What to do with a french bean glut!

The beautiful sunshine has meant the french beans are attempting world domination (Day of the Triffids style), and we have so many green beans to share with our members. Here are our favourite recipes and methods for dealing with a french bean glut.

Make Fry Bodi (Trindanian fried beans)

This a super simple way to enjoy your beans, and all the ingredients are seasonal! There’s loads of recipes for this out in internet land, but we like this one

  1. Chop up an onion, 2 cloves of garlic, and 2 ripe largish tomatoes
  2. Fry the above for about 3 minutes in olive oil
  3. Add two handfuls of french beans, destalked and chopped into bitesize chunks
  4. Add salt to taste, cover and steam for about 5 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook for about 10-15minutes until the liquid has disappeared, stirring occasionally.
  5. Serve with flat bread or as a side dish

 

Green Bean Salad with Feta and Mint

Can’t face hot food or planning a picnic by the river Dart? This is the one for you. If you are after a vegan dish you can swap the feta for toasted almonds.

  1. Destalk and chop about 300g of french beans. Place in a pot of hot water and boil for 4-5 minutes
  2. Make a dressing using some olive oil, salt, 1 clove of crushed garlic, and some balsamic vinegar
  3. Chop 200g of feta cheese into cubes. Mix with cooked beans and dressing.
  4. Sprinking over a handful of finely chopped mind, and some thinly sliced red onion and stir. Yum.

 

Freeze them for a winter day!

Some people say it’s ok to freeze beans without blanching first, but others swear that this spoils to texture. The be on the safe side here is how to blanche and freeze beans

  1. Remove stalks and tails from beans, and chop into bit size chunks
  2. Heat up a saucepan of water. When boiling add you beans, and boil for 3 minutes
  3. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl of water and ice-cubes, chill for another 3 minutes
  4. Remove beans from the cold water, drain and remove excess water with kitchen towel.
  5. Put into freezer bags, remove air and seal. Don’t forget to write the date on the bag!
  6. Freeze and enjoy in the winter for a reminder of the summer.