Veggie Roasted Green Beans

Veggie Roasted Green Beans

The problem with roasted green beans that it part of the vegetarian recipes, whether you do them in the oven or in a hot skillet, is to get those beautiful, caramelized brown spots on the surface of most of the beans without either over- or under-cooking the insides. Run the heat too high and you’ll burn the outside before the inside is done; run it too low and you’ll end up with mush.

Microwave radiation is not any form of nuclear radiation. It doesn’t make your food radioactive, not even a teensy little bit. It is electromagnetic radiation. You know: like light, and radio waves. A microwave oven works by exciting the water molecules in your food, which heat up and cook the surrounding material. So it is akin to steaming or boiling but with the marked advantage that food cooks inside as much as outside. Evidence is that, used correctly, it actually retains more of the nutrients in food like corn than more conventional cooking methods.

Once you’ve got your caramelized green beans, you can either stop right there and finish them with Maldon salt and some good olive oil, or you can take them in any flavor direction you like. For example, glaze them with a bit of sherry vinegar and smoked paprika for a Spanish approach, or with lemon juice, garlic, olives and feta to head to Greece.

Perfect Roasted Green Beans

Ingredients:

Vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and kosher

Serves 4 as a side dish

15 minutes

1 pound of green beans

Vegetable oil

Kosher salt

Sea salt, preferably Maldon

Extra-virgin olive oil

Trim your green beans. I like to remove just the stem end, but if you want to do both ends that is ok too. By the way, try doing this task with kitchen shears. I find it to be much faster than with my knife. 

Preheat your largest skillet, preferably cast iron, over high heat. (Don’t do this with a non-stick pan, it isn’t safe at these temperatures.)

Rinse the green beans and leave a bit of water clinging to them. Place them in a microwave-safe bowl with a lid and microwave on high power for 1 minute, then carefully toss with tongs and return to the microwave. Repeat the covering, microwaving and tossing 1 minute or less at a time until the beans have turned a brighter shade of green, but with still have a noticeable firmness about them. In my microwave the total time is only about 2 minutes.

Leave the skillet on high heat. Add a couple of tablespoons of the vegetable oil to the skillet and immediately add the beans, using tongs so as to leave any water behind in the bowl. Add a big pinch of Kosher salt and toss the beans, then spread them out evenly in the pan. Cook, tossing only occasionally, until there are many browned spots on the beans, about 3 minutes

Transfer your beautifully caramelized green beans to a serving platter and finish with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and a nice scattering of sea salt.

Source: Herbivoracious