Rosemary & Lemon Haricot Verts

It wasn't until my 20's that I discovered how much I liked certain vegetables. For the longest time there was a long list of veggies that I would only eat raw or in soup. Until I discovered that roasting vegetables caused them to taste amazing, I was under the impression that they would taste like the canned version the minute they were cooked. I blame that on 2 things: 1) school cafeterias have the worst food on the planet and 2) people over cook vegetables to death. I to this day will only eat canned veggies if they are in soup or another recipe, but standing on their own fresh and frozen is the way to go. 

After roasting everything in the produce isle of  a few years I finally ventured into sautéing. Lucky for me I still liked the taste. Lucky for my body I was able to eat much healthier sides and stray farther from the over processed isles. Don't get me wrong though, I eat my fair share of ice cream, I just try to make sure 90% or more of my diet is actually good for me. I think people get the wrong impression of me sometimes and act like I've lost it or "gone off some diet" when they see me eating brownies. You wouldn't want to live in a world with me that didn't involve sweets, trust me. 

Praise the good Lord I discovered that fresh green beans didn't taste or have the texture of the awful mushy canned version. I don't think I could live without this side these days. However, next to roasted green bean "fries," this recipe is my favorite way to eat them. 

Ingredients:

32 oz fresh green beans (or the haricot verts French version)

1 lemon (squeezed and zested)

2 minced cloves of garlic

2 tbsp rosemary

2-3 tbsp olive oil, enough to coat the pan lightly

2 tbsp butter (the real stuff)

salt & fresh cracked pepper

Directions:

Heat oil and butter in a large skillet at med-high heat. Add lemon zest, juice and garlic, saute until lemon juice is reduced by a 1/3. Add green beans, rosemary, salt, & fresh cracked pepper. Reduce heat to medium and saute for 15 minutes until softened but still crunchy (basically to your liking). 

Fresh pepper is a big one for this recipe, it has a much better pepper flavor than regular pepper. You can substitute the lemon for bottled lemon juice, just keep adding and reducing the lemon until you get the right flavor. I often add more lemon juice (bottled) while making these if it evaporates before the green beans are done.