Finally: a recipe that makes it easy to follow our Momma’s advice about vegetables.  These chargrilled French beans with chili & garlic take plain ol’ green beans to a whole notha’ level.
She is right, you know… about veggies. Â The more the better!! Â Veggies are low in calories, high in fiber, filled with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, etc, etc, etc… ALL VEGGIES ARE SUPERFOODS!!! Â So why is it that they typically get the last thought at mealtime… and the smallest corner of our plates??
Well, I’ll be honest… sometimes vegetables are just boring, am I right? Â Plain old steamed vegetables. Â Ho hum. Â Take it or leave it and sometimes you just want to leave it.
But these chargrilled French beans… you will not want to leave them. Â Oh no, you might even shove everything else on your plate over to make room. Â They’re crisp, sweet, smoky, garlicky, with a little bit of kick from the chilies. Â Kind of addictive, really. Â And soooo easy to make!
Just blanch your green beans for 90 seconds, then stop the cooking in a pan of ice water…
Dry them on a kitchen towel…
Heat a griddle pan and quickly grill the beans in batches until they get grill marks (I pressed them down with a saucepan lid)…
While the beans are grilling, heat your chilies & garlic in some olive oil…
And pour it all on top along with some lemon zest. Â Voila! Â There you go. Â In the time it takes your main dish to bake or grill, you have an amazing veggie dish that will not take a back seat. Â This method works great with broccoli and zucchini as well (don’t blanch the zucchini, just slice it thin, dry it, & grill it).
Oh yes, veggies just stepped up… our Mommas will be so proud of us.
Ingredients
- 500 gm (1 lb) French beans, washed & trimmed
- 3 T. extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 2 long red (mild) chilies, thinly sliced (remove seeds if you want it really mild)
- coarse salt & freshly ground black pepper
- lemon zest to serve
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling water, blanch the beans for 90 seconds. Transfer immediately to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain, then dry in a kitchen towel. Toss the beans with 1/2 T. of the olive oil.
- Heat a griddle pan (or skillet) over high heat. Grill the beans in batches for about 5 minutes or until they have grill marks. Transfer grilled beans to a serving plate.
- Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the rest of the olive oil (2 1/2 T.) over low heat with the chilies and garlic. Watch carefully and remove from the heat just when the garlic begins to turn golden- it will keep getting darker even off the flame.
- Pour garlic/chili oil over the grilled beans. Season with salt & pepper & the lemon zest. Makes 4 large servings.
I am always looking for better ways to serve green beans. So, thanks! Looks yummy!
I think you guys will love these! Use any kind of chilies you like… I used red because I like the color contrast. 🙂 Enjoy! xoxox
chargrilled bean are so delicious, but is it true that beans should not be eaten by those who have arthritis? Because it has lots of uric acid?
Hi Angelita, thanks for your comment… while green beans are moderately high in purines, studies actually show that eating these higher-purine vegetables does not cause an increase in uric acid or arthritis/gout attacks. So you can feel free to enjoy these green beans without worrying! For those with arthritis due to high uric acid, it’s best to limit meats, certain seafoods, high-fat dairy, & alcohol. Thanks for asking and have a great day!
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