Its a season for green beans (aka French beans, fine beans, string beans), though Im getting my beans from the market stall just now and not from
my garden. Back in April, when all decent gardeners were sowing their beans, I was in
Tuscany with my dear K. and our three small kids, so some of my vegetables will be ripening later than usually this year, as they were planted or sown later than they ideally should have been planted or sown :)
Todays recipe is a flavoursome
Georgian (= the country in the Caucasus region, not the state in the US :)) vegetable dish, with loads of herbs and a garlicky yoghurt dressing. Simple to make (and during winter you can cheat by using frozen beans) and a great way to use a great variety of herbs from your allotment or backyard.
Enjoy!
Youll find all of Nami-Namis Georgian recipes here.
Green beans (haricots verts) at a Lyon market in France, August 2009Georgian-style green beans with herbs and garlicky yogurt(
Rohelised oad ürtide ja küüslauguse jogurtikastmega)
Serves four to six
450 g green beans
1 onion, chopped
4 Tbsp butter
0.25 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of ground cloves
freshly ground black pepper
finely chopped fresh herbs, including (purple) basil, tarragon, coriander/cilantro, dill, savory
Yoghurt dressing:
250 g strained Greek yoghurt
1 small garlic glove, minced
0.5 tsp salt
Garnish:
1 Tbsp fresh spearmint, finely chopped
Trim the beans, cut into 2 or 3 and blanch in a salted water for a few minutes or until
al dente. Drain. (If you use frozen beans, then these are pre-cooked and just need to be defrosted.)
Heat the butter on a large frying pan/skillet, add the chopped onion and sauté till translucent. Add the pre-cooked beans, then season with cinnamon, cloves, pepper. Fry gently on a medium heat, stirring every now and then, until the beans are fully cooked and soft.
At the same time prepare the yoghurt dressing. Place the minced garlic clove and salt into a bowl and pound into a paste (or simply use a fine
Microplane zester/grater). Mix with yoghurt. Put aside.
Add the chopped herbs to the cooked green beans, toss thoroughly and heat for another minute. Transfer the herbed beans into a serving bowl, drizzle the yoghurt dressing on top.
Garnish with mint. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Urgh! For weeks, I havent been able to first access my blog and when I finally do, I cant post. It was so frustrating. The problems have been resolved, I hope. I still get error message now and then but so it looks fine to me. Im keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully, my posts wont suddenly just disappear one day. Ill be posting the newer recipes one as I had forgotten the exactly measurements for the older ones :P Lazy me dont have a habit of writing them down. :P I shall not waste time ranting. If you like sesame seed, you have to try this. I know sesame seed is hard to digest. So, I have grind it into powder form. We just love the aroma and the taste of this dish. 
