Hi Everyone,
This past weekend Cherry Season opened and I had the grand idea of going cherry picking. I drove out to the orchards, which isn’t to far for me and what did I find? A major car jam! I’m driving along with the thoughts of fresh cherries in my mind and when I got to the country there was nothing but cars. It was like the county fair was in town or something. Everyone was there going cherry picking. It was crazy, I never seen anything like it in my neck of the woods. So needless to say I didn’t get to go cherry picking, but I did stop by a local produce stand and bought two baskets of cherries. It was $8.00 a basket, but well worth it because I didn’t want to have to fight to find cherries. At the stand they also had Blue Lake Green Beans and today’s recipe came to mind, so I bought a bag of them. Let me share with you an incredible green bean recipe; Lemon and Garlic Green Beans.
These green beans have so much flavor and is a cinch to make. They are a little crunchy, full of garlic flavor, a hint of spice, a little lemony and very buttery, simple delish. This recipe makes a great side dish to go along with chicken, steak or pork. Heck, they are so good, you could eat them as a meal in it’s self.
To make them I added my green beans to a pot of boiling water and cooked them for 2 minutes, than placed them in an ice bath. When they were cooling, I heated up olive oil, butter and garlic, yum! Added the green beans, red chili flakes and sauteed it until tender. Just at the end, I added lemon zest. So perfect, so simple and my new favorite green bean recipe.
- 2 pounds green beans, ends trimmed
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 2 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
- 2 tsp. lemon zest
- Salt to taste
- In a large pot, bring approximately 5 cups of water to a boil. Add green beans and blanch for about 2 minutes, or until dark green in color. Add green beans to a bowl of ice water to stop them from cooking.
- While beans are cooling; in a large skillet, add olive oil, butter and garlic. Cook over medium heat until butter is melted. Add the green beans (drain from ice bath) and garlic flakes, cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add lemon zest,and salt.
Yum, yum, yum! I love simple side dishes like this. I served this with BBQ Chicken and Macaroni Salad. It was a perfect compliment to my meal.
I hope you have a great day!
Toodles,
Jennifer
