Stewed Green Beans

Such a Boring Title for Something So Delicious!

9 times out of 10, I’ll choose to eat green beans by giving them a quick blanch in boiling salted water and then a fast chill in a water bath. After that I can easily eat them as a salad by dressing them in a vinaigrette or give them a quick high heat sauté in oil or butter and a simple seasoning. I often buy more than we’ll eat at one sitting, so that I can have the plain blanched beans waiting in the fridge for multiple meals.

Then there are the times when I want to go for a slow simmered green bean dish that I will eat on all week long because it’s delicious at all temps – warm, room temp, or chilled. This is the recipe I use and love. 

Green beans simmered in tomatoes and warm spices are a standard in Lebanese and other Middle Eastern cooking traditions and they are delicious. Those recipes are my inspiration, but I have added a few things that make this recipe my own.

I begin by sautéing plenty of onion slices in olive oil, which is a pretty standard step. I then add sliced carrots, a sliced serrano chili pepper, and thinly sliced garlic cloves to the pan. 

At this point I add a little tomato paste and an ingredient I have come to really love – Turkish pepper paste .* Ever since first buying it several years ago, it has become a staple in my kitchen and I normally have a jar stashed in my fridge. It’s thick like tomato paste, but it only contains red peppers and salt. You can buy it in mild or hot varieties. I’ve bought both and like each one. 

It is rich and sweetly intense with pepper flavor. It’s gorgeous in stews, chicken paprikash, salad dressings, marinades, dips, etc. I’ve even used it in homemade aioli and also straight up by smearing a little on hot toast. All in all, it’s added a lot to my cooking and I highly recommend it.

While adding the green beans to the pot, I include cumin and a little cinnamon, but I don’t go heavy with these spices. They contribute subtly to the end flavor, they don’t dominate. 

Now, here’s another product I’ve come to appreciate and I used it here – canned cherry tomatoes .* They’re canned with their thin skins intact and when they’re cooked they burst their skins and are very sweet and juicy. The skins are so soft they add a pleasing texture to the dish. But if you don’t have them, you can use canned whole tomatoes. 

After simmering for about a half hour, the beans are nice and tender and the sauce has developed into a nice thick coating. This isn’t the place for crisp underdone green beans. They will absorb the flavors and become meltingly tender. That’s what you want. After all, they’re called stewed green beans for a reason. It’s an honest description.

Fresh lemon juice, some chopped parsley, and a sprinkling of Aleppo pepper flakes * are all you need to finish it off. 

These beans pack a punch. They’re highly flavored. I serve them as a side for grilled and roasted meats and chicken. They’re also good served on a bed of rice as a full meal. Then again, they’re also delicious served cold as part of a cold meat or antipasto type of spread.

There is nothing dull going on here. These are green beans to get excited about!