Fagiolini all'Aglio
This is the dish that convinces people who claim not to like green beans that they've simply never had them cooked properly. Garlic and good olive oil forgive almost anything, and green beans are no exception.
Ingredients
- 500g green beans, trimmed
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- A pinch of chili flakes (optional)
- Fine sea salt
Serves 4.
Cookware Required
- una pentola (a pot, for blanching)
- una padella larga (a wide pan)
Method
Blanch the green beans in well-salted boiling water for three to four minutes, until bright green and just tender with a little bite left. Drain, and, if you're not using them right away, plunge them into cold water to stop the cooking and hold their color.
Warm the olive oil in a wide pan, and add the garlic and chili if using. Cook gently until the garlic turns pale gold. Add the beans, and toss over medium heat for two to three minutes, until well coated and heated through. Season with salt, and serve.
Quando Va Storto
If the beans taste dull and gray-green rather than bright, they were overcooked at the blanching stage, or not shocked in cold water afterward to stop them from continuing to cook in their own residual heat. If the garlic tastes bitter, it browned too far before the beans went in -- watch it closely, since the window between golden and burnt is short. And if the dish tastes flat despite the garlic, it simply needed more olive oil; this is not a place to be sparing with it, since the oil is doing as much of the flavoring here as the garlic itself.