Spicy green beans

Our Farm Fresh To You delivery included a pound of green beans last Friday. I've never liked fresh green beans. I love the canned ones and their soft texture, but fresh ones are always too crunchy!

But I had to use them (see the trying new things benefit going on here?). And thankfully, the box even came with a few recipe recommendations for the produce we got that week.

One of them was this recipe for spicy green beans, and we loved it! I decided to way over-cook them to attempt to get that soft mushy goodness you get out of the can. It worked, and now I love fresh green beans :)

Ingredients

• 1 lb. green beans
• 2 T. soy sauce
• 1 T. rice vinegar
• 2 t. sugar
• 1/4 to 1/2 t. hot pepper flakes (I put almost 1/2 t. and they were pretty much perfect. I like spicy)
• 1/4 t. white pepper (I have never used or seen white pepper... I used black pepper)
• 1 T. vegetable oil
• 2 T. minced garlic
• 2 T. freshly minced ginger (I skipped this)
• I also added a dash of sesame oil and a bit of salt for more flavor

Directions

1. Rinse and drain green beans, and cut off the ends. Cut the beans into 2-3 inch, bite-sized segments.
2. In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, hot pepper flakes and white pepper.
3. Set a large frying pan over high heat. Add beans and 1/4 cup water. Cover and cook, stirring once, until beans are as cooked as you want them (I added 1/2 cup water or more. The original directions recommended 3-4 minutes, but I probably did 6-7. For me, this is the key to liking fresh green beans).
4. Uncover and cook until most of the water has evaporated.
5. Add vegetable oil, garlic and ginger to the pan. Stir until green beans and garlic are lightly browned - 1 to 2 minutes.
6. Stir soy mixture and add to pan. Bring to a boil and stir until most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce thickens and coats the beans - 2 to 3 minutes.

Can be served hot or cool. I kept them covered and warm until the rest of our dinner was ready. Served 2 generous portions.

We had this with Thai style BBQ chicken and it was delish and pretty darn healthy too!