Friday, March 14, 2014

Garlic-Caper String Beans- New Food To Me

My son's girlfriend brought me some capers to try for a New Food To Me post-thanks Rachel! These Garlic-Caper String Beans are bursting with the big assertive flavors of fresh garlic and lemon zest, yet the capers hold their own and bring a fun briny/flowery taste to the mix. While I enjoyed this as a side dish my first bite had me thinking it would be great over pasta! I also feel this would make a good cold pasta salad with chicken for lunch. Any way you look at it, this is a tasty and different way to serve up some fresh string beans:@)
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Garlic-Caper String Beans-from Food Network
1lb fresh string beans, preferably yellow and green mixed, washed and trimmed
olive oil
3 cloves garlic
2 Tblsp capers, drained
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon
S&P
  1. Boil beans in salted water until crisp/tender, about 6 minutes-I steamed mine.
  2. Chop the garlic and capers together. 
  3. Add the zest of the lemon and mash everything into a paste-as best you can... They didn't mention adding a sprinkle of salt first, I'd try that next time.
  4. Saute in olive oil 2 minutes-I used at least 1 Tblsp of oil, if it looks dry (and probably will) add more.
  5. Add the lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add the string beans and toss until well covered-about 2 minutes.
  6. Season with S&P.
Eat well and have a happy day:@)

My New Foods List:
(If my sons happen to read this... relax! I still promise fairly "normal" Sunday dinners...)
hominy ~ artichokes ~ fish sauce (I'm scared) ~ almond paste ~ oyster sauce (scared again) ~ gorgonzola ~ dates ~ brisket ~ parsnips ~ adobo ~ meringue powder ~ goat cheese (I'm told to be scared) ~ souffle ~ red velvet anything ~ curry ~ capers ~ chow chow ~ pot stickers ~ pho ~ ponzu sauce ~ fondant ~ fire roasted tomatoes ~ Gruyere ~ Quinoa ~ Tetrazzini any kind ~ Divinity ~ Meyer lemon ~ lemon curd ~ leeks ~ shallots

14 comments:

  1. This sounds like a wonderful way to fix string beans, Lynn!

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  2. Hi Lynnie! Oh, yummy, these look so good and I would never have thought of using capers. You are quite the cook, my dear!
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia;)

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  3. Love the garlicky beans...and so easy, too.

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  4. Love your new foods list! You have some delicious things on there~I agree, fish sauce has always scared me, but I keep reading that you never know it's in there and adds a certain something. I love love love green beans, but am not a fan of capers so I'm not so sure .....they sure look good, and I like the way your mind works thinking about pasta and cold salad~
    Jenna

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  5. I bought enough green beans the other day to last many meals...what was I thinking? Thanks for one more way to prepare them.

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  6. how nice she let you cross one off your list!

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  7. I will have to make these as I am a little wary of capers. My daughter loves them, so I will work on developing a taste for them. These beans will be a great starting place :)

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  8. I love those beans, as I've grown tired of making them the same old way! I also love capers, so perfect! Thank you for sharing! Thanks for coming too, you make my day when I see that Little cute pink pig on my posts, lol!
    Hugs,
    FABBY

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  9. I love capers and adding them to green beans is a wonderful idea!!! Thanks for the inspiration, Lynne!

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  10. Great recipe! I am always on the look out for new green bean recipes once summer comes and the farms are loaded with fresh pick beans. I will put this on my list. I am also going to try canning dilly beans this year. I'm not if you have posted on pickled beans , I know you do a lot of pickling.

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  11. Capers make beans sing with flavor. Great recipe Lynn.
    Sam

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  12. These sound very much like the green beans we had in Italy, Lynn...loved 'em! I found one recipe from Mary over at One Perfect Bite that was almost exactly the same...the addition of white wine or champagne vinegar sparked the flavor nicely. Try it that way next time. Here is a link to that recipe:

    http://rettspace.blogspot.com/2012/01/marinated-green-beans-with-extra-garlic.html

    LOVE the dancing Irish piggies up top...you are one crazy nut, ya' know. LOL

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  13. We would love these beans Lynn! We had fish last night with a lemon butter caper sauce :)

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