Thursday, August 13, 2009

My Mediterranean Green Beans

I recently found out that I can't digest green beans that are cooked al dente...I know serious bummer. Anyway, Tim had some awesome Greek green beans at the Ariston Cafe that appeared to have been slow cooked and I decided to search for recipes that might taste good but cook the beans more thoroughly, without making them taste like school lunch. I came up with a winner:
Lisa's Mediterranean Green Beans
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 pounds fresh green beans, rinsed and trimmed (I used flat Italian beans the first time)
3 large tomatoes, diced
2 teaspoons sugar or agave
1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
1 ½ teaspoons dried marjoram
1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme
salt to taste
2-3 tablespoons Sriracha sauce to taste
DIRECTIONS
1. Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the onions and garlic in the skillet until tender.
2. Mix the remaining olive oil, green beans, tomatoes, sugar or agave, herbs and salt into a slow cooker, add the onion mixture. Cook on medium-low for 4-6 hours or on low for 6-8 hours if you’re going to be gone all day. Stir the mixture occasionally if possible. If not, stir them as soon as you get home. Before serving add the Sriracha sauce and cook just a few minutes longer.
If you prefer to do these more quickly just add the ingredients to the onion mixture in the skillet and cook over med-low heat for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Note: these make a wonderful sauce so be sure to have some bread handy to soak up the sauce.

No comments: