as a side dish below. It is very variable in the ingrediants that you add to flesh out the salad. It makes a great lunch salad.
Green and Cannellini bean salad.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup cooked cannellini beans (if you use canned beans, rinse them well before you use them)
- 2 Cups blanched green beans (harcovert are classic but other beans will work too just fine)
- 1 Tablespoon minced shallot
- 1 small tomato, seeded and diced
- 1 teaspoon minced thyme, parsley, basil or tarragon
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- Pinch of sugar
- 4 to 6 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
Additional items to mix and match into your salad:
- Thinly sliced radish
- Kalamata Olives, pitted and chopped
- Roasted red pepper – diced
- Peperoncini
Instructions
- Mix the minced herbs, lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar in a small bowl. Whisk in the olive oil to make a dressing. Taste for balance and add more sugar if needed. The dressing should not be sweet but the lemony.
- Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over the bean mixture and toss to coat. You will not use all of the dressing. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.
My Market Year(s) 
Hi Jim,
Your “Chinese dry-fried green beans” recipe caught my attention there.. Too bad that is the only one of the three with no photo. That’s alright, it looks very intriguing, as I never had sesame seeds with green beans (I love sesame!)