Serious Eats: Recipes
Skillet Green Beans with Orange
The following recipe is from the November 18 edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
Green beans always find their way to the holiday table. Unfortunately, sometimes they can be more of an afterthought than something to get excited over. I'm sure you are familiar with the usual suspects: the green bean casserole made with canned cream of mushroom soup and fried onions, or the defrosted beans that are more gray than green, gussied up with some slivered almonds.
This green bean neglect might have something to do with the fact that November is not exactly the height of bean season, and the specimens in the market might not look or taste quite up to par. Nonetheless, green beans have a place on the Thanksgiving table, so why not give them a chance to taste like something that you want to eat rather than something that you should eat?
This recipe for Skillet Green Beans with Orange from Simple Fresh Southern by Matt and Ted Lee is a great was to deal with not so great green beans. The beans are cooked in cast-iron at high heat, "pan-charred", according to the Lee brothers, which renders them crunchy, toasty, and a little smoky. Orange segments and a little bit of vinegar are added for sweet and sour notes. No more gloopy casseroles or gray beans, okay?