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Dress up plain green beans with the great tastes of garlic, ginger and sun-dried tomatoes.
Great Flavors
I love green beans! And I love them any way you can give them to me–yes even just plain!
My late husband used to accuse me of making green beans “all the time,” which was an exaggeration. However, I did serve them more than any other veggie because they go with so many different things.
Lately, I’ve been trying some novel ways of doing beans. I’ve loved them all and my favorites I’ve put on my site like Bavarian Green Beans, Copycat Cracker Barrel Green Beans and Chili Garlic Dry Fried Beans
This latest recipe combines some wonderful flavors–ginger, garlic and sun-tried tomatoes. In fact, if you wanted a light lunch, dinner or have a vegetarian meal, this would be a very good choice!
Fresh Is Always Best
As with any veggie, using fresh is always the best choice. I prefer buying whole green beans in the bag. They are a bit more expensive than the loose, but they’re already trimmed and washed. That saves me a lot of time and I find the little extra cost worth it to me.
You can use frozen–but do choose a high-quality brand. If you do use the frozen ones, make sure to thaw them first and dry them thoroughly. Frozen do not have to be blanched like the fresh–which is a slight advantage.
There’s just no comparison to fresh ginger. The powdered stuff is fine in sauces and general cooking, but here fresh is imperative so do use fresh ginger in this. You don’t have to buy the whole root. I break off only what I need in the store–usually just a knob. Ginger can be frozen so keep that in mind too.
As for the sun-dried tomatoes, I prefer the ones packed in oil because they don’t dry out. However, you can use the one that are packed by themselves, but make sure they aren’t totally dried out and hard–they won’t reconstitute while cooking these beans.
Garlic
What can I say here except use as much or as little as you want. I love the stuff so my amounts in the recipe reflect this. But if you’re not as much of an enthusiast as I am, cut the amount in half.
The Recipe
Ginger Garlic Green Beans
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh green beans trimmed & lightly steamed (see NOTES)
- 4 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 tbs sun-dried tomatoes julienne sliced
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, ginger and pepper flakes; stir well.
- Add the lightly steamed green beans and stir fry for 3-4 minutes, or until crisp-tender but still bright green. Season with salt & pepper to taste
- Serve immediately.
