Eat Your Greens!

Green Beans with Tomatoes & Balsamic

1 lb of green beans

3 good fresh tomatoes

good quality olive oil

extra virgin olive oil

garlic

salt & pepper

fresh herbs

Serves: 6

Clean the green beans.

Blanch beans in salted water.  Drain & rinse in cold water.

Score the bottom of 3 nice good quality tomatoes and remove the stem root. Plunge into boiling water for 20 - 30 seconds.  Drain & shock the tomatoes in ice water.

Slough the skins & de-seed tomatoes. Give them a good rough chop into chunks.

In a frying pan, over low heat add a couple of glugs of good quality olive oil.  Throw in 2 whole garlic cloves (skins removed).  Gently fry for a couple of minutes.

Raise heat, add the green beans & sauté for a minute.

Throw in tomatoes.  Toss a couple of times in the pan & cook for 3-4 minutes until the green beans are tender but not mushy.

Remove garlic cloves.  Season with salt & pepper.   Add a small handful of one type of your favorite fresh herbs, chopped. (for example basil, oregano or marjoram) and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

At our agriturismo we finish the dish with 30 year aged traditional balsamic. (To find the good stuff in the States can be hard & expensive). It's totally OK to use regular balsamic, it is just more acetic or use a squeeze of lemon.