Baby French Greens sauteed with a little garlic butter and topped with crunchy shallots...whats not to love! The fact that you can do most of the prep of this dish ahead of time combined with its impressive presentation makes it the perfect side dish for any occasion. This is one of our standard side dishes for Thanksgiving, but really these beans are so easy to prepare there is no reason to save them for the holidays. Haricots verts are green beans which are bred to be thinner, tender and more flavorful than regular beans.

HEB sells French green beans in one pound sacks. Sometimes my Whole Foods carries them, but not consistently. You can use any oil you like to fry the shallots. You also need garlic and one shallot. I usually buy two shallots, because I often get distracted when frying my shallots and they get too dark so I have to redo them. You may be more focused than me, if so, feel confident in your one shallot purchase.

After you rinse and drain the beans, lay them on a cutting board to trim the ends. I find its easier to grab a handful at a time to trim the ends and inspect the beans. When I was a little girl I would sit on my grandmothers front porch swing and snap beans and peas. Such simple happy memories...both my grandparents had vegetable gardens. Even when I was a young mother I would hand snap all the ends off the beans. Now I am more practical. Maybe when I get really old I will hand snap the beans once more...probably not. Discard any curvy beans, like the one at the top of the photo or any super large beans, since they will be tough. I discard the curly ones because they mess up my presentation. I like to present the beans in a row on a square or rectangle plate, the curvy ones will stand out and look odd. Greens beans going all different directions in a bowl just seems very wrong to me. A bowl does not show off the beautiful slender shape of the green bean. Yes I know I am a little crazy!

Once your beans are trimmed, you will put a large pot of water on high heat and let it come to a rapid boil. You will set a stopwatch on your phone and cook the beans for 3 minutes, no more. I like to cook broccoli this same way. Blanching and then plunging the veggies in ice water helps green beans and broccoli keep their bright green color. It also means that you can prep your dinner ahead of time. So when it is time to eat you simply saute your beans in a saute pan and they remain bright and green and not water logged.

After 3 minutes, you will remove the beans and place in bowl with ice water.

I fill a bowl halfway with tap water and throw a few cubes in the water. They will melt as you throw them in the water, but they will cool up the water quickly.

You need to then drain the beans, usually I just pull them out of the water with my hands and lay them on paper towels. Then I carefully lay them on my plate. You could do this stage a day or half day in advance. If the night before, then cover the store them in the fridge. If prepping for the evening they are fine on the counter half a day.

You can also fry your shallot in advance. They will stay crunchy for hours. Peel your shallot. Cut the shallot in half. Lay the cut side down and thinly slice the shallot. Finally break up the shallot slices with your hands forming little shallot strands.

Use a small saucepan and turn your oil on high. Throw one shallot strand in the oil so when it sizzles you know the oil is hot. Once the oil is hot enough, turn heat down to medium high and carefully place your shallots in the oil. You will have to stir occasionally. Start your stopwatch on your phone, it will take 2 to 3 minutes to turn golden brown. It happens so fast so totally focus on your shallots. They go from golden to dark brown so quickly.

Have your paper towels ready to drain the shallots on. Sprinkle with salt. I bet you can not resist tasting your yummy creation. Go ahead...no one is looking.

I even prep this step ahead of time as well. I usually blanch my beans in the morning, put them in my saute pan with my water, garlic, butter, and salt. They can sit out all day like this. Only on special occasions do I really use butter on the beans, I usually just add a splash of olive oil. But for celebrations and dinner parties we do not count calories so I will pull out the butter.

Once the beans have sauteed, I lay them on my serving dish, I drizzle the remaining garlic butter left in the pan on top, and then scatter the crispy shallots down the middle.

hARICOTS VERTS WITH CRISPY SHALLOTS RECIPE

Serves 4 people

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 lb French Green Beans (Haricots Verts)
1 large shallot, cut into strands (I like to buy 2 shallots in case I get the first batch too brown.)
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/3 cup oil
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1/4 cup water

PREPARATION

Wash your beans and drain on paper towels. Grab a handle of beans and line them up on your cutting board and cut ends off each side. Discard any large or curly beans at this time.
Set aside a bowl with tap water and ice.
Grab a large pan to boil water. Turn water on high heat and let water come to a rapid boil.
Start your stopwatch on your phone. Add the beans, cook 3 minutes.
Quickly remove beans with a slotted spoon and place in your ice water bowl.
Once cooled you can drain your beans and place on a plate carefully, so the beans remain straight and not curled up. At this point you can put the beans in the fridge and cook the next day or you can place in large sauté pan to finish cooking later the same day.
Peel your shallot and cut in half. Then thinly slice the shallot. Break up the shallot slices with your hands to create little strands.
Get your paper towels ready to drain the shallots after frying.
Put 1/3 cup oil (any oil you have) into a small saucepan and turn on high. Put one little shallot strand in the oil so you will know when it sizzles the oil is hot enough.
Once the test shallot sizzles, turn the heat down to medium high.
Start your stopwatch again, and carefully put shallots into hot oil. They will need to cook about 2-3 minutes till golden brown. You will need to occasionally stir the shallots. They cook really quickly so totally focus on the shallots. They can burn very quickly.
Once they look golden brown, remove the shallots with a slotted spoon onto paper towels to drain. Sprinkle with salt. Again the shallots can be fried ahead of time and kept at room temperature for hours.
Place your beans, 1/4 cup water, your minced garlic, your butter or olive oil and a sprinkle of salt in a large sauté pan. Up to this point, all these steps can be done in advance. You can leave the beans on your counter all afternoon till you're ready to finish cooking them.
When you are ready to finish cooking your beans place the large sauté pan with the beans, water, etc. on high heat. Again turn on your stopwatch.
Cook beans on high heat for 3-4 minutes, till water has evaporated and beans are heated through and tender, stirring occasionally.
Carefully place beans on platter. Pour remaining butter and garlic mixture on top and sprinkle shallots down the middle of the beans.

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Zucchini Noodles or Zoodles are simply amazing!! They look cool, they taste great and they cook in minutes. This is a fun way to incorporate more veggies in your diet, and they are a more healthy and colorful alternative to pasta.

You need to buy a spiralizer or a spiralizer tool to make your zoodles. You need one large zucchini per person, garlic and olive oil.

I purchased my spiralizer at Williams Sonoma for $ 49.00. It comes with 4 blades for different diameters of spirals. It's pretty straight forward and easy to use. I used the medium blade for my zoodles. I thought I was buying a white one...should have looked inside the box before I purchased it!!

The spiralizer has a long pin, top left, that you insert in your vegetable to hold it in place. You simply crank the handle for instant noodles. I used the hand tool for years, and bought a spiralizer this year. It is really amazing the way it can transform vegetables into works of art. You can also use the spiralizer for cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, etc.. Spiralizing gives vegetables a different texture and feel, which makes vegetables appealing to your eyes as well as your palate.

Williams Sonoma also sells a tool that creates strips, however they are thinner and will take even less time to cook. If you are using this tool start with a swipe down longways, then flip over zucchini so the new flat surface is easier to stay steady and secure. Once you start feeling and seeing the seeds in the middle of the zucchini, stop and turn the zucchini. You will be left with a small seedy middle section which you can discard. When you use the machine you use the entire zucchini, if you use the tool the middle section becomes too mushy when cooked.

This is a closeup of the blade on the shredding tool.

This is how the noodles look when you use the machine. They are so cool. Once you heat up your pan, you will throw in your olive oil, garlic and zucchini. It will take only 1 - 2 minutes to cook the noodles. Constantly stir them during this time. Then remove them and let your paper towels absorb the extra moisture. They will not be fully cooked, and that is OK...actually good for you. If you fully cook them they will become limp and soggy and too liquidy.

ZUCCHINI NOODLES RECIPE

Serves 4 people

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 3 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

4 large zucchini or 8 small ones
1 clove of garlic, minced finely
1 tablespoon olive oil

PREPARATION

Cut the ends off your zucchini and spiralize your zucchini.
Heat up a medium size skillet on high heat.
While it is heating up, stack up 8 paper towels, and set aside.
As soon as the pan is hot, add your oil, garlic and zucchini.
Stir constantly and quickly and cook 1 to 2 minutes. (If you cook the zucchini too long it will become squishy and full of liquid, you want to cook them al dente, a little firm to the bite)
Empty the noodles onto the paper towels. Gather up the paper towels and squeeze the moisture into the paper towel.
Place in your serving bowls and top with chicken meatballs or a topping of your choice.
Serve immediately, as the noodles sit they will continue to release liquid.

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