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Welcome to fall everyone. I can’t believe it. At least it’s still summer weather, right?
I made a dish over the weekend that straddles the seasons: Braised Green Beans.
Seriously. You don’t always want to serve beans half a millimeter away from raw. They are delicious slow-cooked, with a bunch of bacon, onion and tomato. Sprinkle a little fennel seed on there and you’ve got yourself a real winner.
While I was stirring those, here’s what people were talking about:
Emily thinks Mykonos in Dobbs is a little worn around the edges. (NY Times.)
MH pays a visit to the Terrace Grill at the Garrison Golf Club. (NY Times.)
James hits Priya in Suffern (with Deven and Jill Black, no less!) and Half Moon in Dobbs. (A Man Has to Eat.)
Dara has some good ideas to get the school week started out right with Menu Plan Mondays. (Chick in the Kitchen.)
Boe@324 in White Plains has closed. Rumors are an Spanish-Mediterranean will take its place. Those rumors might have some weight, considering chef Mark Filippo was consulting there over the summer. (Chowhound.)
Miki visits All’Antica in Scarsdale. Plenty of FP there. (Smiles*Sugar*Sunshine via Chowhound post.)
The Hudson Valley Wine Fest is this weekend. (Wine Goddess.)
Phew! It must be back to school, huh? After the jump, the recipe for Braised Green Beans…
Braised Green Beans
We did a story about Fran McCullough, the editor of the cookbook, “The Best American Recipes 2005-2006,” and Fran pronounced this her favorite recipe in the book. I couldn’t believe it. Slow cooking green beans? What madness is this? Turns out, it’s the way Italians, Greeks and Southerners have been doing it for a long time and for good reason. It’s delicious: sweet, smoky and surprising.
The editors of the book suggest using long, mature beans. They also like a generous amount of pepper. So do I. And this time of year? Use fresh tomatoes. Especially if they’re hanging out in your garden waiting to rot.
2 tablespoons bacon drippings or olive oil
1 medium yellow onion
1 pound green beans, trimmed
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with the liquid
2 thick slices bacon, diced (or 1 ham hock)
1 teaspoon freshly ground fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
Heat the bacon drippings or oil in a heavy pot or Dutch overn with a tight fitting lid over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the beans, tomatoes with juice, bacon or ham hock, fennel, salt and papper to taste and bring to a simmer.
Cover, reduce the heat to very low, and simmer gently until tender, about 3 hours, stirring and tasting the beans occasionally. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.
Slurp away:
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 8:30 am by Liz Johnson.
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