September 27, 2012
My green beans came on fast and furious this past week. We can’t eat them all, but how to preserve this summer garden delight?
I’ve never liked canned green beans, which bear little resemblance to fresh. Other years I’ve blanched and frozen the surplus but they seem to harden into a mass of green and ice crystals.
This year I stumbled upon a post in A Way to Garden that suggests another way. Margaret freezes blanched green beans in her own tomato sauce. I don’t have enough tomatoes for sauce to match my green beans so I used 101 Cookbook’s Five Minute Tomato Sauce Recipe.
The sauce starts with extra virgin olive oil, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and finely chopped garlic.
Organic, crushed tomatoes in puree make a rich thick sauce which simmers for just a few minutes. Then lemon zest at the end adds an surprise twist.
Or, of course you can use your own favorite tomato sauce recipe.
Blanched green beans are combined with the tomato sauce and stowed in containers headed for the freezer. That night I stirred cooked rotini into the remnant sauce and we had a very nice dinner. It could also be a quick meal served over rice. Kidney beans or leftover diced meat could make it more substantial.
And now my favored fillet beans are ensconced in tomato sauce in my freezer, ready to be enjoyed throughout the winter.
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