Roasted Green Beans

When I was growing up we ate green beans…canned green beans….they have a weird kind of taste & colour..& I remember not really liking them. Then we started eating frozen green beans…better- but my mom boiled them…the texture was weird…they kind of squeak when you bite them… I have not opened a can of green beans for many years & ate the frozen ones most of my life.

Green bean casserole is a favorite dish… green beans, mushroom soup & french fried onions…still love this dish! Made with frozen green beans this casserole is quick & simple to make.

Then, I realized that ..ha! you can get fresh green beans at farmers markets in the summer. These are much better.  I boiled them…Sauteed them..made green bean almondine… I like all of these different ways to eat green beans.

Now fresh green beans are available all year round at the grocery stores & they are available at Costco sometimes. So I buy them fresh all the time.

But then…. I read about roasting green beans!! This my absolute favourite way to eat green beans.  They get a crispy charred deliciousness to them..I like them just lightly oiled & salted , put into a hot oven & roasted until they shrink & shrivel up… I could eat a whole bag full. And I don’t think that they squeak when you bite into them!!!

The recipe is simple…more of a ‘how to’ then a recipe& no different then roasting any other vegetable really

Ingredients

as many fresh green beans as you want to eat

salt

olive oil

Method

prepare a baking sheet…line it with parchment paper or foil or not— if you want to have to scrub the baking sheet…

1. Clean & trim any brown ends of your green beans…the thin fresh ones are good & I don’t think they need to have the centre string pulled out.. if your green beans are thick I like to pull one end & puck the sting out… but I don always do that..it depends on the green beans… I clean them by submersing them into a big bowl of water & letting them soak for a few minutes then put them onto a kitchen towel & dry them
2. Put your green beans onto the prepared baking sheet or into a bowl
3. Drizzle them with some olive oil & kosher salt..
4. Toss the beans around to cover all of them with the oil & salt…just use your hands to do this if you want… I always use my hands…seems to work better than other kitchen tools for this purpose.
5. Spread the beans out onto the baking sheet in a single layer if you can but I don’t always do this if I have a bunch of beans..
6. Put the beans into a 400f oven & roast them for about 15 minutes… BUT THE TIME IS SUBJECTIVE…DEPENDS ON THE SIZE OF YOUR BEANS… SO WATCH THEM… I CHECK THEM AFTER 15 MINUTES & THEN KEEP THEM IN THE OVEN UNTIL THEY ARE DONE TO THE WAY WE LIKE THEM….
7. And that’s it!

You can serve these with some fresh lemon juice squeezed over top of the beans… as they are just out of the oven…with a little tahini dressing drizzles over-top of the beans…Tahini Salad Dressing….throw some toasted almonds on these beans…they are just good anyway you eat them!