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Green Beans Genova-Style

Here’s another example of a simple vegetable sauté with brilliant Genovese touches. As in the preceding spinach recipe, anchovies provide salty savor to the green beans, and slivers of garlic and lemon bring additional flavor notes. Great as a vegetable side dish anytime, these beautiful beans make a particularly delicious accompaniment to grilled steak or lamb chops.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    serves 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 plump garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 lemon, sliced in thin 1/4-moon slices
6 small anchovy fillets, finely chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT

A heavy-bottomed skillet or sauté pan, 12-inch diameter or larger, with a cover

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and prepare a large bowl with ice and water to chill the beans after you cook them. Trim both ends of the beans and remove the strings, if they have them. Toss all the beans into the boiling water, and cook until tender but not mushy, about 7 minutes. Lift the beans from the cooking water, and drop them into the ice bath to set their color.

    Step 2

    When cool, drain the beans, and dry them on towels. One by one, split the beans open along the seam with your fingernail or a paring knife, and separate each into two long halves, with the small seeds exposed. Open all the beans this way.

    Step 3

    Pour the olive oil into the pan, drop in the butter, and set over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted, scatter in the garlic slices and get them sizzling, scatter in the lemon slices, and drop in the chopped anchovies. Cook and stir for a couple of minutes, until the anchovies melt into the oil, then toss all the split beans into the pan. Season with the salt, and cook for 2 or 3 minutes, tossing the beans continuously in the flavorful oil, until they’re thoroughly coated and hot. Serve immediately.

Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali. Copyright © 2009 Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali. Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. Lidia Mattichio Bastianich is the author of four previous books, three of them accompanied by nationally syndicated public television series. She is the owner of the New York City restaurant Felidia (among others), and she lectures on and demonstrates Italian cooking throughout the country. She lives on Long Island, New York. Tanya Bastianich Manuali, Lidia’s daughter, received her Ph.D. in Renaissance history from Oxford University. Since 1996 she has led food/wine/art tours. She lives with her husband and children on Long Island.
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