Green Beans with Mushrooms
Green beans with mushrooms is an easygoing, undemanding dish. Anyone searching for dazzling summertime fare is advised to look elsewhere. I mean, I suppose one could fancy things up with expensive mushrooms or cold-pressed olive oil, but that would lose the point, which is simplicity. Nobody needs some fancypants dish to complicate matters right now. We’re all nauseous enough as it is.
By “mushrooms” I mean either the white ones or Cremini; both are widely available across the land, unlike other things we could discuss.
Lemon isn’t obligatory, but it banishes any hint of blandness.
Green beans with mushrooms is delicious hot, warm, or at room temperature. It’s a good keeper, too. To that end, I piled a serving atop pasta, and packed it up for Mr. IK, who has a work-related field trip tomorrow and needs a lunch that won’t perish in the heat. I enter that for your consideration, should you require non-perishable sustenance in the near future.
Green Beans with Mushrooms
prep time: about 15 minutes
Serving size: 8 ounces/227 grams green beans and 8 ounces/227 grams mushrooms fed two people with modest appetites as a side dish for dinner, with enough leftover for a lunch. This is easily scaled up or down.
Please read notes, below, before cooking
8 ounces/227 grams Green beans
8 ounces/227 grams white button or Cremini mushrooms
olive oil, for the pan
Vermouth or other white wine
1-3 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
fresh lemon juice (optional but good)
salt and pepper, to taste
You will need a frying or sauté pan of 8-12 inch diameter (20-22 cm) to make this dish.
Top and tail the green beans. Wipe the mushrooms clean with a damp paper towel or damp towel. Trim the stems.
Heat the pan to medium low. Pour in olive oil and Vermouth. Add the garlic. It should sizzle, but not brown.
Add the beans and mushrooms. The pan should be large enough to easily accommodate all the vegetables. Otherwise they’ll cook unevenly.
Cook for a few minutes, moving the food around with a spatula. Add a few good squeezes of lemon juice. Salt and pepper.
Cook the dish for at least five minutes, ensuring the mushrooms are cooked through. Beyond that, it becomes a question of personal taste. If you prefer your beans snappy, stop now. If you like your veg well done, give it another five minutes.
Serve green beans and mushrooms as a side with just about any protein, or make it a main with pasta, rice, polenta, or barley.
Place leftovers in a covered container and refrigerate up to five days. Freezing is not recommended.
Notes:
I used Blue Lake green beans, which are widely available green beans in the US.
White button mushrooms are inexpensive and easily found across the United States . Cremini mushrooms are more expensive than button mushrooms, but also easily found. Feel free to substitute more exotic fungi.
The proportion of bean to mushroom is entirely up to you.
I used Vermouth, but any dry white wine will work in this dish. If you prefer cooking without alcohol, chicken, vegetable, or mushroom broth will work, as will plain water.
Feel free to add butter to the pan; I omitted it because my husband was carrying this in a packed lunch.
I used a knife to top and tail the beans, but you can go Nigella and scissor them.
Mushrooms benefit from long, slow cooking. I don’t do that here, but you can cook the mushrooms slowly in butter, olive oil, and minced garlic–essentially, making a duxelles–before adding the green beans. The resulting dish will be different, but just as delicious.
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