Friday, October 2, 2009

Roasted Green Beans, Peppers and Garlic



Roasted veggies are a no-brainer, even when you use your bean.
This may not be the most complicated culinary offering, but that’s the beauty of it. Well, that and the gorgeous colors.

I love fresh green beans, and when paired with yellow wax beans and bright, roasted peppers cut to match the beans, your dinner is ready for framing. Lately I’ve been roasting a few pans of various colored bell peppers along with some garlic cloves to keep on hand. They’ll last a couple of weeks in a jar in the fridge, and they just get sweeter, richer and juicier with age. You can put them on anything from green or grain-based salads, quiches, frittatas, omelettes, pizzas, pastas, quesadillas, sandwiches—you name it. And the juice at the bottom of the jar is to die for.

Like most of my recipes, this one is not set in stone. Except for baking, I'm not really the measuring type, so you can add more olive oil or change the ingredient ratios to your own taste.

Recipe

½ pound green beans

½ pound yellow wax beans

1 each red, orange and yellow bell pepper (save half for later use)

6 cloves whole, unpeeled garlic (save 4 for later use)

2 TBSP olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Two large cookie sheets

Preheat oven to 425˚. Cut peppers into long strips. Mix them together with the garlic cloves, half of the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste in a mixing bowl. Coat well. Place peppers and garlic on a cookie sheet and make sure the pieces are not overlapping (use another pan if you need to). Mix the rest of the oil with the beans, salt and pepper to taste, and lay them out on another cookie sheet.

Roast for 20 to 25 minutes. Turn once when they are brown and caramelized. When cool enough to touch, slide two garlic cloves out of their skins, then mince and toss with the beans and peppers. Store the leftover peppers and garlic cloves in a jar in fridge.

As a finishing touch, you can add a splash of balsamic vinegar or some lemon zest or garnish with toasted nuts, fresh herbs or whatever strikes your fancy. I usually keep it pretty plain so I can really taste the veggies.

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