Green Beans with Shallots Recipe
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Simplicity reigns in this versatile, no-fuss take on green beans. It works as a side for countless meals, from a simple roasted dish to Thanksgiving dinner.
Game plan: If you blanch the beans in advance, you’ll need only a few minutes to cook them at serving time. Just refrigerate them after they’ve been boiled, cooled, and drained. Then bring them to room temperature and pat dry before finishing in the frying pan.
If you’re making these for our TV dinners story, you can cut the green beans into 2-inch pieces after blanching them to make them look more like their frozen-meal counterpart.
This recipe was featured as part of our DIY TV Dinners story.
INGREDIENTS
- Kosher salt
- 1 1/2 pounds green beans, cleaned and trimmed
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 medium shallots, minced
- Freshly ground black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Prepare an ice water bath by filling a bowl halfway with ice and water; set aside. Fill a medium saucepan with heavily salted water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the green beans and cook until just tender, about 6 minutes. Drain the beans and place in the ice water bath or in a colander under cold running water. Once the beans are cool, drain again, shaking the colander to remove any excess water.
- Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When the butter foams, add the shallots and sauté until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Add the blanched green beans, toss to coat in the butter and oil, and cook, stirring rarely, until they begin to color on the edges. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
I followed the recipe to spec, but I think 6 minutes was a little too long for the green beans. I think 5 minutes max would have yielded a little more crunch.
I add 1 mashed clove of garlic to the butter and shallots. Lemon zest and toasted almonds on top after the green beans go in.
rcallner, that hash-brown style cauliflower sounds awfully good. How do you make it?
I clicked on this 'cause I have some leftover hydroponic basil and just picked up green beans to pesto-ize them for dinner, on the side of some nice thick lamb chops and hash-brown style fried cauliflower, with a thickened tzatsiki-style yogurt on the side. The above technique (not exactly a recipe) sounds good for the basic preparation....
I do something similar with onions, garlic and bacon bits (just a few at the end for crunch). Or some spatzel.
Sprinkle with a tablespoon or so of Hidden Valley dry Ranch Dressing mix and it adds enough seasoning.
I second Timuruski. This is a perfect recipe that a chef of any experience-level can use to simply and efficiently compliment an entree.
I use lots of pepper and some lime juice.
I do these at work, we add fresh thyme. Adds another element to this dish.
Simple and delicious. It's a side dish, doesn't need to be fancy or complicated.
Ditto to NGARDET's comment. Lately, the Chow recipes have been really lacking in sophistication and detail. I was looking forward to a recipe that combined a simple shallot vinagrette with the beans, or even a variation on a mignonette! Also, with gorgeous green beans and a desire for healthy eating, there is no need for oil AND butter. Shallots and beans have beautiful flavor on their own; don't drown them in fat!
I do something similar with lots of onions, more garlic. Perfect with some s+p, simple but good.
You call that a recipe? Is there anybody working at Chow right now? Is there a point to this website? I am really wasting bandwidth on you guys.
Gerer601: This is a very simple and straightforward recipe. You could add some more flavor may adding in some roughly chopped parsley or basil or even a touch of lemon zest.
its ok but it needs an added seasoning, not sure what... it was good though!!!