lemon garlic green beans

Green beans. They can be so boring. We often glance at them longingly in the produce section wondering what we could do to make them more interesting. Memories of frozen green beans boiled and heaped on the plate from childhood make us turn away.

Actually there is a pretty good Armenian/Middle Eastern vegetarian main dish "fasoulia" or "fassoulia" made with tomatoes like a casserole that we often have at the in-laws and which occasionally ani makes at home, but other than that, our imaginations are coming up short. And they can be included in homemade nicoise salads, we've even done that. But as a principle ingredient of a side dish, we were ready to try this one from the Bon Appetit Too Busy to Cook section. Which means it is quick and easy.

ingredients

1 lb green beans, trimmed

1 T olive oil

1 T grated orange peel

2 t grated lemon peel

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 c veggie broth

2 T (1/4 stick) butter

instructions

Cook beans in large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Drain well.
Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add orange peel, lemon peel, and garlic and stir 1 minute.
Add broth and simmer 1 minute.
Add butter and beans. Toss until beans are heated through and sauce coats beans, about 2 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and serve.

notes

Bon Appetit, June 2002, p.149. Green Beans with Citrus Butter Sauce. Thanks for sharing, Michael Hunter. He says 4 to 6 servings.
The original called for chicken broth but why ruin a perfectly good vegetarian recipe with liquified animal parts?
We had maybe half a pound of green beans on hand, we didn't weigh them, and no oranges to harvest fresh peel from. So we used a teaspoon of dried grated orange peel and the peel from one big real lemon. For that we have one of those nifty Good Grips citrus peelers that make what is called "zest", so in fact it is called a lemon zester. And we used two pretty big garlic cloves for the half dose of beans cuz we love garlic. Pretty interesting...