Green Beans for the Olfactory Impaired

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You reek!

Other people might have greeted us with the more common "Hi", "Hello" or even a formal "Good Morning".  My sister prefers more descriptive terms.

"You reek!", she repeated.  "What in God's name have you been eating?" (Note she said 'eating' not 'doing')

We siblings were all at my mother's for Sunday lunch.  At this point, while I had been allowed out of the car, the door to my mother's house was still being blocked by my sister.

Fruit and cereal for breakfast?  No, that couldn't be the culprit.

Asparagus with Garlic Chips for dinner the night before?  That could do it.

Just as some people have an anti-cilantro gene, causing it to taste like soap, could others have a garlic-detecting gene?  I've never noticed it myself.  Maybe those of us who eat a lot of garlic are immune to the odor emanated by ourselves (naturally) and other garlic lovers (fortunately).   

My family was divided on the issue: my sister and one brother made certain to keep their distance and stay downwind all day; my other brother and mother couldn't understand the fuss.

I'll be forever grateful that mon mari is an immune garlic lover.

Today's entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, is not about garlic.   It's about beans.

Green Beans. 

This weeks Herb Blogging, the smashing event founded by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen is hosted by Scott at Real Epicurean. 

Green Beans!   This poor, but lovely summer vegetable is often overlooked. 

People complain about the abundance of the zucchini, gloat about the abundance of the tomatoes, rejoice in the sweet corn and put peppers into everything.  The poor green bean just trudges along, the forgotten veg. 

Well, no more!  It's season is here.

Green beans are low in calories and high in vitamins and minerals.  A cup of green beans gives you 25% of the DVA of vitamin K which is necessary for strong bones.  It's also a good source of vitamins C, A, B1, B2 , folate, potassium, manganese and iron.  I could go on, but you get the picture.  Beans are good food!

The best way to treat them is to put them into a steamer of boiling water for anywhere from 4 minutes for crunchy to 10 for well done.  Remove and finish immediately, or plunge into cold water to preserve color and texture, and finish later.  How can we not like such ease and versatility?

And then you can add Garlic Chips...

Green Beans with Prosciutto and Garlic Chips
I used the flat, Italian beans for this but any tender green bean will work.

6 oz (180gr) green beans,
2 slices Prosciutto (2oz, 60gr)
10 - 12 fresh sage leaves
4 cloves garlic
2 tbs olive oil

Put an inch of water in the bottom of your steamer and bring to a boil, covered. Cut the stem end off of the beans, leave whole, with tail on.  Add beans to steamer, cover and steam for 10 minutes. Remove beans and place on serving dish.
While beans steam, peel and slice the garlic cloves as thinly as you can.  Roughly chop the Prosciutto.  Heat oil in medium nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and fry until golden, turning once, about 5 minutes total.  Add ham, sage leaves and sauté until starting to crisp, another 3 - 5 minutes.
To finish, spoon ham, sage and garlic chips on the beans, then drizzle the oil over all and serve.
Note: If making in advance, when beans are done plunge into cold water to preserve color.  Remove and drain.  When ready to finish put beans on a baking sheet and into a warm oven, 220F (100C) to warm for 5 - 10 minutes.

Stop by Real Epicurean on Monday to see all of the wonderful foods from around the world!

Bon Weekend!

Comments

[Lydia]

Is there such a thing as too much garlic? I cannot imagine life without it!

[Jeni]

This recipe elevates the poor, forgotten green bean to something exquisite. It looks delicious! Thanks.

[Kalyn]

Lydia is right,never too much garlic. I bet these beans will not get overlooked, they sound just great!

[Nora]

Hi Katie, luckily all my family members are immune garlic lovers. :-) I like green beans, this looks like a terrific way to serve them.

[ilva]

oh how I long to reek because of this wonderful dish, now I'm seriously hungry!

[JennDZ_The Leftover Queen]

Yum! Yum Yum! Could there be anything tastier than garlic chips? Yes, in fact there can be - this recipe! Sounds wonderful Katie! I am so happy to be among the garlic-immune!

[Lisa]

Oh, tagging this to make as soon as possible! Wow. The photo is wonderful too. It all looks so succulent.

I'm with you on the garlic. At one time, I was eating a raw clove every day. I was sitting next to my sister at the movies, and she said, "You smell like . . . pickles or something?!" I decided at that point that maybe I was overdoing it. Anyway, I adore fried garlic. What could be better?

[Tanna]

Garlic chips - that's divine! And perfect with the green beans.

[Katiez]

Lydia, there can not be too much garlic or too many tomatoes (spoken from the tomato deprived).

Jeni, poor little neglected things. Mon mari was pretending they were asparagus... that's why I left them long!~

Kalyn, they were 'a good thing'.

Nora, I'm lucky that at least mon mari is...don't know about the neighbors...

Thanks, Ilva, I have to admit it was rather a large dish and we ate the whole thing.

JennDZ, I'll put garlic chips on just about anything...or eat them right from the pan (for shame)

Lisa, Hmmmm, usually raw garlic on the breath doesn't smell like pickles to me... maybe it was just oozing out the pores? Who am I to say, I eat it raw, cooked, whatever!

Tanna, somehow I knew that the garlic chips would be the hit of this dish - it was with us!

[Kevin]

How could I have forgotten about the green beans?? I am definitely going to have to get some this weekend. The sage and green beans combination sounds interesting. I will have to try this. Of course Prosciutto and garlic are always good.

[Katie]

Kevin, I think they are just too 'old-fashioned', not trendy enough. I don't care - I love'em!

[Anna]

it's recipes like these that make me sigh and wonder why my wonderful husband had to have vegetarianism as his one big flaw :)