Green Beans Anyone?

Subscribers get out those green bean recipes cause your getting more than a few servings this week! There are alot of Flat Italian Green beans now.........
They are green, flat, long, and gourmet and yummy.

Here are two of my favorite ways to eat them-
1. Quick boil or steam whole, just until bendy, don't over cook. Let them be bright green, if they are a dull green, they are overcooked. Then I melt some butter and chopped garlic and slather them. To me they don't taste as greeny as a common green bean, more like the richness of an artichoke heart. Some of this week's harvest will have stringy effect due to the immediate bounty I discovered of these beauties. IF the strings are a bug for you, cut the beans in to 1/2 inch pieces.
2. Cut the long gourmet Italian beans in to 1/2 inch pieces, toss in olive oil and cook em real quick on the stove or grill plate til color starts to change. Sprinkle a tad more olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan and sea or kosher salt, enjoy!

Not ready to eat so many different ways this week? Here are two ways to store them for later-
Use the pickling recipe posted earlier on this blog
or blanch them and freeze. Blanching is a process of tossing them in to a pot of boiling water for a minute then drain. Immediately after put them in a bowl of ice water (ice cubes and water together) for 20 sec's then place them in to freezer bags or containers and freeze. The process of blanching makes for a more tender greenbean. When ready to cook toss in boiling water again for a minute to heat up or you can microwave them til done to your liking. One of the great things to having frozen summer veggies to use in the winter is the soups and stews that can be made with them. Don't know about you but for me it is a good feeling to offer my family a wholesome winter meal that has our own produce from that year's harvest. And it tastes better than anything offered from the the store's freezer selection as it has no food miles, no preservatives and was picked and stored at it's utmost nutritional peak!