Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Romano beans

Whenever I am at the farmer's market, I always see people reaching for baskets of green beans, but rarely for their larger flatter cousins, Romano beans.  So I thought I'll give you an idea for what to do with them -- braise.  This means cook for a long time on low heat with some liquid (or wet ingredients like tomatoes) until the beans are very tender.  They won't be crisp or green, so your initial instinct might tell you to panic that you overcooked them.  Don't fret.  Take a bite for yourself and see just how good they are.  They'll be even better next day and will taste great both cold and reheated.  I wrote about this recipe before and mentioned Kentucky wonder beans as a good bean to use, but Romano work just as well (maybe even better).  You can, of course, use regular green beans, and feel free to improvise with additions like potatoes, chickpeas, white beans, etc.

1 comment:

Liz said...

I completely agree with the Roman beans. I just call them Italian green beans. The first time I had them was at my Italian mother-in-law's house, and I've been hooked ever since.

I just cook mine in olive oil, a little water, cloves of garlic and a dash of kosher salt on medium heat for 20 minutes. Perfect!