String beans are light and wholesome foods. Usually it is consumed in a fried or baked form, but there are also original options for its preparation. For example, you can mix it with other vegetables or nuts. You can also add herbs to your taste. Not only main dishes are prepared from green asparagus beans, but also salads and soups. Since it has a gentle mild flavor, the culinary fantasy here can be limitless. Some interesting ideas are presented below.
Green beans with almonds and thyme
Green beans are an amazing part of the plant world, which is combined with almost everything. Therefore, you can safely use it in the menu of a festive dinner. To do this, you just need to cook a string of beans with butter, thyme and toasted almonds. The whole recipe will not take you much time. In total you will need:
- 1 kg (fresh or frozen) green beans with trimmed edges;
- a quarter cup of butter;
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard;
- 1 teaspoon of garlic salt;
- 2 tablespoons chopped thyme fresh;
- third of a glass of almonds, slightly toasted.
How to cook it?
Boil green beans in a large pot with boiling salt water (one and a half tablespoons of tea salt for each liter) until it becomes less crispy, about 5 minutes. Transfer the pods into a large bowl of ice water, completely cooling them. This will allow them to acquire a bright green color. Drain then very well. At this point, you can prepare the beans the next day and store in the refrigerator.
How to cook green beans in another way? Alternatively, you can cook it in a double boiler for 5 minutes and go directly to frying.
Melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over moderate heat. Combine half fresh thyme (a tablespoon), Dijon mustard and garlic salt with oil. Add the beans to a skillet and fry for about 4 minutes. Transfer to serving bowl. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and the remaining spoonful of thyme.
Hot green beans with mushrooms
This recipe suggests mixing green beans, mushrooms and onions to get a whole bunch of flavors. For this you need:
- 4 tablespoons of unsalted creamy or extra virgin olive oil, individually;
- 500 grams of young onion, chopped and peeled;
- sea salt and ground black pepper;
- 1 kg of green beans;
- 2 tablespoons rapeseed oil or sunflower;
- 500 grams of oyster mushroom or champignon slices;
- 1 medium shallots, minced;
- 4 medium garlic cloves, minced in minced meat (about 4 teaspoons);
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves;
- 1 teaspoon of soy sauce;
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
How is such a dish prepared?
Melt 3 tablespoons of oil in a large cast-iron skillet over moderate heat. Add onion, salt and pepper, reduce heat to a minimum and fry, stirring occasionally, until the onion is caramel brown. This will take quite a while.
How can you make tasty green beans? Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salt water to a boil. Add the beans to it and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain and rinse the pods with cool running water until it cools. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the mushrooms and fry, stirring occasionally, until they release all their liquid. This will take about 10 minutes. When they are browned, reduce the heat and season them with salt and pepper. Add shallots, garlic, thyme and remaining oil. Continue to fry, stirring, until aromatic, for about 30 seconds. Pour in soy sauce and stir.
Add green beans, onions and lemon juice to the mushrooms, stir and heat again. Serve immediately.
Green Bean Salad with Potatoes and Olives
Olives and feta cheese make this potato salad more delicious. This dish is perfect as a side dish of string beans. Photos attached to the article also show how aesthetically pleasing it looks. Add chicken or shrimp to it, and you get a full dinner.
To prepare this salad, you should boil the whole potatoes, and then slightly cool and chop. String beans need to be fried until crisp. Then, to make the dressing, you should whip all the components for it.
The real trick is to wait about 15 minutes before serving. During this time, the potato will be able to absorb the aroma from the dressing. The wait is really worth it. So you will need:
- 500 grams of potatoes;
- 500 grams of green beans, cut into pieces of 2-3 cm (about 4 cups);
- half a glass of pickled olives, cut in half;
- spoon of art. finely chopped green onions;
- spoon of art. chopped parsley;
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar;
- 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice;
- 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard;
- 3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil;
- 60 grams of feta cheese, crumbled;
- salt and black pepper.
How to cook potato salad with beans?
Put the potatoes in a pan and fill with water. Salt with the calculation of one tablespoon of tea salt per liter of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Boil for about 20 minutes. Ready root vegetables should be easily pierced with a fork.
Meanwhile, fill a large container with cold water and ice. When the potatoes are ready, transfer them to an ice bath. Then take it out of the water and cut into cubes.
Bring the potato water back to a boil, then add green beans to it. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until bright green. Repeat the ice bath, this time for the beans. This is the basic rule for preparing green beans.
Combine potatoes, beans, olives, green onions and parsley in a large bowl. Add feta cheese, mix well, then season with pepper and salt. In a blender bowl, make a dressing by whipping vinegar, lemon juice, mustard and olive oil until completely uniform. Pour the mixture with the salad and stir. Set aside and wait about 15 minutes before serving.
Pasta with potatoes and green beans
This non-standard pasta recipe involves adding cubes of potato and slices of green beans to pesto sauce. Despite such a strange combination, everything is quite logical. The potato adds extra starch to the pasta broth, helping to bind the sauce and absorb excess pesto oil. All you need:
- sea salt;
- 450 grams of pasta;
- 150 grams of peeled potatoes, diced;
- 110 grams of green beans, cut into pieces;
- 1 can of prepared pesto sauce;
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil;
- grated cheese, ideally Parmigiano Reggiano.
How to cook such a paste?
In a large pot of salted boiling water, boil pasta, potatoes and green beans until the paste is al dente, and the potatoes and green beans become very tender. Drain the water, leaving it 1 cup for later use. Transfer pasta, potatoes and green beans into a large bowl.
Add pesto sauce to pasta along with a decoction of prepared ingredients. Mix well to make a thick sauce. Add more pasta, 1 tablespoon at a time, if the pasta is too dry. Pour fresh olive oil if desired. Serve pasta with dressing from green beans and potatoes with Parmigiano Reggiano on top of the dish.
Green Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad
Cherry tomatoes and green beans are two excellent foods for health benefits. To prepare a wonderful vegetable dinner, you will need:
- 2 tablespoons chopped shallots;
- 2 tablespoons of lemon peel, grated finely;
- 2 tablespoons of kosher salt, as much as possible;
- 1 teaspoon ground fresh black pepper;
- 6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 3 medium lemons);
- half a glass of extra virgin olive oil;
- 1 kg of green beans with trimmed ends;
- 500 grams of cherry tomatoes, cut in half;
- 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh leaves and stalks of parsley.
How to cook beans with tomatoes?
For this dish, you can use green beans. To start cooking from it, remove it from the freezer and place it in a vessel with warm water. Further, the recipe is as follows.
Bring a large pot of salt water to a boil and prepare a bowl of ice water, partially filling it with ice. Here you should also observe the rule of how to cook green beans.
Meanwhile, refuel. Put shallots, lemon zest, pepper and salt in a medium non-metal bowl and pour in lemon juice. Beat until evenly mixed. Set aside.
Add green beans to boiled water and cook until crisp, about 3-4 minutes. Drain and transfer the beans into a prepared bowl of ice water. When they cool, drain the liquid again and wipe the pods thoroughly with paper towels.
Put the beans, tomatoes and parsley in a large bowl, pour the dressing on top and stir so as to completely cover the ingredients. Put more spices as needed.
Green Beans with Ham
If you want to cook a hearty, but simple dish, you can stew the ham and green beans with potatoes. Remember that smoked meat products have different tastes and textures. Properly made ham has tender and moist meat. Look for just such a product. For this dish of string beans you will need:
- 200 grams of premium ham;
- 500 grams of fresh or frozen green beans, the ends should be removed;
- 4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced (about 3 glasses);
- 4 cups chicken stock;
- 2 cups celery, chopped;
- 1 cup onion, chopped;
- a quarter cup of fresh parsley, chopped, or 2 tablespoons of Art. dried up.
How to cook beans with ham?
How to cook green beans frozen? Place it and ham, celery, onions, potatoes in a cauldron or pan with a thick bottom. Pour the broth and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat until all ingredients are cooked. Then put them on serving plates and sprinkle with parsley. You can also cook this dish in the slow cooker using the “Braising” mode.
Green bean soup
Delicious tender broth with fresh green beans, potatoes and bacon makes this soup delicious all year round, regardless of weather and season. To cook it, you will need:
- 4 cups of fresh green beans, cut into small pieces;
- 500 grams of bacon, in small cubes;
- 1 medium onion, chopped;
- 4 medium-sized potato tubers, peeled and diced;
- 500 ml of cream thick and fat;
- 2 cups of 2% milk;
- pepper and salt.
How to prepare creamy green bean soup?
How to cook green beans and potatoes for soup? Peel and cut the potatoes into pieces. Boil it either on the stove or in the microwave until cooked. Drain and set aside. In a double boiler, cook green beans to a slightly tender consistency.
Take a pan with a thick bottom, fry slices of bacon in it to a slightly crispy surface, then remove it with a slotted spoon in a plate. Remove excess fat, but do not wipe the bottom of the pan. Add onions to it and fry until soft. Put the bacon back, then put the green beans and boiled potatoes in the same place and fill with milk and cream. Heat the mixture a little, taking care not to boil. Add pepper and salt to taste.
Green Beans with Chickpeas in Sauce
Legumes are an excellent source of protein and fiber. Therefore, it is not surprising that the dishes from them are very hearty. And if you prepare a delicious sauce for them, you can put any amount of vegetables in such a dish. To make it as useful as possible, decorate it with chopped walnut petals for some crunch instead of traditional crackers. So you will need:
- 1 teaspoon olive oil;
- 1 yellow onion, chopped;
- 500 grams of frozen green beans (or fresh);
- one and a half glasses of boiled chickpeas or 1 can of canned (washed and dried);
- 1 cup of water plus another quarter;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- one and a half tablespoons of tea salt;
- 1 sprig of fresh rosemary (about 1 teaspoon chopped)
- freshly ground black pepper;
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar.
Optional:
- half a glass of dry roasted hazelnuts, without skins;
- 1/4 tablespoon of salt.
How to make this bean dish?
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a high-frying pan over medium heat and fry the onion until it begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Put frozen green beans and half a spoonful of tea salt in it and mix well. Cover and let the vegetables stew until fully warmed, for about 8 to 10 minutes.
When the vegetables are cooked, combine the chickpeas, water, garlic, 1 teaspoon of tea salt, rosemary, a couple of chopped black pepper peas and balsamic vinegar in a blender. Beat until smooth and set aside. If you want to prepare additional dressing, use a food processor or blender to grind hazelnuts and grind it with salt. Moreover, it should not be very small, like nutmeal - you need a crunch!
Once the vegetables are soft, pour the sauce into them and mix well. If the pan is not suitable for placement in the oven, shift everything into a baking dish. Correct any seasoning to taste, then sprinkle with a mixture of chopped hazelnuts on top, if using it. Bake at 180 degrees for about half an hour until the vegetables warm up and a slightly golden crust appears on top. Let cool for 10 minutes, then serve.