Sauteed Green Beans

Serves

2 People

Cooking Time

8 minutes

Season

Summer

Dietary

Dairy Free

Gluten Free

Vegan

Vegetarian

Sauteed Green Beans with Garlic

This is a wonderful,classic preparation for a green beans side dish - simmer beans until bright green then toss with garlic until golden and crispy. Serve as a side with everything, any cuisine, from Western to Italian, Middle Eastern to French!
If serving with Asian food, I like to add the tiniest drizzle of sesame oil at the end and sometimes a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Just gives it that little Asian-esque finishing touch!

102 calories per serving

Ingredients

Blanched Green Beans:

250g/ 8oz green beans , trimmed (Note 1)
1 tsp salt

For Sautéing:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or... butter!)
2 garlic cloves , finely minced (~ 2 tsp), do not use jar or garlic crusher (Note 2)
1/8 tsp salt
1 pinch black pepper

Instructions

Blanch beans: Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil with 1 teaspoon of salt. Add beans, cook for 4 minutes (they will turn bright green), drain, then rinse under cold tap water to cool. (There's really no need to shock in ice water). Shake off excess water.
Sauté: Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add green beans and garlic. Toss (or stir!) for 2 minutes until the garlic is golden and crispy. Add salt and pepper, then toss.
Serve: Transfer beans to serving dish. Serve warm!
Prepare ahead: Blanch beans per step 1, cool and dry, store in fridge until required. When ready to serve, just toss with garlic. It's an instant on-demand side!

Notes
Serves - 4 as a small side, or 2 as a large side if it's the only veg side on the plate.

Trimming green beans

- Only the stem tip of the beans needs to be trimmed before eating. ie the part that was attached to the rest of the plan. However, if the other pointy end is a bit scraggly looking, I will trim them too.
To trim, line up a handful of beans so all the tips are facing the same way. Then cut the tips off. If you are trimming the fine pointy end, repeat.
Cutting size - I like to keep the green beans whole because it looks a little more elegant than cutting the beans into smaller pieces. It's how most fine dining restaurants will serve green beans. But feel free to cut the beans to your preferred size.
Garlic
- Use a knife! Do not use a garlic crusher/press as this makes the garlic wet and pasty. It will stick to the pan, spit, and burn in little clumps.
Jar garlic paste simply doesn't have the same flavour as fresh, plus it's sour. It's also wet and pasty which means you won't get nice little golden garlic bits, as pictured. It will just smear and burn.