Day 92: Green Beans with Honey-Mustard Glaze

When my sister and I were kids, Mom would send us to the front step to snap beans, shell peas and husk corn. We were reluctant kitchen helpers then but I look back on those simple summer tasks with nostalgia.

Why she recruited us to help is no surprise: seven minutes to wash/snap beans when the family is hungry and waiting and you're also managing the meat and the salad -- well, it's half a lifetime.

So: Recruit help! Your kids will love you for it, later if not now!

The trick to these beans, I think, is cooking them in what seems like a whole lotta water in a whole lotta salt. Whether you like the glaze idea or not, try the beans. They're amazing.

GREEN BEANS with HONEY-MUSTARD GLAZE
Active time: About 10 minutes
Time to table: About 25 minutes
Serves: 4


8 cups water
3 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 pounds green beans

1 1/2 tablespoons mustard seeds (next time I'd use less, maybe 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons honey (see ALANNA's TIPS)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar

Bring the water and salt to boil in a large kettle (see TIPS). Clean and snap the beans (that is, break off the stem ends with by 'snapping' them). Cook the beans for about 5 minutes or until tender but still crisp and bright green. Drain.

Meanwhile, toast the mustard seeds in a small skillet on MEDIUM HIGH, stirring occasionally, until they just pop. Add the honey and vinegar, cook until it boils and becomes syrupy, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.

Return the beans to the kettle and stir in syrup. Serve.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Serving: 44 Cal (12% from Fat, 13% from Protein, 75% from Carb); 2 g Protein; 1 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 9 g Carb; 2 g Fiber; 33 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 593 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol, Weight Watchers 1 point

ALANNA's TIPS
  • Honey will pour/measure easily if you first warm it in the microwave for 20 or 30 seconds.
  • I read somewhere once that putting salt in a non-stick kettle before the water boils will, over time, create pits in the non-stick finish, shortening its lifetime.


SOURCE
Len DiCarlo
Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

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