Maybe next year I’ll understand beans. This year, I’m still stumbling along.
Green beans are easy. Get them young and long. It’s about the sweet pods and I’m not interested in those little seeds growing inside.
In past years I’ve also learned to love shell beans, mostly the large, purple Scarlet Runner Beans. In this growing zone, I’m never going to get lima beans. I love big, buttery lima beans, and runner beans are the closest I can get. However, I have “ruined” a lot of beans over the years by harvesting them too early, when they had plumped the pods but not ripened to their beautiful color.
This year, I planted a “half-runner,” Dragon’s Tongue beans. These are billed as both pod beans and shell beans. Most sites and recipes recommend you cut up the long pods and sauté them or throw them in stir fries. But I am not interested in that. I am interested in the beans inside.
Again this year I acted too soon. It’s hard to watch the giant pods hanging on the plant and not jump into action. Remember, patience is not my strong suit.
So I harvested a pound a few days ago and opened them. The beans were of several types. One dry, dead pod yielded four beautiful dry beans. Several pods yielded colorful, pink-streaked creamy white beans. (Look at the size differential between those dry and fully ripe shell beans!)
A large number were still green or greenish. But OK, if we can eat them in the pod, we can eat them even when they’re not at their prettiest.
I cooked them all, and they all turned creamy, leaving a dark purple cooking liquid behind. I served them in one of my favorite side dishes this summer, with green beans and zucchini in “sauce verte,” recipe below. It’s a fantastic, bright sauce that I may even prefer to pesto. It is based on basil, parsley, lemon, and capers instead of basil, cheese, and pine nuts.
And now, hands off. The loaded dry beans are starting to die back, and the scarlet runners in the front flower garden are just setting pods.
Sauce Verte
- 1/3 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
- 1 green onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 tablespoons (packed) fresh Italian parsley
- 2 tablespoons drained capers (I haven’t had capers lately, so I’ve used a little brine from a jar of Kalmata olives)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (or more, you can’t have too much lemon juice)
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (or less)
- 1 garlic clove, peeled (optional– this sauce has enough flavor without it)
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Combine first seven ingredients in a small food processor and run until finely ground. Pour in olive oil while running until a paste forms. Can make a day ahead and store in the refrigerator.
For more on this recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/green-beans-and-zucchini-with-sauce-verte-359389