{"id":961,"date":"2010-09-15T16:45:28","date_gmt":"2010-09-15T21:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/?p=961"},"modified":"2010-09-15T16:47:07","modified_gmt":"2010-09-15T21:47:07","slug":"slow-sauteed-pole-beans-with-shallots-and-bacon-not-so-pretty-but-pretty-delicious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/2010\/09\/slow-sauteed-pole-beans-with-shallots-and-bacon-not-so-pretty-but-pretty-delicious\/","title":{"rendered":"Slow-Saut\u00e9ed Pole Beans with Shallots and Bacon — Not so Pretty, but Pretty Delicious"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When the pole bean trellis blew down for the second time, we left it. Granted, we were a bit annoyed at the pole beans. They took a lifetime to germinate and what seemed like eternity to start yielding. Meanwhile the bush beans were churning out lovely filet beans by the pound every day.\u00a0 We would have ignored the pole beans altogether except for this nagging voice I had in my head, \u201cPole beans are better than bush beans.\u201d I grew up with this voice. My father\u2019s.<\/p>\n

My father and his mother (my grandmother Honey, who \u201cput up\u201d pole beans at the end of every summer) were always carrying on about the superiority of \u201cpole beans\u201d over bush beans. (Pole beans are green bean varieties like Kentucky Wonder that grow on vines as long as 12 feet, therefore needing support in the form of poles or some other trellising.) \u00a0I needed to find out the truth for myself, as it seemed to me that our bush beans (a variety from FedCo called Beananza) were pretty darn tasty\u2014and oh-so-lovely to look at, too. The pole beans looked kind of gnarled up and blotchy the minute they appeared on the scene.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>They didn\u2019t get any prettier\u2014but they did keep growing, even under the weight of a collapsed trellis. After neglecting them for a while (figuring we\u2019d eventually till them back into the soil, as nitrate-fixing beans make great soil enhancements), we came along one day, lifted up the vines, and discovered dozens of big funky beans growing under them.\u00a0 We surely weren\u2019t going to sell these fallen beans, so I collected them that day\u2014and every few days thereafter\u2014and took them home for us. From the first time I picked them, I knew something was up. They just smelled \u201cbean-y.\u201d I realize that doesn\u2019t sound too appealing, but I mean it in the best way\u2014a really fresh, green, arresting aroma that followed through when I cooked them. It was green bean flavor times two! Really delicious. So now I have to tell my Dad he was right. Bummer.<\/p>\n

The pole beans (at least the varieties we grew\u2014Kentucky Wonder and Fortex) do present one cooking challenge: \u00a0their texture is a bit, well\u2026 I wouldn\u2019t say tougher exactly, just more substantial, I guess. Toothsome, in a good way. To me that texture is a clue to cook the beans a bit longer and with some heartier flavors. But by longer cooking, I don\u2019t mean boiling them to death. I mean something like slow-saut\u00e9ing, where the beans get brown and tender and pick up the flavors of other ingredients in the pan, like the shallots and bacon in the recipe below. I made this recipe yesterday because it felt comforting and warm, and we\u2019ve had a bit of a nip in the air up here. Plus, I had some particularly gnarly beans to deal with. So it may not look so pretty (though, yes, everything is supposed to be that<\/em> brown\u2014brown is where all the flavor is), but it did taste pretty delicious.<\/p>\n

Slow-Saut\u00e9ed Pole Beans with Shallots & Bacon<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n

If you don\u2019t have pole green beans, don\u2019t worry. This recipe will work great with any mature green beans\u2014just choose the largest beans you can find when you\u2019re shopping. This method of \u201cslow-saut\u00e9ing\u201d involves a crowded pan (the opposite of what you would think of for a quick saut\u00e9), but I promise you it works great. Keep the pan at a gentle sizzle\u2014you can always slow browning down by lowering the heat. The end goal is veggies that are cooked through and nicely browned, too.<\/p>\n

__________________________________<\/p>\n

2 teaspoons orange juice<\/p>\n

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar<\/p>\n

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil<\/p>\n

12 ounces pole green beans, trimmed and cut into 2- or 3-inch pieces<\/p>\n

4 large shallots, peeled and cut lengthwise into \u00bd-inch wedges (keep a little of the stem end intact if you can)<\/p>\n

2 ounces bacon (about 2 pieces), cut into 1-inch pieces<\/p>\n

kosher salt<\/p>\n

\u00bd tablespoon unsalted butter<\/p>\n

__________________________________<\/p>\n

In a small bowl, combine the orange juice and vinegar and set aside. In a 10-inch straight sided skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the beans, shallots, bacon, and a scant teaspoon of salt. Using tongs, toss to break up the bacon and to coat everything with the oil and salt. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally at first and a little more frequently after browning begins, until the vegetables are all very-well browned and limp (the bacon will be cooked through and some pieces will be crisp), about 22 to 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, add the butter and the orange juice mixture, and immediately stir to incorporate the liquids and melting butter into the beans. Transfer the vegetables to a serving dish or individual plates and serve hot or warm.<\/p>\n

Serves 3 to 4 as a side dish<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the pole bean trellis blew down for the second time, we left it. Granted, we were a bit annoyed at the pole beans. They took a lifetime to germinate and what seemed like eternity to start yielding. Meanwhile the bush beans were churning out lovely filet beans by the pound every day.\u00a0 We would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[14],"tags":[68],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=961"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":975,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions\/975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}