Monday, June 25, 2012

Caramelized Green Beans

These are aaaaamazing! I made these for a BBQ because my husband "doesn't eat vegetables" so I thought I'd try them out on others who do :) Turns out, he loved them! I hate onions, he hates veggies, and we both ate lots of these! They're from Our Best Bites. Just bought their cookbook and absolutely love it!

1-1/8 lb. fresh green beans (or 1 lb. frozen)
1/2 lb. bacon
1/2 red onion, sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
Lots of freshly-ground pepper
Begin frying the bacon in a large skillet. Start boiling a large pot of water. Place beans in a colander and rinse them well. Then snap the ends off and snap them in half.

 Prepare the sauce by mixing sugar, soy sauce, and salt in a small bowl.

Make sure your onions are sliced, garlic is pressed and everything is ready to go.

Remove bacon from pan and drain on a paper towel, leaving oil in pan. If you feel like it, you can crumble it now or wait until it’s cooled off a little. Heat pan to medium-high heat. When the pan is hot…
–Add onions and garlic. Give them a quick stir and then…
Skip this step if you used frozen and already cooked them: Add beans to boiling water. Place colander in a clean sink. Boil for one minute; you’re not cooking them until they’re done, just blanching them to take the edge off. Meanwhile, stir the onions and garlic so they don’t scorch. After one minute, drain beans in the colander in the sink.
–Once beans have been drained, add them to the onions and garlic. Stir fry 2-3 more minutes.
–Give your sauce a quick stir and then pour on top of the beans. Keep stir-frying until the beans get kind of glazy, for another 2 minutes.
–Add crumbled bacon and lots of freshly-ground pepper to the beans. Keep stir frying until the sauce sticks to the beans and the bacon. Transfer to a serving dish and allow to stand a few minutes so the beans cool down a bit and the glaze thickens up a little.