Green Beans With Olive Oil

Mr P. and I have always called this dish Greek beans, but here in the book called Zaitoun by Yasmin Khan it is Fasolia Bi Zait, a Palestinian recipe.  The book is subtitled Recipes and stories from the Palestinian kitchen.  I love the recipes here, so you'll be seeing a few more of them over the coming weeks, my virtual friends.  

This is a lovely book, full of stories from local Palestinian women, and complemented by beautiful, and colourful photos.  The author travelled over several years to Israel, and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.  She visited local communities, cooked with the women, and ate at the restaurants.  She decided to bring all these food experiences together in this interesting and informative book.  (BTW, zaitoun means olive in English.)   

tasty green beans with spiced potatoes

Serves 4:

ingredients:


400g. (14 oz) green beans

2 tbs olive oil

2 onions, finely chopped or sliced

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 small red chillies, finely chopped (optional)

1/2 tsp dried oregano

3/4 tsp ground cummin

1/2 tsp ground allspice

400g. (14 oz) tin of diced tomatoes

1 fresh tomato, diced

1/2 cup of water

a dash of red or white wine - maybe 1/4 cup

1 tsp white sugar

a dozen grinds of black pepper

¾ - 1 tsp of sea salt

more EV olive oil to drizzle over the top


Method:


First trim your beans - i.e. - cut off the top and tail, then cut each bean into three pieces

Now boil or steam them for about twenty minutes till crisp-tender (as the Americans say)

Drain and put aside while you make the sauce

Heat the olive oil in a large frypan, tip in the onions and let them cook for about fifteen minutes on a gentle heat, stirring now and then

Stir in the garlic, chillies and spices, and cook for a few minutes more

Add the tinned and fresh tomatoes, water, wine, sugar, pepper and salt

Give the mixture a good stir, cover and let simmer on a low heat for ten minutes - check it now and then; and add a wee bit more water if it starts to look too dry

Add the beans to the sauce, and stir them in gently

Check for seasoning, drizzle over the olive oil and serve - as a side for 4 people, or as a main for 2 or 3 with some spicy potato wedges


Notes:

If you like your beans very tender, by all means go ahead and cook till they're as tender as you wish

I think this amount of sauce would happily accommodate another 50-100 grams of beans, so if you're feeling hungry ...

trim, top and tail your beans

Mr P. is posing for this shot, but I actually did all the gritty bean work:-)

steam your beans till tender - as you please

get Mr P. to stir the onions and garlic, etc

sauce cooked down and  beans added

all ready - with spiced spuds in the background

delicious - hot or room temp.

Confession time - I did adapt this recipe slightly by adding oregano and a fresh tomato.  I also felt it needed a bit of wine, and the red chillies that Mr P. always adds to his Greek beans!  Delicious!

colourful cover caught my eye

This is a book after my own heart; full of personal stories, interesting recipes, great photos, and providing lots of inspiration.  It is divided into five chapters: Mazzeh/Salads/Soups/Mains/Desserts.  Each recipe has a little story, a list of ingredients and straightforward directions.  Yasmin tells us how to make each dish very clearly, so that even a novice cook should be able to follow along.  I am really enjoying this book, and have sent off for some spices so I can make more of these recipes.  Do you know how hard it is to buy za'atar at the moment? :-) 

artwork © Sherry's Pickings