Gratitude for Green Beans
Making Them Is a Snap
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BK / JK
TILL: Growing up with Green Beans
Bean there, done that – and we will do it again. We really like green beans. Maybe that's because we were bred on them, from garden to pot. Now we do the same. You may know them as string beans and snap beans. Rest assured, they are all one and the same. We grew up with “string beans,” as in long green beans that had strings that often needed to be removed. That’s how they used to be grown until hybrids made the prep process even easier. Younger folks may experience this with sugar snaps – another fan fave. Bush and pole (or runner) beans, the two main overaching kinds, are super simple to grow in the garden, assuming rabbits and other varmints don’t strip the tender leaves before they have a chance to set buds. Weirdly, or at least weirdly in our experience, the buds sometimes outlast the assault and produce beans in clusters sans leaves. A metal barricade or fence works pretty well to deter a ground invasion. To prevent deer, though, think fortress height. And if you live in the tropics, nothing really will forestall an iguana from doing whatever it wants. Still, generally speaking, they're a pretty easy and fast vegetable for beginners and experts alike, with 60 days from seed or starter to harvest. Bush beans don't even need a trellis, which makes them even more appealing for the former kind of gardener. Like limas, green beans originated in Central and South America. Christopher Columbus gets credit for bringing them to the Mediterranean. For sure, migrating Native Americans brought them throughout the Americas. And for that, among many other things, we have them to thank. Of course, like many other vegetables, green beans are not always green. They can be purple or gold or even speckled. Sometimes you can grow several colors on a vine. There are more than 130 varieties of bush and pole beans that go by all sorts of names (i.e. wax beans for the yellow ones). Another fun fact: They're the third most popular homegrown garden vegetable. While that fresh-from-the-vine taste does not quite survive travel and shipping, green beans remain a reliable staple year-round. It’s a successful vegetable that can be eaten raw, hot, and room temperature. They used to be proffered in grocery stores loose, where you could choose by the handful or weight, but now they're mostly packaged in ready-to-steam bags. They’re incredibly adaptable to flavor profiles and cuisines – think French salade Nicoise and Chinese green beans with pork. You can even feed them to your dogs, one of those vegetables that’s not only non-toxic but also a low-calorie treat. Their versatility is fab, as there is no downside for eating green beans every day. In fact, they pack a power punch of Vitamins A, C, and K. Admittedly, there is that beans myth (that may hold some truth) about the consequences of overindulging. Is that just as true for the green ones where you eat the whole pod? Only you and your digestive syste know for sure. And only those you sleep with can blame you.
BK / JK
DISH: Green Beans & Potatoes with Flexibility
It’s a salad and a side. Dressed green beans mix nicely with potatoes and offer plenty of opportunities to add and delete according to your palate. (For me, tinned tuna and olives – any kind!) For relatives, grilled chicken or chickpeas blend in beautifully. Bacon works, too. The vegetarian version relies on a dressing that is tossed with warm vegetables so they can absorb the goodness. In winter, serve it warm. During the hot months, refrigerate it, pop it into a cooler, and take it on a picnic. 2 giant handfuls green beans 8 – 10 fingerling potatoes, cut into chunks ½ roasted bell pepper cut in bite size pieces, jarred or homemade Handful cherry tomatoes, halved Small shallot, finely diced 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1/3 cup white wine vinegar 2/3 cup olive oil 1/8 teaspoon salt Pepper to taste Prepare vegetables: If roasting bell pepper, broil until sections of the skin turn black, about 5-10 minutes. Take out of the oven. Put in a bowl and cover for several minutes. Peel the skin. Slice and dice. Add the potatoes to a small pot and cover with cold water and several pinches of salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. Bring a second pot of water to a boil with salt. When it's boiling, blanch the beans for 3-4 minutes. Drain when bright green and tender into a ice bath to stop them from cooking. When cool, drain them and allow them to dry. Make the dressing by whisking the shallot and mustard with the vinegar, salt, and oil. Pepper to taste. Combine all the vegetables with dressing and serve. Additional options: Top with fresh herbs including basil, mint and/or chive.
BK
DISH: Applied Green Beans
There's nothing more fun than testing apppliances. Okay, there may be some things that are more fun. But for a cook and self-avowed appliance junkie, it's up there in the range of interesting. I found the DASH Mini Maker Griddle, which I'm trying out for BobVila.com, something of a challenge, however. With a four-inch non-stick cooking surface, it's perfect for making an egg or a burger. But what if you're a vegetarian or simply don't want either one of those items? I decided to see how it would hold up to green beans flavored in two ways: with jerk spices and with everything bagel seasoning. Then I did the same amount of green beans, prepared the same ways, in the air fryer. Each required about five minutes cooking time, but the ones I did on the mini griddle I had to do in batches, so overall they took longer. Otherwise, they come out the same. So it's up to you. Just use a regular size griddle and you'll be fine. 12-ounce bag of green beans, cut into finger-length pieces and divided into two bowls 2 tables olive oil or melted butter, divided 2 tablespoons jerk spice 2 tablespoons everything bagel seasoning Add one tablespoon of oil or butter into each bowl. In one bowl, toss the green beans with jerk spice until well covered. In the other bowl, toss the green beans with everything bagel seasoning until well covered. Fry on a griddle or in an air fryer until they turn bright green and crisp, about five minutes. Serve immediately.
JK
DISH: Recap and Coming Soon
Betsy is in the digital and real world teaching culinary, mixology, and floral skills. Fully vaccinated and boosted, she's back to planning events, too, in Ohio, the Northeast, and now Southwest Florida. You can hire her by contacting her at betsy@theportablegarden.com.
Jen wrote a profile of Guy Fieri for Miami New Times in adavance of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. She's also written about baking therapy for Cheryl's Cookies. For BobVila.com, she reviewed vacuum sealers; the best dishwashers of 2022; wrote about what foods not to vacuum seal; figured out how to dispose of bacon grease; and gave tips on how to grill like a pro. For Allrecipes, she has filed articles on Polish cooking, how to stock a Polish pantry, and the differences between a bialys and a bagel this past month. Coming Soon: Jen's developing Easter recipes for Chery's Cookies. She's working on a piece for $1 per day breakfast for HuffPost and testing stovetop cleaners and indoor grills for BobVila.com. Her profiles for the spring issue of Lifestyles South Florida are forthcoming. She has a takeout review of burgers for Miami New Times in the works. Her insights on South Beach Wine & Food Festival and a travel piece on Croatia are forthcominog in Insider. Poems will appear in Another Chicago Magazine, Crab Creek Review, Cutthroat, A Journal of the Arts (finalist in the 2021 Joy Harjo Poetry Contest), DIAGRAM, Escutcheon Review, Mom Egg Review, Notre Dame Review, The Penn Review, Terrain.org, UCity Review, and The Westchester Review, as well as couple of anthologies, one on the pandemic and another from Tolsun Books. She also has an interview about her and two other poets forthcoming in The American Poetry Review. You can hire her for writing by contacting her at kavetchnik@gmail.com. Visit her website at jkaretnick.com.
DISH: Poetry
The Cappuccino Life
The dead eat with their fingers, dismembering poppy seed muffins, pinning crumbs to the table like correct answers to crossword puzzles. Skeletons heat their hands on cups of soy latte and chai tea. Unearthed, they snake panini sandwiches from state-of-the-art ovens without tongs. At Café Posada, they troll the newspapers, reading about Christmas rituals in Latin America, the geography of Poland, the 1330 battle in the Hungarian- Wallachian Wars, until their bones burn with ink. But even then they leave no identifying prints.
JK
You can find this and other food-and-drink poems in Brie Season (Kelsay Books, 2014).
Love this! The way I got my boys to eat/like “green beans” -
I grew the purple variety when they were toddlers, then sent them out to the garden to pick the beans for dinner. At the stove they would watch the beans turn green as they steamed and thought it was the coolest thing! 🤣 To this day they love string beans! #creativeparenting101